Pale Zoos

[mike810]

1. Temp of tank---77-78
2. All parameters including , Alk-8, PH-8.1-8.2, Mag-1300 etc and even Calcium 420
Nitrates-10-15
Phosphate- 0 last time I check with hanna meter. Probably gone up since I pulled my GFO reactor offline a couple weeks ago
3. Salinity-1.026
4. Is it a frag, colony, new addition, wild caught or not, shipped or pick up? colony-mini colony
6. List the current/flow, even lighting when applicable. 1mp40 , 8x39 ati pm
tank: 36x24x18
7. Additives-TMP salt and 2part

My zoos been in my tank probably 6-7 months or longer. They were a nice color when I added them to my tank. Over time they faded in color and are very pale. I recently added some biopellets maybe 3 weeks ago. Now I only run pellets and Rox carbon from brs.

Before the pellet addition, I was running HC GFO and ROX from brs. IDK why they turn sooo pale. Can anyone explain this to me?

Fish:
2 platinum clowns,
2 barttlets anthias
radiant wrasse
yellow coris wrasse (just sold him a couple days ago so he's gone now)

Here are some example of what I'm dealing with.
Candy Apple Reds:


Cats Eyes:



Heres the kicker, I gave my brother a frag of the candy apple reds which was a 2 polyp frag that didn't grow a new polyps for months and looked identicle to the pic above.

Since being in his tank, the central has developed a dark green and the skirt a dark red. Also, each of the polyps have grown maybe 2-3 times its original size vs. when it was in my tank. Any clue whats going on?

TIA

 

[SIR PATRICK]

Did you start with a full directed dose on the bio pellets, or a fraction of the directed dose?

To big of an initial dose can strip the water too fast, and cause lightening in polyps. Same with most pro biotic systems.

Need to move slow, especially with zoanthids.

If it has to do at all with the new addition of bio pellets, I am guessing that you used the full directed starting dose, as per instructed on the package. A much smaller initial dose is recomended by users on reef forums.

Forgive me if my guess is way off, just the initial thought that came to mind after reading this post.

I will be thinking on this one further.

 

[mike810]

My zoos been in my tank probably 6-7 months or longer. They were a nice color when I added them to my tank. Over time they faded in color and are very pale. So they been pale like this for about I would say about 5-6 months.

 

[SIR PATRICK]

Also- the second pics got me wondering.

After the start of bio pellets, did you notice a difference in water clarity? Somtimes, the sudden change in clarity all of a sudden lets more light penetrate, and has been know to effect some of the more touchy polyps, like the cats eyes can be.

I had the same issue with my cats eyes. They were the first to lighten up.

 

[SIR PATRICK]

Been light now for 5-6 months now?

I would check your nitrate test.

My polyps didnt lighten up like yours till I hit very low nutrients- close to 0 nitrates and phosphates.

My cats eyes look just like yours.

 

[mike810]

yup been very light for 5-6 months. I use api and salifert to test for nitrates, both read the same. My water has always been very clear as I run Rox Carbon from BRS.

 

[mike810]

When I took the pics, it actually added some color so in person they are both very pale. Polyps on the cars are almost transparent. Figure it would darken up over time but haven't seen it. the frag I gave my bro sat in his tank maybe a couple weeks and it got darker fast and grew big, almost like a paly size.

 

[A. Grandis]

Sounds like bleaching to me. Shock of some type. Perhaps temp or light in the past.
Try to remember, if you can.
Also, I don't recommend the use of GAC for zoas. There is no need, if you do enough partial water changes. Loer nitrates with PWC also!!
Do you do water changes?
They could have bleached and will take a while to come back. Some times they will change the color forever after a bleach event. No matter what you do.
I've seen zoas taking up to 6 months to start showing some good color, coming back from bleaching.
I would bring Nitrates down and temp up to 79F.

Could be low light or too blue.
You've got 8 X 39 T5s, right? That's more than enough...
Not low light.

If you have only blue light (actinics or blue plus bulbs)...
I would carefully add some white (aquablue or 10Ks). Slow!!!
Try remove the GAC.

Good luck.
Grandis.

 

[mike810]

Hey Grandis,

Thanks for the suggestions, I will try removing the GAC for a couple months and see what happens. Recently I been doing 5 Gallons a week on my 50-60 gallon water volume system. Before I was doing 10-15 gallons a week battling nitrates.

Yes I have a 8x39 ATI PM
bulb combo:
ATI b+
b+
b+
blue special
kz fiji purple
b+
b+
b+

I will be changing out my bulbs soon, almost at the 1 year mark. New combo will be:

blue special
uvl super actinic
b+
GE 6500k
B+
purple plus
b+
b+

 

[kichimark]

Hey Mike...you look familiar (so. cal reefer forum? ).

When you added the zoanthids in your tank when did they start to change in color? Did you do anything different during these times? Where they a nice deep color and grew then changed?

I run GAC and GFO from BRS as well. I have read and talked to experienced reefers that GAC added to a tank (that never ran it before) will cause the water to become clearer and will allow more light to penetrate which can cause a shock to some corals if not properly adjusted.

 

[Japsican]

I'd try changing the bulbs as you mentioned soon. That'll prob help to bring their color back.

 

[mike810]

Hey Mike...you look familiar (so. cal reefer forum? ). Yes Sir! :wave:

When you added the zoanthids in your tank when did they start to change in color? Did you do anything different during these times? Where they a nice deep color and grew then changed? They were nice and in a about a month, faded in color. Didn't do anything different.

