zoa losing its color

[claytontong]

zoas are a new thing for me, but I wanted to try them because of their great colors, in everyone else's tank. I have a number of small new colonies that I'm trying; most of them are now losing their color after a couple of weeks, mostly just turning into brown polyps. some green centered ones mostly gone, same with some pink centers, same with orange centers. they all are fully open and seem healthy (again I'm new to this - nothing bad is obvious).
here's a specific example - a colony of 15 pink centered guys (can't remember skirt color, but its brown now), pink is almost compltely replaced by brown; only a dot of pink in the very middle. it's about 4 inches below the water surface, directly underneath a 175W MH 10K bulb. water flow is medium to low at this spot. it is adjacent to a healthy pulsing xenia. polyps fully open. very little zooplex added for feeding, nothing else to eat except leftover fish food.
help! too much light? too little light? water? ???

tank: 72 ga, fish+rock+zoas+palys+pulsing xenia+kenya
2 x 175w MH 10k, 2 x 54w PC 10k, 2 x 54w PC actinic
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate = 0
ph=8.3, salt=1.026

 

[jessp]

it's because you have a lot of 10k light. replace the 10k pc's w/ all actinics and it may help. or replace the 10k mh w/ 14k

 

[650-IS350]

Attinics, blues help make the color pop...

 

[killingseed]

vu purple or super actinic can make them pop even more.

 

[650-IS350]

Try Fiji Purple - heard good things about it.. will be trying it soon. I'm using REDS right now.

 

[claytontong]

thanks for the advice guys - will definitely swap out some bulbs and try something else!

 

[Lord Sevein]

Yeah I can defiantly vouch for using a bluer bulb(s). I had my zoas under 60w of NO fluorescents (~6500k) for a couple of months. The survived (and even grew to my surprise) but never really caught my eye.

Now I have upgraded to a 24g aquapod w/ 150w sunpod. The sunpod is using an Iwasaki 50k bulb. As soon as I put my corals into the tank I noticed a HUGE difference in color. For example, some of my green button polyps that had been a dull brown in the other tank were a metallic green! The difference was simply amazing!!

Hope this helps!
-Sevein
:strooper:

 

[aquarius77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10785413#post10785413 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lord Sevein
I have upgraded to a 24g aquapod w/ 150w sunpod. The sunpod is using an Iwasaki 50k bulb.

I have never even heard of a 50k bulb, is that a typo Lord?
If not i bet those colors are poppin like crazy.

 

[Lord Sevein]

aquarius77 - Nope not a typo. Iwasaki makes a 50k DE model . . . I just can't seem to find a link to a lamp. If I can find one I'll post it.

The lamp actually came with the sunpod along with the stock current 14k. I really love the bulb even though some may say that the growth won't be as good under it. Despite it's name it really has a 12-14k look but the colors pop as if it were under actinics. I would post a picture but the cameras I have used just don't capture the true color of the tank.

In short, I am really happy with the lamp!

-Sevein
:strooper:

 

[aquarius77]

My sunpod didnt come with a 50k bulb, i feel shafted. =-(
I am gonna have to look into that, im using a giessemann megachrome blue 20k and its pretty powerfull, still not enough blue for me.

 

[salty55]

hmmm. i have to dis-agree with the theory of too much 10 causing the zoa's to turn brown. i have mine under pc's with dual 67k and 10k with dual actinics. and mine are doing the same thing. i have had them for about two months, they have been a brilliant green until a couple weeks ago. now each polyp is slowly turning brown. i was hoping someone here had a good answer for this problem.

 

[Lord Sevein]

aquarius77 - The 50k bulb is actually pretty white. I would say that it is a lot whiter than most 14k bulbs I have seen. It just makes the colors pop as if I were using 3 or 4 t5 actinic bulbs along with the MH bulb. For me, this is the best of both worlds . . . since I can only have one bulb in my fixture.

If you are just wanting more blue I would suggest a hamilton 20k.

salty55 - I should point out that under the fluorescent lights in the room most of my corals look pretty drab . . . but under the MH light they pop like mad! (A good example is the green button polyps. These are very brown under regular light, but are VERY green under the MH.) Maybe it has more to do with the light being reflected by the coral rather than the actual color of the coral . . . if that makes sense.

I have also heard about nutrients affecting zoa coloration. I started a thread here somewhere . . . when I find it I'll post a link

-Sevein