Why do i have such little success with Zoanthids?

[NickReef17]

Well a few months ago i purchased a nice rock that had a variety of zoanthids, purple star, ect on it. and it did well for about a week and then very slowly did worse and worse. this is what it currently looks like :



(if for some reason you can't view the image above, a photo should be attached below)

When i first purchased the rock, the colony's of zoanthids were full and growing well!

The levels in my tank are:

Salinity: 1.024
Ph 8.2
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 80ppm

**keep in mind my nitrate is only high because a fish was killed from being bullied and i didn't notice till the next day. My nitrate is usually much much lower. (but never 0)

fish;
I currently have lots of happy tangs, chromis, angels, clownfish, ect.
They appear to be extremely happy, growing fast and healthy.

Coral;
I have a hammer and frog spawn colony that are growing crazy fast, a metallic open brain that is nearly double the size of when i got it, Yellow Zoas that have gone from 1 head to 13 heads, a healthy acan, a large sinularia, a healthy colony of regular brown zoas, and 4 nice large fuzzy mushrooms.

Inverts;
Large mag anemone that i rescued and was nearly dying (now very healthy), Long tentacle anemone that has nearly doubled in size, Long spine Urchin, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, peppermint shrimp, starfish.

Filtration;
I have a sump/refugium with a very large clump of chaeoto algae.

Lighting;
T5 HighOutput. 4 bulbs front to back that span my 6 foot long tank. ($600 dollar fixture)

Dosing;
I currently dose a diluted mixture of "reef fuel"

Tank;
125 gal long, little over a year old.

Extra information;
It just kinda sucks because everything else is doing so well in my tank, all my fish coral and inverts are thriving except for these guys. I never seem to be able to have fancy colorful zoanthids. Some one help!

↓What they currently look like↓

 

[organism]

Aside from the nitrates issue your zoanthids (and the ones in the background) are stretching because they're not getting enough light. It's likely what's made them stop growing and not look as nice. What fixture do you have over it with 4 T5's over a 125, and what bulb combination are you using? How long has it been since you've replaced the bulbs? At the end of the day you don't have enough light over your tank unfortunately.

 

[reelredfish]

Can you move them up to a higher light cause i fully agree here

 

[Grkgod36]

Yup mine did the same they were reaching I turned up up my whites on my led's and they seem to be ok . But remember to much light will make them not open up as much and kinda stay half shrivled

 

[NickReef17]

@organism

I use aquatic life quad bulb t5 H.O. i really though this light would have been sufficient since it cost me around 600$!

The bulbs are white and acctinic in combination (white, actinic, white, actinic)

 

[hobineros]

Price doesn't equate quality always my friend. I ran a 44 pentagon (about 2 feet deep) with a Crappy Eco Tech LED from china...

Zoas grew beautifully in that tank with a junk light (or so I was told).

now I have progressed into a bigger tank with more expensive toys... I cannot figure out how to get my zoas to come out with my Kessil LEDS.

Go figure... expensive pieces of junk. LOL!

+1 on needing more light thou, those babies look dim even in the pic.

 

[hobineros]

Price doesn't equate quality always my friend. I ran a 44 pentagon (about 2 feet deep) with a Crappy Eco Tech LED from china...

Zoas grew beautifully in that tank with a junk light (or so I was told).

now I have progressed into a bigger tank with more expensive toys... I cannot figure out how to get my zoas to come out with my Kessil LEDS.

Go figure... expensive pieces of junk. LOL!

+1 on needing more light thou, those babies look dim even in the pic.

I'm not a hundred % sure of this, but... I noticed my zoa's do a lot better with a lot more blue / purple lights... Try adding less white and more blue maybe?

Perhaps you can find a posting with a super nice Zoa tank, and a similar light systems as yours. Don't reinvent success... Just copy paste!

 

[organism]

I use aquatic life quad bulb t5 H.O. i really though this light would have been sufficient since it cost me around 600$!

The bulbs are white and acctinic in combination (white, actinic, white, actinic)

Not a great fixture unfortunately, pretty sure those don't have individual reflectors... What some people who have them do is replace the bulbs with ATI brand since they have more PAR. hobineros is right that zoanthids do better under bluer light, so if you go with 3x ATI Blue Plus and 1 ATI Aquablue you should at least have stronger lighting in a better spectrum. It probably still won't be enough light, but it's better than what you have if you don't want to upgrade your light. If it were me I'd get a new light instead of new bulbs...

now I have progressed into a bigger tank with more expensive toys... I cannot figure out how to get my zoas to come out with my Kessil LEDS.

