No growth

[rustyjames]

Hello, I have 3 types of zoas (magician, fire and ice and bambam) for about 5-6 months now and have seen almost zero growth. They open everyday and have good color. Tank is a 30 long set up in january, 20 gal sump I added a month ago, just upgraded skimmer (Tunze 9002), Nova extreme 2x39 t5. I drip kalk 24/7, 5 gal/week water change with IO and distilled.
Params after last wc
sg 1.025
cal 420
dKH 8.6
mag 1325
ph 8.4
Params stay pretty much the same, no big swings. Only things I can think of are phosphates (don't have a test kit but big hunk of chaeto in sump which was in my dt for months. No algae to speak of.) or too little light. Tried different placements but nothing. Any help would be great.

 

[MTB]

What kind of flow is in your tank? Where are your nitrates at? I thought lighting at first but a 30gal long isnt a very deep tank. 2 more bulbs probably wouldn't hurt. I think you would still see some growth though. Also distilled water isn't the best as most companies use copper piping in the distillation process.

 

[rustyjames]

Flow is about 1000gph, nitrates-nitrites-ammonia all read 0 on 2 different test kits, at some point (maybe x-mas) I'll get rodi. I know more light would be good but like you said tank not that deep. I just keep thinking there has to something wrong with the water quality to have 0 growth after 6 months.

 

[ZOAKEEPER]

What else is in the tank? (fish,sps,lps) What do you feed your tank. If I fed you only enough to live, and let you walk in the sunlight, would you grow?

 

[rustyjames]

2 yellow tail damsel that I feed lightly every other day. Aside from the zoas I have a blueberry acro that was a freebie, I didn't want it but was sent anyway. Amazingly it's only lost a little color around the base and has good pe. I've read many times some feed zoas, some don't. Do you mean food or trace elements? Oh, and a ton of brittles, bristles and pods.

 

[Drock169]

i agree with the more lighting, currently i assume 1 of your bulbs is an actinic and 1 maybee 10000k or 15000k, 2 more bulbs would be a great help

 

[Timanator]

I run almost the same setup except I have a 4 bulb Current Sundial and a Sapphire Skimmer. I would think an upgrade on lights and skimmer would prob do the trick.

 

[rustyjames]

Thanks everyone, I hope it's a lighting issue and not water quality. Timanator I thought the Tunze would be a good choice for a small tank. I just got it 2 weeks ago so no chance for an upgrade any time soon. On a side note, I've seen a members tank thread on RC and my local forum, it's a 72 bow packed with coral and thriving with 2 x 54 t5. That's why I thought my problem might be more than light.

 

[AZINDY]

Could it be that they are just slow growers??? Do you have any other zoas/pays, if yes how fast are they growing??
I have several different kinda of zoas in both my tanks. Most of them grow a few new heads a month, a small few (bam-bams included) grow very very slow maybe a head or 2every few months if I'm lucky. Not sure if this is of any help to you, but its what I've noticed in my tanks.

 

[Fcamdog]

What bulbs are you running? What K rating? I doubt your water quality is an issue, unless it could be too clean. With sump running well and skimming too much may be getting removed from your water.

If you would, give the specs on your lighting. I run two 55w PC on my 20g, one 10K and one actinic. I get fair to good growth on my zoos and lps. On the same tank I have run a 50/50 bulb and an actinic and had much slower growth, but it looked a little better to the eye.

I've never seen my zoo's eat like an LPS, but they are filter feeders so I feed DT's phytoplakton 2-3 times a week. I have used it for a month, then went a month without and there was a difference in my growth rates. Feeding DT's ='d better growth. Have you tried feeding DT's?

One way, or another you'll solve this mystery and start seeing some growth. Now let's figure it out.

Fcamdog

 

[rustyjames]

Fcamdog, thanks much appreciated. Lighting is 1 10k, 1 460 actinic. As far as water being too clean I was skimmerless for almost a month before I got the Tunze. Tonight when I get home I'm going to swap out the actinic bulb for a 12k I have lying around. Then I'll look into phyto (if that's what you recomend). I guess I'll take it from there, don't want to do too much too fast, correct? Again, thanks for the help, it's encouraging in a discouraging situation.