Zoa Tentacles

[westwind1124]

Ok so does anybody know why when ever I buy some zoas the tentacles around the edge are very short and colorful then after about a month in my tank they are REALLY long and look like old man hair or something. The colors don't seem to change much they just look really shaggy, except some green palys i have that I can't seem to figure out for the life of me why they are turning white.

 

[dalston]

Zoa skirt length is more often a result of flow, how is the flow in your tank?

 

[westwind1124]

i would say medium-ish....not cyclonic by anymeans but the ones with the longer skirts are in lower flow areas.

 

[dalston]

.... the ones with the longer skirts are in lower flow areas.

There ya go

 

[westwind1124]

thank ya

 

[westwind1124]

is skirt length specific to species...I have tried moving some into higher flow areas and they wont shorten their skirts (LOL...I just heard in my head how funny that sounds).

 

[Reef Bass]

In my exerience, my zoa / paly skirts get longer in higher flow.

Beautiful mandarin in your avatar pic.

 

[A. Grandis]

Water flow and lighting.
Sunlight is MUCH stronger than our "little 10bulb ATI fixtures".
Try make sure you have enough light for your size system (be careful not to add too much at once - bleaching) and more water flow.
Grandis

 

[dalston]

And just to add...some polyps by character just have long skirts

 

[westwind1124]

yeah I don't really think lighting is an issue...I have a nova extreme pro....should be plenty for zoa's. Yeah I liked that mandarin pic too. I have one but thats not actually a pic of mine.

 

[A. Grandis]

yeah I don't really think lighting is an issue...I have a nova extreme pro....should be plenty for zoa's. Yeah I liked that mandarin pic too. I have one but thats not actually a pic of mine.

The Nova fixture is enough to keep them alive, but so is the NO tubes. Well, not even the MHs will get closer to the natural sunlight, so...

I would try to do some savings and get some T5 fixture with individual reflectors. That would be the best, but not totally necessary to keep them in good shape for long periods of time. In the meanwhile just make sure you change your bulbs when it´s time. If you don´t want to change the fixture, just place the zoas strategically in the system.

Your problem can be the combination of facts.

Grandis.

 

[westwind1124]

i do have the individual reflectors....the pro comes with them....I don't however want to deal with MH's. I don't like the heat and power consumption, plus I like being able to adjust lighting with six bulbs instead of only having one or two MH bulbs. I just would like to get rid of the long skirts mainly on my AOG's cuz they look like shaggy old man hair.

 

[sbwood007]

Can you get a photo of them? I would like to see how lone they are. Just for referance, I have AOG's too.

 

[Trevor15]

Do they look bad with the long skirts or something?

 

[darknessheir]

i have noticed lenth of tenticles differ even in the same colony due to where they are located on rock in procimity of lights

 

[westwind1124]

I wouldn't say they look bad, I just liked the "cleaner" look with the shorter skirts that they had when I got them. here is a pic of what the look like. These aren't the only ones that have the long skirts just seem to be the most noticable since they are larger.

 

[Chupakabra-King]

Those look awesome ! I would love it if mine had those long skirts . I think you should be proud ofem !

 

[westwind1124]

LOL....the tentecles just look like something you would pull out of a vaccuum cleaner....I liked the cleaner look of the shorter ones. Must just be my OCD talking:lolspin:

 

[Dale Gribble]

What are the tentacles that come out of the middle of the Zoa and kinda float around?

 

[westwind1124]

LOL.....Turds