Lighting for Zoas

[bjhubb]

I have been researching lighting for a frag tank, zoa dominated. It seems that 10k is thought to give you the best growth, but a cooler spectrum bulb (14k or 20k) should give you more color, right?

Has anyone tested this by growing under the different bulbs? Or seen a change in growth when you have switched bulbs?

 

[DaddyReefer12]

I have my Zoas under T5HO's 2x 11k and 2x Actinic..The have been growing very fast and doing great. They didnt do so well under MH

 

[dalston]

I have kept zoa's under PC's, T5, and now MH (14K)...The best color and growth were from T5...I will be switching back to T5 when I can. The variety of bulbs is amazing, purples, pinks, blues...

As for MH spectrum, I enjoy the look of 14K better than the 10K, growth has been about the same to be honest. 20K would give the more blue color but only a deep tank would really benefit from it.

 

[gabberjaw]

OK I have zoa's in a 180 under 3x250mw,2x96 atinic lighting. Those have exploded in growth they are in the middle to upper part of the tank. In my 29g I have 150w 14k hal. and I put them up very high in the tank they love it . My t5 nano is great when it comes to my larger small colonies (25+zoas) But making the frags grow has been best in my 29g. Just wanted to share

 

[650-IS350]

Mine grew the best under my 8 T5s, best color, but I'm now running MH's 14K's, very good results but doesn't beat my T5s before.

 

[dalston]

Awesome shot Charles!

What was your bulb line up there?

 

[650-IS350]

I can't remember but it might be a combo of

420s
460s
KZ Purples
3000K REDs
6000Ks
and 1 I can't remember

 

[skippyreef]

I am going to be changing over to a T5 fixture I have as well to see if myzoa's respond better. Right now they are under a 250 watt 14K pheonix DE.

 

[Str8outakompton]

i have a 70w mh 14k fixture on my nano which is mostly zoos/palys/rics and i get really good growth and nice color

 

[prison police]

I only have mine under 14k 250w MH. I just placed a new thread about Vit-C. 21 days and (2) new polyps on my VDM's. In my opinion and what I see out of my 30+ different kinds of zoa's....Vit-C is the reason for my fast growth. Just my 2 cents. I like the T5's and the colors I have seen from them and wished I could have T5's but I will keep my MH's and keep placing a 1000 mg tablet in my water and watch them grow!

 

[bjhubb]

I found a cheap viper on ebay and I'm going to give it a shot. It should be here next week. I did counts on all my frags so I can see what kind of growth I get.

When I get my 'real' frag tank I am thinking about doing either a combo fixture, t5's and halides, or 6 bulb t5's. That's still a few months down the road, though.

 

[LovenBama]

so I'm guessing that the fixture I just ordered so do the trick on a 29g zoa tank
24" 4bulb T-5
2 24w Actinic 420nm

 

[LovenBama]

ooops
and 2 24w 10,000k white

 

[zoadude]

Want awesome growth/color? Try VHO actinics and 14K MH. Don't have VHO now since going to a nano with T5/MH but when had VHO they were literally growing across the sand. No lie. Course nutrients have a heck of a lot to do with growth. Can't beat 14K MH for color though.
Eventually I will be heading back to VHO. Not really looking for growth in an already overstocked nano right now though but VHO was my first lighting back in the early 90s and I have to still say it was the best hands down. Bit pricey now.

 

[305phins]

i have a 40g breed with a 250w MH 20k my tanks 36x18 and the light is about 2ft off the water is that good for zoas

 

[LovenBama]

agree Zoadude...I have 4 VHO on the DT and the zoas in there are doing "GREAT" but like you said it's a bit pricey to do VHOs so I op to try T5s on the 29g in hopes they do well if not I'll invest in VHOs later..but does MH really make that much difference...I already fight temp issues with just the 4 VHOs could not image what kinda temps I'd have if I had MHs( I do live in "HOT" Alabama)...my sister just added a MH to her 29g and I didn't like the looks of the tank afterwards...I don't know why, just IMO the tank looked darker and more shadow places than before

 

[Conductive]

As a photographer, I can't but notice that there is a huge difference in the "quality" of light when you compare MH lighting with fluorescent lighting, which isn't to say on is better than the other visually speaking. MH is very "specular" or direct in nature, which is a more dramatic form of lighting with high contrast, meaning bright highlights and dark shadows. Think Hitchcock. Fluorescent lighting is much more "diffused" or soft and revealing, with realtively low contrast. Think every chick flick ever made. It all depends on what effect you're going for.

 

[reefcrazydude]

305phins, i keep my zoa, 2' under 250W and 1' off the water, they doing great