Light Requirements For Zoanthids

[saltydog64]

Hey everyone...

I new to trying to keep Zoas and need some help in to where to place the new pcs I just recently got. I should add that the tank is lit with a 4 X 54 W 48" HO T5 unit ( lite cycle is Actinics first and last with 10 K's for 8 hours) and a 2 X 110 VHO up front (this is on for approx 6 hours)

They have been in the 70 G for a couple of days and for now are on the bottom to ease their adjustment to my tank....I'll try and post some pics of them here....cross your fingers:eek1::eek1:

Watermelon Zoa

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Cherry Bomb

People Eaters Zoas

Poe's Red Zoas

These all came from the west coast to the east coast in less than 24 hours and arrived in great shape from a great source...these guys:

http://www.reefhotspot.com/store/siteinfo.php

All but the People Eaters,which are WYSIWYG, are pics of the "mother colonies I guess, however, when they stated you get for example 3 to 5 Polyps they did mush better than that as must had many more than stated....:bounce1::bounce1: considering days $$$$ that is great deal for sure...

Any how please advise where I should place them in the tank..you know top, middle, bottom...NO NO not your tank :love1:

Thanks ...

Dick

 

[bswasta]

WOW! Nice pics! I have no advice on lighting.But, I would like to know what kind of lense you used for your pics?

 

[rkelley_10]

With the lighting you specified, bottom to middle will suffice. You can acclimate zoas to high lighting conditions however they are not very light demanding. As long as you provide adequate PAR levels they should do well

 

[Wrench]

The more light the better.

I have found a drastic improvement in all of my zoos under higher light. I set up a new frag tank (30b) and moved a lot of my zoos in there under a 250w Radium and they've all colored up much brighter and are growing faster. They were previously at the middle and bottom of my tank under the same light. I've yet to see any zoos hurt by too much light.

 

[rkelley_10]

The more light the better.

I have found a drastic improvement in all of my zoos under higher light. I set up a new frag tank (30b) and moved a lot of my zoos in there under a 250w Radium and they've all colored up much brighter and are growing faster. They were previously at the middle and bottom of my tank under the same light. I've yet to see any zoos hurt by too much light.

+1. I keep mine 8" for the water surface under 10,000k MH and overdriven T5's. They grow like crazy and the colors look better with the MH on. Weird. My post was geared towards a general placement question. With a lot of light you can move them up high, but if you do it to fast you can nuke them. It all depends on the lighting from the supplier. Most retailers use 20,000k MH from what I've seen

 

[va813]

more light the better colors my experience

 

[RockinSmall]

It depends on the zoas... i have some that simply cannot handle anything brighter then the stock lighting of my biocube, and they shrivel under 150w hqi. Whereas, some of my zoas brown up under the pc's. I am thankful i can give my zoas the option =)

 

[KarmaChameleon]

Agree with high light, but they must be acclimated carefully. My zoas under high light are much more colorful and have fuller growth.

 

[Buganddoug]

I keep my zoos high and low in my tank. I have 3-250w M/H and 2-72" VHO. They grow crazy!!!

 

[650-IS350]

IMO, as long as you acclimate them properly start at the bottom then gradually move them up. polyps can take 400-600mh's... some even can be a few inches below the water's surface.

But some polyps will either lighten up, morph, darken, etc... depending on the tank parameters, lighting etc. The polyp will tell you whether it's happy on it's current spot.

I used to have some polyps 4" below the waters surface under 8 T5s and now I have some 6-7" below the waters surface under 250Mh.