New Zoa's and Light Acclimation?

[Slakker]

I just picked up 3 or 4 Zoa polyps from my brother. They're being moved from his 14g BioCube with whatever the standard lighting is in there to my 12g with 175W MH.

I drip acclimated them for about an hour (I know, it's debatable on the value of acclimation with Zoa's, but I figured better safe than sorry with my first ones.) They're just loose polyps that he plucked off of a rock and that weren't really attached. I tried to just place them on my rocks, but they kept falling off/getting picked up by the peppermint shrimp and nibbled at.

So, naturally, I found a real small piece of what looks to be coral skeleton fragment and pulled them both out, dried off the "bone" and put some glue on it (from an Elmer's Krazy Glue Pen) and then stuck the Zoa's onto it. I'm pretty sure I got them right side up.

I know I shouldn't worry that they're not open yet as it's only been an hour or so, but I am worried about the lighting difference.

How does one go about acclimating zoa's to stronger lighting? I tried a search but got hosed by the bandwidth limit.

TIA!


Edit: Also, after putting the frag back into the tank after gluing my Xenia closed up a little and remained closed for the last hour...is that anything to worry about?

 

[jduck]

Do you have a skimmer on that small tank? Just start them off at the bottom of the tank and work them up the rock work.

 

[Eklikewhoa]

What does a skimmer have anything to do with light acclimation?


I start my frags off at the bottom of the tank(12gNC) but if the frags came from very low/poor lighting I have these plastic cross-stitching grids leftover from other mods to block some of the lighting.

How do you like the 175MH over the 12g? what do you have under that lighting? I have a 70wMH and want to upgrade to 150w but I have mostly zoas in my tank.

 

[raider77]

Start the frags low and shaded if possible for a little while. Once they appear to be settled in move them a little higher. I always move mine up slowly so I can see how they react to the light. This way I know if they're happy or not.

 

[Slakker]

Okay, thanks for the advice, all.

No, I don't have a skimmer, but IMO on smal tanks in the 10-15 gallon range a 10% water change each week is so simple that having a skimmer is a bit of a waste. I do, however, have a 10g sump in the planning stages right now.

I've moved the frag down onto the sand in the shadow of some of my LR. The thing I'm worried about is it getting moved...my Peppermint shrimp was picking it up and trying to carry it off into the rocks about 15 seconds after I put it into the tank last night. He wanted it bad enough even to attack my hand as I was shooing him away from it! I don't think he's bothered it much since I glued it, but I'll have to keep an eye out anyways.

I love the MH on my 12g. The heat isn't an issue with the light about 10" off of the surface...holds steady between 77.5-78.5, and on warmer days getting up to almost 80. So far I've just got the Zoa's (still not open ) and a currently small colony of Pulsing Xenia, but plan to get some Euphyllia species soon, some ricordeas, and eventually try my hand at SPS.

 

[MarvinsReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10162911#post10162911 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raider77
Start the frags low and shaded if possible for a little while. Once they appear to be settled in move them a little higher. I always move mine up slowly so I can see how they react to the light. This way I know if they're happy or not.

great suggestion...

 

[Slakker]

Here's a couple of pictures...here's a closeup (stupid camera focused on the sand instead of the Zoa's...but it's not too bad):

As you can see they're still closed up tight...

And here's a picture of where they are in the tank...the lil dark spot in the lower left:

The peppermint shrimp still seems pretty darn interested in it...any reason that should concern me?

When should I start to be worried if it's not opening up?

 

[Slakker]

Any thoughts?

 

[oldreefer76]

if the peppermint keeps bothering them, they won't open

 

[Slakker]

He's stopped, I think....what should I do if he decides to go at them again? I don't have anywhere else to put him and can't really thing of a way to keep him off the zoa's...eggcrate won't work, I think the holes are too big...I suppose I could drill a bunch of small holes in a small clear container or something...

 

[Slakker]

I'm sorry if I'm being a little ridiculous, but I haven't been able to find anything about peppermint shrimps bothering them.

Is there a good "everything you ever wanted to know and then some" article for Zoas?

 

[Slakker]

Agh...peppermint shrimp is NOT leaving it alone.

How long before I should try to separate the shrimp from the zoa's somehow? Will the shrimp probably just get used to them being in there after a few days, or does he need to be put into one of those hang-in-tank specimen containers for a while till the zoa's open up?

 

[oldreefer76]

there is no article, everything you wanted to know and then some about zoas or any other part of this hobby, I did my first SW tank in 1974 and have done many since and there are no set answers for most ? asked in this hobby.....it is still a young science keeping reef tanks and in my opinion every tank no matter how big is a Nano compared to the Oceans we work so hard to duplicate in our closed systems

 

[Slakker]

Very true...though there are some really helpful articles to get you started in other areas of the hobby...I just wish there was one every time I get something new...lol

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

try giving the shrimp some food to keep him occupied.

 

[MarvinsReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10164973#post10164973 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Slakker
Here's a couple of pictures...here's a closeup (stupid camera focused on the sand instead of the Zoa's...but it's not too bad):

As you can see they're still closed up tight...

the polyps look healthy still so give them a little more time... some takes longer than others but eventually they will open up.. I've had a PPE polyp not open for two months...

btw, I would recommend glueing the frag into a rubble LR...

 

[Slakker]

I would have, but unfortunately the only LR I have is what you see...three enormous pieces (Such a rookie mistake...when I was buying rock I wasn't planning on getting corals...should have known better...lol). Once my QT tank opens up I'm planning on buying a bunch of LR rubble and smaller pieces of LR so I can be a bit more creative with my aquascape. I figured I could just glue this guy's little pebble thing down to the rock once I found a spot he liked.

I'm always leery about rock as it never seems to be fully cured from the LFS, plus you never know what nasties could show up in some new rock and destroy everything you actually want.

 

[Slakker]

Still not open today, but the polyps still look healthy...I guess it's a waiting game now.

 

[Slakker]

Came home from work to find that something had tipped the poor things upside down. Still closed up.

I've got a decent idea for a temporary solution...I'm going to cut some 1" PVC into a roughly 1/2" length and then cut it in half across the arc. I'll then glue the frag to a short length of rigid airline tubing, drill a hole through the PVC, and insert the airline tubing into the PVC. This should hold them at least upright and in the same spot until I can get some frag plugs or LR rubble.

 

[Slakker]

Rigged this up quick...figured it'd be better than having them loose on that pebble and end up disappearing into my tank somewhere when something decides to take it for a walk.

Short piece of rigid airline tubing glued to the rock that the zoa's are glued to, and then inserted through hole drilled in PVC "half-pipe." What do you think of my "DIY Frag Plug?"