My zoanthids suck lately. Advice please?

[neuro]

bee, fwiw -

fyi, in my 10g frag tank, i don't have a sand bed. All of my zoas were doing just fine (I think I have roughtly 15 kinds including palys) with regular water changes. I'm not adding anything special except flakes for my clowns. Oh, and I have two small tiny pumps and an AC70 with rubble.

They did however grow much faster when I put them under a kessil 150. That's an understatement. They exploded.

Though, a few have closed and have not opened up recently, in the last few days after I tried gluing/epoxying a few of them down after a water change. I'm in a similar boat.

 

[LittleBee]

I finally got around to taking the rest of the sand out. I ended up taking all the rocks out so I could get every bit of sand out. Given there is tiny just the tiniest bit in here prolly but only a few peices now we have converted to white!

Not too cloudy, tried to get the scape same as before :/ good news is the last few days I turned off the powerilter just for kicks and added another small koralia 240 for surface agitation..wouldnt you know the most stubborn zoas are open. All bc of flow? I doubt it but they are looking decent.

 

[neuro]

Not too cloudy, tried to get the scape same as before :/ good news is the last few days I turned off the powerilter just for kicks and added another small koralia 240 for surface agitation..wouldnt you know the most stubborn zoas are open. All bc of flow? I doubt it but they are looking decent.

Hmm that's good to know; maybe I should try that (more flow on some stubborn zoas). I'm afraid how difficult it will be to move rocks out of the way to get at spots in a larger, more established tank.

 

[LittleBee]

Actually neuro it was when they are in less direct flow when they opened up more. So I turned off th filter which was pouring water straight down into the and added a koralia to move the surface of the water.

 

[neuro]

Actually neuro it was when they are in less direct flow when they opened up more. So I turned off th filter which was pouring water straight down into the and added a koralia to move the surface of the water.

ahh ok got it. i'll give that a shot also

 

[A. Grandis]

Tank is looking good!!
I'm glad the zoas are opening!!
In my tank the best looking polyps are the ones exposed to better water flow and light, on the top.
They won't like a direct flow, but alternated indirect good flow is what would make them happy.
Your alkalinity will get better and better with the partial water changes and the new sand.
The sand isn't responsible for the alkalinity, nor will maintain it. But that sand won't work against you in any way!!
The zoas will probably begin to open more and more...

Stability and maintenance...
:thumbsup:

Good luck!!

Grandis.

 

[LittleBee]

Yes I am betting the sand will help out the tank. I've always done regular maintenance on this tank so idk how it has high alk and phosphates but i stuck some charts in the tank so hopefully that will grow and reduce some phosphates. Maybe all the crap in the sand was producing phosphates and feeding too much hehe. I've been strict with the feeding. I've started feeding cyclopeeze and I only have to use a tiny bit of it for my mandarin and clown goby. The cleaner shrimp gets most of it tho :/ hopefully the zoas will continue to open up again like they used to..oh and im most likely going to purchase a par38 to replace my marineland bc the plastic fitting on the plug is partially melted, go figure.

 

[LittleBee]

Another update on th zoas. My plug on my marineland melted the other day so I called for a new one and they sent me one! Well you can just compare this Fts with the above one and guess what another zoa inhibiting factor was.. The light did dim over time. This new one is bright! Just like I remember my 29g being bright when my old fixture was still new. I'm using this fixture for now but I am ordering some par38s for the ten gallon. I want a better quality light that is dimmable and has a better spectrum. Until those come these will do. Oh and after an hour or so of this light being on the tank the zoas have opened up almost all the way! So between the sand and the lights I think we have solved the problem! Oh and the flow.

 

[LittleBee]

 

[A. Grandis]

:thumbsup:

I'm very happy for you!!
The tank looks great!!!!

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Double post.

 

[LittleBee]

Time for a little update. So I've changed the substrate and changed the lighting now. I switched from the marineland to two par38 bulbs with 12 LEDs (white,blue and uv) and the zoas seem to be looking better! I'm only having trouble with one small colony now. I just hung the par38s today so the zoas still need some time to adjust but so far I think they like them better.

 

[LittleBee]

Double post removed

 

[Lee_is_007]

The colony your still having a problem with, dip them in some Furan-2. It works amazing.

Use 1 cup of tank water for 1 pack of furan-2 and dip for 20 min. Wear gloves! Furan has saved many of my zoas for dying. I swear by it I dont work for API I promise lol

 

[A. Grandis]

The colony your still having a problem with, dip them in some Furan-2. It works amazing.

Use 1 cup of tank water for 1 pack of furan-2 and dip for 20 min. Wear gloves! Furan has saved many of my zoas for dying. I swear by it I dont work for API I promise lol

The problem with that colony is probably no more than cyanos irritating it.

Grandis.

 

[LittleBee]

Grandis I think you are correct. I blew off all the algae and they are opening up again.

 

[A. Grandis]

Grandis I think you are correct. I blew off all the algae and they are opening up again.

Yes, the new light will make the cyano to come a little stronger while the system adapts to it. The partial water changes in a maintenance schedule, like you do, will help. A skimmer would also help and GAC too, with the constant removal of excess organics. The less water flow close to that colony, the faster cyano will grow back on it. Try to reduce the photoperiod during this adaptation, so the cyano doesn't bother them so much. That's the key right now!!
Cyano needs to be controlled with water chemistry and light.
:thumbsup:

Grandis.

 

[kevin32]

Wow nice lighting! Zoas looks great!