idea...please help

[macawmagic]

so i've got a mixed reef. and at one point I didn't do a waterchange for 4 months. of course my sps weren't looking happy, but my zoas were growing like crazy (softies like dirty water, sps like clean water) then I got a new, bigger skimmer and started doing regular water changes...now my zoas are growing sooooo slowly. I'm talkin i used to have ppe's (single polyp frags) go from 1 polyp to 4, 5, 6 polyps in a month. now I get about 1 polyp/month.

my idea was to setup a nice little tank. no skimmer. separate system, and put all the zoas in it. maybe a t5 light or small MH. maybe like 20x turnover. put my zoas in this thing and when I do waterchanges, take the water from my sps tank...put it in the zoa tank...and then dump the zoa water down the drain. would hopefully get back to the dirty water with faster growth. anyone think this is a good idea, or am I missing something here?

any advice, help, experience would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
keith

 

[650-IS350]

Polyps do love dirtier water than SPS but not that too dirty. still gotta keep up with parameters and such.

 

[macawmagic]

well i would still keep the water clean...just not as clean as my sps tank. i've got 2 hang on the back filters...maybe i'll use those for filtration...and flow. add a powerhead or 2. and the light. I think it'll work out pretty good actually. and i guess if I need it I could always get one of those little hang on tank skimmers. I don't think I'll need it though. guess it'll be a trial and error. lol

 

[650-IS350]

I have a CPR HOB with a MJ1200 on my 20QT with zoa looking nice there. In my main tank I feed heavy.

 

[phil121]

I have an 8 gallon Biocube with a 70w HQI on it and nothing but zoa's in it. I have noticed significant growth as well when I reduce the number of water changes I do. My suggestion would be to simply setup the zoa tank like you said, and just do infrequent water changes. I do mine about once a month at the moment.

I also have some chaeto in the rear chamber of my Biocube so that may help some as well.

 

[650-IS350]

I got great growth on my 100 when I used to do 1 water change a month. but I changed 45 gallons though.

 

[stoneroller]

Seems to be zoas will go through growth spurts which might explain the change in rate you've seen. But if you just gotta set up another tank.....