shallow tank, t5's and zoos

[SptfireXIV]

I had the same problem. 6 bulb tek fixture, 20" tall tank, baked all my zoanthids and they were sitting in the sand. Yay T5's! My AoG's bleached the most though, I hope they get their color back!

 

[jafoca]

It all depends on the morph of zoa. The color will be different for each tank a morph is in pretty much.

I have 4x 39watt T5HO in a decent quality (no name) retrofit fixture, and my tank is ~16 inches deep. Some zoas are fine and color up great, others (like my favorite Legions of Evil) are bleaching out mid level in the tank.

Basically, a zoo will look best (to you) depending on where in your tank you put it. Up high color may change etc. I would not suggest 5xt5 fixture over a 18" tank - I bet that would bake my zoas on the bottom of the tank...

 

[BurN]

nice pics..

 

[scoutmaniak]

you can always move the t-5's higher above the tank, and slowly move it down till the zoos adapt. That is what I did. I moved the fixture up like 3 inches, and the zoos that were gettin lite, are coloring up again!! In a week or so, ill just move it down and inch and let the corals adapt. Im gettin some new blue zoos later this week. Were would you guy start the blue colored zoos??

 

[impur]

My fixture sits about 6-7" from the water and i still bake em.

 

[smp]

i've got a 250 watt halide over an 8" deep tank with zoos directly underneath.
IMO, zoos don't bleach from lighting. Acclimatize if they come from a low light tank and you should be fine.