I just had the same issue with a Kessil over my frag tank, those lights are awful. Ended up making a great DYI LED fixture and just attaching it to the Kessil gooseneck for less than the price of the Kessil, corals look awesome now

 

[hobineros]

Not a great fixture unfortunately, pretty sure those don't have individual reflectors... What some people who have them do is replace the bulbs with ATI brand since they have more PAR. hobineros is right that zoanthids do better under bluer light, so if you go with 3x ATI Blue Plus and 1 ATI Aquablue you should at least have stronger lighting in a better spectrum. It probably still won't be enough light, but it's better than what you have if you don't want to upgrade your light. If it were me I'd get a new light instead of new bulbs...



I just had the same issue with a Kessil over my frag tank, those lights are awful. Ended up making a great DYI LED fixture and just attaching it to the Kessil gooseneck for less than the price of the Kessil, corals look awesome now

I think the "problem" with the kessils is the light spectrum and the intensity... I was very concerned with burning my corals so I had the lights really low (like 25% max low), but I have faith... Hopefully everything adjusts to them as I ramp up the intensity over the next few weeks. I think ill do 5% a week until I reach max 75% .

not sure of this, but I think the new kessils have a UV LED chip. I don't think most t5's or halides output in that spectrum. Could be wrong... im pretty new lol.

 

[organism]

I think the "problem" with the kessils is the light spectrum and the intensity...

Yup, as in their spectrum is terrible for any given intensity. It's not so much "problem" as it is problem seeing as how the light's only job is to give good intensity at a spectrum that makes corals look good, unless you're a fan of washed out colors... It's like saying the only "problem" with a car is it doesn't go over 30. The before and after of coral colors with Kessil vs DIY over my tank isn't even in the same ballpark, in about two weeks everything went from greyish overtones to neon again. Funny thing is I have yet to meet any Kessil users for whom Kessil isn't their first lamp who haven't had the same experience. The ones with Kessil as their first lamp just don't know yet...

 

[hobineros]

Yup, as in their spectrum is terrible for any given intensity. It's not so much "problem" as it is problem seeing as how the light's only job is to give good intensity at a spectrum that makes corals look good, unless you're a fan of washed out colors... It's like saying the only "problem" with a car is it doesn't go over 30. The before and after of coral colors with Kessil vs DIY over my tank isn't even in the same ballpark, in about two weeks everything went from greyish overtones to neon again. Funny thing is I have yet to meet any Kessil users for whom Kessil isn't their first lamp who haven't had the same experience. The ones with Kessil as their first lamp just don't know yet...

I think we need a new thread so we don't hijack the OPs subject. LOL!

 

[NickReef17]

Well i did some shifting and i just moved them to about 3 inches higher than they were before. Hopefully this makes a difference, it just sucks because i just recently upgraded to these lights (about a month ago) and the place i got them from said that they would be great for growing corals.

I assume i can't grow sps under these lights? I mean they are actually super bright..

I mean, my other corals grow ridiculously well. even my other zoas on another rocks

 

[joshky]

Well i did some shifting and i just moved them to about 3 inches higher than they were before. Hopefully this makes a difference, it just sucks because i just recently upgraded to these lights (about a month ago) and the place i got them from said that they would be great for growing corals.

I assume i can't grow sps under these lights? I mean they are actually super bright..

I mean, my other corals grow ridiculously well. even my other zoas on another rocks

I know it's slightly off topic, but I'd really like to see a picture of your mag.

 

[organism]

Well i did some shifting and i just moved them to about 3 inches higher than they were before. Hopefully this makes a difference, it just sucks because i just recently upgraded to these lights (about a month ago) and the place i got them from said that they would be great for growing corals.

I assume i can't grow sps under these lights? I mean they are actually super bright..

I mean, my other corals grow ridiculously well. even my other zoas on another rocks

Doubtful that 3" would make much difference but it's a start... The place you got them from was technically right in that they're great for growing corals, but were less than honest in not telling you that they probably won't grow most corals. For future reference a good idea in this hobby to research twice and buy once, we've all learned that one the hard way

As far as SPS you may be able to put some Montipora at the top of the tank, but it's tough to know for sure. The thing is your T5's are bright because even one T5 is really bright, but 4 of them over a 6' tank just isn't bright enough. Also your spectrum is on the yellower side with 2 white and 2 actinic, so you're not going to see very bright colors on your corals either.

My guess is most of the zoanthids in your tank have elongated skirts like those, does that sound about right?

 

[NickReef17]

I know it's slightly off topic, but I'd really like to see a picture of your mag.

The funny thing is i actually rescued the mag from someone who was using regular hood lights from a freshwater tank...

from what i can see, its already made massive improvements.

 

[Cincyreef]

That light should grow corals. I had the same fixture on a 55g. a few years ago, and grew everything with it. I did change out the bulbs to ATI as soon as I got it though, as someone else mentioned in this thread. Best of luck.