Water flow to increase growth

AMAYEU

AMAYEU

New member
I received a new frag of purple hornets with some mat growth.... my question, Is it better to position the frag with mat growth pointing in the same direction as the water flow or against the flow. Same question goes with the open polyps. Should the open polyps face the flow or have the flow behind it.

Your thoughts to increase growth... granted the flow is low to medium.
 
It depends I have a could of collines of zoos and there on the left side of my tank and I have the two stronger powerheads on the left facing right and one powerheads facingright to left ond my return is right to left so my currant flows left and right so everything sways nicley side to side but they are not directley in the path of flow and they gr pretty fast
 
I have leaned my purple hornet, singular, with the flow and the mat growth is pretty good so far. I think I am seeing some bumps in the mat suggesting some forming buds. However I believe I have found a greater way to improve growth! Recently I have resumed trying to feed my zoanthids with mysis shrimp and have actually seen new growth from my VDMs and Darth Mauls that haven't produced a new bud in probably five months! I am pretty sure that feeding my zoanthids may have given them strength to propagate.
 
Bringing this topic back after a week. More of general question on my tank.

I have a 12 gal nano, knowing this is not the nano forum, but I want to add a koralia powerhead 240 gph to my tank help with growth of my zoas. This not taking in consideration of other factors, water quality, lighting... etc with growth. I currently am running the stock pump 165 gph on the return with two split nozzles.

Let me know if you think I should add the koralia.

Thx.
 
Oh... yes, all zoas are different in their needs of lighting and water flow. Just looking at the overall well being of all the zoas in the tank.
 
I had 1-2 VDM polyps left out of a colony of 15 that melted on me...They never grew and I lost another polyp cause i kept trying to save the colony by either moving it away from other corals or just placing it properly cause it was moved by a snail or my wrasse.

Once I secured it in place, within a month it budded a polyp...and in a week a third...now I have 4...
 
Hornets and anyother z n p like flow and need it to have the necessary nutrients blown to them so they can grow... but not to the point where thier getting blasted.... thier a "set it and forget it" coral.. just put them in and let them do thier thing...
 
Thanks Friday. Sounds good. I placed them in the tank a few weeks ago and haven't touched. I was concerned about getting the placement right, so I didn't have to move again...
 
I point the face of my purple hornet mini colony towards the indirect flow from my MP10s'. Started with 1-2 polyps now almost 20
 
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Ha. I got the face of my 3 of 4 polyps in the direct water flow. Oh wellz, we will see how it goes. I am not touching them. A fellow reefer told me a week ago, "LET YOUR ZOAS GROW!" Thanks guys for all the help.
 
Lots of good info here, just adding my 2 cents. I have never turned them to face the direction of the current. I kinda feel it's more important to just make sure they are wiggled by the current then anything but not blown over. Many variables, including temp, salinity, tank parameters, tank maturity, lighting type, bulb, K value, age of bulbs etc will determine growth rate. Having fish in your tank is also beneficial for their growth. Growth/growth rate has absolutely nothing at all to do with who they came from or the name. Captive breed polyps with fare much better in captivity than wild caught polyps.

I'd set them and forget them as persistent moving will only slow/stunt/delay growth. Feeding twice a week won't hurt as long as it's done sparingly with meaty foods and zooplankton. Years ago, I use to feed phyto till I learned it was only benefiting my fillter feeders in my tank.

There's some great reading in the link below and a few surprises if you read the entire thread, YUM YUM !!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=586173&highlight=zoanthid+growth

Here's another good discussion thread on growth to help with all of the new attention. Glad to see it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=729863&highlight=zoanthid+growth

Good luck.

Mucho Reef
 
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Hey Mike.

My purple hornet happens to be facing flow and looks very happy. I've never really been concerned with the orientation of the polyp with the current, just that they have sufficient flow. I have moved polyps which were suffering (such as when I did the peroxide dip) into higher flow to help with recovery, and it did seem to work. I do think there is an upper end limit on flow and way too much flow isn't better than sufficient flow. More flow can result in longer skirts, in my experience. And I haven't seen orientation in the flow affecting growth.
 
Agreed, flow, optimal flow, can do wonders in sending the right amount of nutrients to polyps thereby elongating those skirts like you won't believe. My buddy Acerhigh has a system whereby every single colony, not polyps or frags, but colonies whose skirts are all a 1/4 inch long. I'm talking hundreds of polyps all over his tank. He plumbed 4 lines spraying downward from each corner of his tank with alternating current. The polyps would be hit by current from all 4 directions within 1 minute, CRAZY !!!!

Mucho Reef
 
Ken- You found me! Thanks for the advice and didn't know you had purple hornets too. Can't wait till next month's meeting. Picked some more zoa's and leaning towards them vs getting more sps.

Mucho - As always thank you for your very detailed responses and valuable references.

Update- I received a 4 polyp + 1 baby frag on May 25th. Its been two months and I have 6 + 2 babies.

I believe in the set it and forget it method and gives the frag a stable placement. I am loosing a tiny bit of color with the skirt because I placed them in the low light, at first and I didn't want to overdo it my LED's. Whenever I make the first move to better light, they should color. Move once every 3 months, until I can put on a LR.
 
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