lighting for Zoa

[nava405]

i have a nice colony of Zoa and i have been moving around, just can't firgure out the best spot.

it's 75gal tank with 2x150watt mh 2x96 pc.

the light is 10" above water, and the tank is 24" depth, so do u guys think it'll work at the very bottom on the sand ???

 

[BurN]

From what I have read here on RC you could probably lower your light 2-4''

 

[nava405]

i would love to if i could, the only reason for the lighting staying that high above water is because i didn't want to make a new canopy, so i just cut open the top and place it on top of the canopy. This is the best i can do for now without spending more money, and the only good thing about it is i get enough room to work with my tank without moving that heavy @ss light..

anyway, anyone else can answer my question?

 

[650-IS350]

you can put it in the bottom first then gradually start raising them... the zoo will actually let you know how happy it is or sad in the area you place them in..

 

[nava405]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9582519#post9582519 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by delsol650
you can put it in the bottom first then gradually start raising them... the zoo will actually let you know how happy it is or sad in the area you place them in..

that's the thing hard for me to tell, cuz i used to put my Zoa and Zoo at very bottom when i had 4x65watt pc, and they opened up good, just don't know if more light would help open up bigger and more colorful or not.

 

[650-IS350]

I my experience some of my zoas and paly's LOVE more light some dont... its just moving them around till they show the best

 

[seapug]

I have a mixed zoa garden on the bottom of my 90 gal with 2X150w MH and 2X 130w PC actinics about 3" over the water surface. I had 10kbulbs with some zoas about 6" beneath the water surface and most hated it. Lots of bleaching and recession. I have since switched to 20K bulbs over that end of the tank and moved the garden to the tank bottom. Color, expansion and growth have all improved big time. It was actually surprising to me considering all the pictures I've seen of zoas baking in exposed positions at low tide. oh well, whatever works...

 

[geoxman]

IMHO the more the better for most zoos. Some of the blues like lower light-that can be debated. What are the origin of your zoos? I keep Solomon under 400wmh 1/2 inch under the surface-most Indo a little deeper. Try to find out where they came from.

 

[seapug]

That's interesting-- I always operated on the "more the better" lighting theory with Zoas as well until this happened. They seem to love all the PC lighting you can provide but definitely weren't too happy under my 10k MH. I have dozens of different varieties so there's no telling where each came from. The ones that really were unhappy high up were some metallic green centered ones and a colony of orange centers with yellow tentacles. I have another colony of the orange-yellow that are shaded by a LR overhang and Kenya Tree and looked great so I moved the suffering colony down. All are doing well and lookin good where they are so I'll leave them for now. I've always found they spread faster when placed on sand, anyway. Once I start getting some frags I'll try establishing new colonies up higher.