I run GAC and GFO from BRS as well. I have read and talked to experienced reefers that GAC added to a tank (that never ran it before) will cause the water to become clearer and will allow more light to penetrate which can cause a shock to some corals if not properly adjusted. I've ran GAC from the beginning so I do not believe this to be the issue.

+1 on bleaching... how long you keep your lights on for?

Lights run from 6pm- 1am dawn/dusk. 7pm-12:30am daylights

I'd try changing the bulbs as you mentioned soon. That'll prob help to bring their color back.

Yup, I think I will be buying some new bulbs today and probably raise my fixture a bit. Change maybe 1-2 bulbs every few days. I think my problem might be that I have WAY TOO MUCH LIGHT?

Coralline doesn't grow on my rocks at the top, it only grows on my base rock which is somewhat sheltered from the light. Is this a good indicator of too much light?

 

[A. Grandis]

You can't have too much light!
They bleached, if so, because of some shock.
If the light was the issue was because you didin't give enough time for them to get used to the system/changes.
I would change 1 bulb every week or two and watch...
I would also remove the GAC and see what happens.
But you just can't remove the GAC and chages bulbs at the same time.

Grandis.

 

[Friday Night]

Shade em a lil. I had cars as well out in the open and they did the same with my PD.

 

[dublo8]

I'm going to throw this one out there as it's been touched on but not really flat out said. Rox carbon will pull damn near everything out of the water. It is extremely good at it's job. If you watch the video that BRS has on there site explaining the different carbons and what they can pull out of the water/how fast/how long etc. The Rox cleans that water crystal clear, 3 times faster and lasts waaay longer before exhausted. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they aren't getting enough nutrients. You state that you gave a frag to your brother. does he happen to be using the same carbon? If not try and use something else for a bit and see what happens.

It's possible that it's also the bio pellets but without making major changes to your parameters the carbon would be my first try.

It also may be a combination of the two and from what I can get out of your post it seems as your lacking nutrients in the water(this can be a good thing, sometimes bad). The only thing your zoa's are growing off of is the light and may be using up all of there zoanthela to make up for the lack of nutrients.

just a guess.

 

[mike810]

I'll try shading them. My brother use rox carbon also. I will be doing a wc tomorrow and I'll take out the rox and throw in some gfo. Since taking my gfo offline for the pellets last month. I have noticed some algae growing.

I wish I had a lack of nutrients but no3 test still shows 10-15ppm. I'll let my tank run without carbon for awhile and see what happens. I just changed out my bulbs also since they were 11 months old. Loving the new looks, a crisp white look with a hint of blue sweet.

I do believe rox is strong and last long. Partly the reason why I chose to use it. If it is rox making it really pale would be kinda suck cause I just ordered 2 new large bottles of rox. Maybe I should lower the amount of rox I add in when I do bring in back online to clear up the water but damn my water is crystal clear right now.

 

[dublo8]

I'll try shading them. My brother use rox carbon also. I will be doing a wc tomorrow and I'll take out the rox and throw in some gfo. Since taking my gfo offline for the pellets last month. I have noticed some algae growing.

I wish I had a lack of nutrients but no3 test still shows 10-15ppm. I'll let my tank run without carbon for awhile and see what happens. I just changed out my bulbs also since they were 11 months old. Loving the new looks, a crisp white look with a hint of blue sweet.

I do believe rox is strong and last long. Partly the reason why I chose to use it. If it is rox making it really pale would be kinda suck cause I just ordered 2 new large bottles of rox. Maybe I should lower the amount of rox I add in when I do bring in back online to clear up the water but damn my water is crystal clear right now.

I use rox as well. My total system volume is about 50g. I only run 3 tablespoons in my reactor. Even though you have No3 present, that's not to say your system has "nutrients" (as in the good stuff). Do you dose anything? trace elements could also be pulled out of the water from that carbon as well. Another thing to try is maybe only using the carbon for a half hour a day and see what happens. I'm just throwing things out there and by no means will any of this be a surefire way to correct the issue. I'm just trying to find the issue at hand.

I also use a carbon source in my tank but I dose Vit. C and noticed that 2 colonies went from being very dark/rich (kind of boring) colors to very bright in only a matter of days. I thought one colony was just plain brown/very dark green. After the vit c dosing they have dark purple lashes with a emerald green center. The other just lightened up significantly to an almost neon color. Both of those frags have been with me for almost a year.

I'm sure you'll figure it out.

 

[mike810]

Well guys, not much has changed in terms of coloration in the zoas.

Things I have tried:
Stopped using Rox
Changed bulbs
Cut back on GFO
Raised lights + cut back photoperiod (had to anyways due to new bulbs)
Shaded the CARS with no luck, still pale as ever

What I'll try next since none of the above worked will be to feed the corals. I'll try feeding a mix of cyclopeeze and coral frenzy. Will also dose pohls xtra daily and maybe AA also. Feedback on this new route guys?

 

[CNGH]

^^
any updates?

 

[mike810]

nothing good to update, zoos are still in the same condition. I purchased a ricordia that was mounted on a rock cover in coraline. Left it on my sand bed and in two days the coraline had bleached bone white. Now I will try lowering my daylight photoperiod even more. I had daylights running 7 hrs, going to try 6 hrs then 5 hrs.

I have very little coraline growth anywhere in my tank except for the base rocks which are somewhat shaded and is covered in a deep purple. TOO much light maybe? will update soon.

Maybe I should've went with a 6 bulb instead of a 8 bulb!!!!! ajf;lasdjf;lasjfd