How to Encourage Growth

[FirstContact]

Is this a normal growth rate for my zoanthids? What can I do to improve their growth? The metallic green one was picked to death by my keyhole dwarf angel which I took to an LFS for credit. What was left of the green zoas have come back, but I do not see any new growth. The blue zoas have not shown any sign of growth and are closed a lot. Originally, I had them at the bottom of the tank, and now the are in the middle. I used to feed the zoas only with phyto of zoo plankton, but now I also just dump mysis and Ocean Nutrition on them too (whatever I feeding my fish). The first picture of the blue zoas are what they look like now. They look like they have lost their color. The second is when they were first acclimated.

Parameters:

SG 1.26
dKH 8-10 maintained weekly and added all at once to the sump on weekends
Ca 440
Mg 1400-1600
WC Biweekly 20% with ReefCrystals

Filtration:

100 micron sock
Red Sea Berlin on a Sedra 15000
50 micron sock with cup and a half of ESV carbon
Reactor with 150 grams GFO from BRS
Refugium 24hr lighted with chaeto and caulerpa
socks are changed every three days
media is changed once a month

Lighting

T5 four bulbs one actinic two 12k and one something in between

 

[psteeleb]

I feed cyclopseze and get great growth and color

 

[FirstContact]

I have some of that. How do you get it into the polyps? Do you use a feeder tube, or just let it drop over the corals? I used to try to spread it out over the corals with my fingertips, but it seemed like most of it went all over the tank instead of into the coral.

 

[XSharkboyX]

What are your pH, NO3, and P04 levels?

How old are your bulbs?

How deep is the tank?

Does WC Biweekly mean every other week, or 2 times a week?

 

[FirstContact]

I test for Nitrate with a Tropic Marin Test Kit. It always tests zero or close to it. I test for PO4 with a HACH PO-19 test kit. The color wheel is pretty hard to read. I stopped testing for pH because it always reads the same.

After reflecting I think lighting is the issue, combined with my lack of feeding. I only light the tank nine hours a day and two of those hours are actinics. I think I will increase the lighting schedule. All four bulbs will be a year and a half old this August. Unfortunately, the bulbs do not have individual reflectors. Older current usa model, but it did come with LED moonlights!

Biweekly was meant to mean every two weeks.