My newest Zoa project...creating a "Zoanthid SPS" coral...playing God....not really

[cody6766]

My newest Zoa project...creating a "Zoanthid SPS" coral...playing God....not really

I managed to kill a fairly large birdsnest mini-colony in my tank and decided to make the best of it. I cur the main branches off, trimmed them up and mounted them to a rock. They're now the growing base for several zoa frags i cut from my tank. I had some dragon eyes do this on a frag plug and decided to do it on a larger scale.

I'm pretty excited to see this grow in. Let me preface his statement with my take on things due to the current name coral discussions brewing. I like names to describe the appearance of a coral. It's a useful tool in that regard, so enjoy or bear with me...whatever you prefer
I've been lucky enough to acquire some of those named corals for what i'd call unnamed (read: reasonable, appropriate, not stupid) prices. I have Tubbs Blues, Keds Reds, Radioactive Dragon Eyes, Eagle Eyes, some very small emerald green zoa, some that look like Eagle Eyes but are much more yellow vs orange, some blue w/orange skirts, and some Gorilla Nipples.
I can't wait for them to cover the branches and fill in. As of now this rock is just sitting in my 40 breeder. it will probably make its way into its own tank sometime in the relatively near future. I want it to be the feature in a nano with something like some rics around the base and a blenny or clown goby in the tank

 

[rogersb]

Neat idea. If you manage to kill more birdsnest you might think about trying GSP on it.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Thanks for sharing.


Can you share your parameters with us also?

What type of internal current are you using/generating inside your tank, closed loop, power heads, wave makers etc?

I think I see a Goby, do you have any other verts or fishes?

Do you have any other zoa/paly colonies?

You said you killed the Birdsnest, sorry to hear that, what happened?

Again, thanks for sharing?


Mucho Reef

 

[bigdaddystar]

pretty cool....I like to do things like that in my nano...I use smaller tonga though and odd shape rocks....I cant wait for one of my sps to die so I can try it too.......lol

 

[cody6766]

Can you share your parameters with us also?

Sure. It's been a little while since I checked them all, but here's the latest measured and estimated:
Measured 2 days ago:
Alk: 8 (normally 9.5-10, its on its way up)
Mg: 1220 (normally 1300, on its way up as well)

Estimated:
Ca: Last tested at 420. It's been very stable since I top off with kalkwasser. I'd assume it's close to that
Nitrogen compounds have always been at or near 0 thanks to a low bioload

What type of internal current are you using/generating inside your tank, closed loop, power heads, wave makers etc?

I have a pair of K2s running 24/7 and a pair of Evo750s on a timer, 3 mins on, 3 mins off. Return flow is minimal. Tank is a 40 breeder, powerheads are in each top corner

I think I see a Goby, do you have any other verts or fishes?

Yup, a pair of clarkii clowns and a very doscile yellow tail damsel. he's a lucky fish. I bought it to keep a bioload on another tank that I never did anything with. He was added to the breeder and he's been acting right the whole time. There is an emerald crab running around in the tank and various CUC snails as well. Oh, and the clarkiis' rose and green bta.

Do you have any other zoa/paly colonies?

Several actually. I have pics of most or all of them in the picassa folder the pic above is from. I have frags of captain americas, some cool people eaters, what I think are Armor of Gods (or similar), and probably a few others I'm forgetting. Growing on rocks I have Bam bams, Green Bay Packers, the above mentioned zoanthids, giant Palys from the caribbean (I think), some that look similar to fire and ice zoas, some that look like eagle eyes, but aren't, and probably a few more. I don't collect them so i don't have a written log, but I try to track the names so I can tell people about them. I'm very glad the LFS down here don't really play the name game either. i got those named polyps (or frags that look like named polyps anyway) for normal prices.

You said you killed the Birdsnest, sorry to hear that, what happened?

I plumbed in a new sump and fired up the return too soon. it was definitely a *******, rookie mistake. it cost me the birdsnest, some acros and some montis. Luckily most everything else made it through w/o an issue.

 

[KafudaFish]

Looks cool and good luck.

 

[RokleM]

Very cool, well the idea not the SPS issue Only big downside I see is the fact birdsnests are pretty fragile and very thin. One of the thicker ones might work slightly better... not that you should run off an kill some more SPS for zoa space (although most of the guys/gals here would recommend it :lol: ).

 

[cody6766]

This birdsnest is the thicker variety not the spindly red variety. The branches were actually quite a bit stronger than I thought when I cut them. I had to put some squeeze on the cutters to break them off. I would definitely caution use of the frail variety. You could very well end up with broken zoa-sps all over the tank in that case.

 

[RokleM]

:thumbsup: Should be interesting to watch.

 

[jmccoya]

:thumbsup: Should be interesting to watch.

Ditto that!

 

[Lytehouse]

cool Cody,

will be fun to watch as they grow out.

 

[cody6766]

I know, I can't wait to see the branches all covered! I wish there was a growth fast forward to see what it'll look like.

 

[Mr. Microscope]

Fun idea! Can't wait to see the results. Good luck!

 

[SIR PATRICK]

I hope to see this piece covered in polyps!

This thread going to be updated on a regular basis? If it is, I am definitly tagging along.

 

[cody6766]

I'll definitely try to keep it going regularly. Sometimes I forget about things, but I have it in my bookmarks so I don't completely forget. I don't expect crazy rapid updates, but I will update growth and possible relocation of the rock into a dedicated tank in the future.

 

[DEEC77]

Good luck! Looks neat.

~Dee~

 

[SmokedOut]

Defentily different.. Looking foward to seeing the progress.

Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk

 

[chrismck97]

UPDATE Please

 

[Ninjapotamus]

I have wanted to do this for a while. Only problem is the dead birdnest is so brittle it will just break apart scattering your zoas.

 

[gmpolan]

Any update on the growth of these guys?