Zoas half open all the time?

[Mr. Microscope]

Hello All,

I'm wondering about my Green Lanterns. They seem to be only half open all the time. All other zoas seem fine.

Are they getting too much light? I thought that yellow zoas were better at the top half. They seem to be doing fine and have put out more heads in the last few weeks, but they are never open all the way. They always look like the picture above.

Tank 3 gallon JBJ Picotope
Temp 80ish, Alk 9, Mg 1280, Ca 410, pH 8.3, SG 1.026, Ammonia Nitrate/trite all 0.
Lights PAR38 LEDs (5x3 watt CREES overdriven to 21 watts)
Flow from AC70 and Koralia Nano

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Hello, sorry to hear about your retracting polyps. Please check out the link below and I'm sure someone her can help you out. Thanks

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1852463

 

[Mr. Microscope]

Thanks Mucho Reef. I edited the post to include my tank parameters. D'uh! Sorry about that.

 

[jtdesotel]

I know that most of the time this happens in my tanks, it is because something is irritating them, IE small bugs, algae etc. I would dip them and see if any bugs come off, works for me pretty much everytime.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

1. How long have they been half opened for you?

2. When did you place them in this tank for the first time?

3. Were they shipped?

4. Recently fragged?

5. When was your last water change?

6. I doubt it's a parameter issue since others seem to be expanding for you.

7. How far are they from your lights?

8. Is there current hitting them where they are now?

9. In a 3 gallon PICO, things can go south very fast with the lower water volume.

10. I'm thinking it might be a simple placement problem. Have you ever tried placing them on the substrate with current hitting them lightly? After you answer 1 - 9, you should consider placing them as low as possible to see what happens. Really waiting to hear how long they have been this way

 

[Mr. Microscope]

They're pretty new from a LFS. I think you're right with the placement. I moved them lower. They still aren't opening all the way, but I'm going to give them a couple weeks to chill and see if they open better. My lights are about 8 inches from the water, 16 from the sand bed. The LEDs are very strong though. I'm not sure there's much of a difference in PAR from top to bottom. Flow is okay. Nutrient level will be low, I do a 35% water change once a week.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Do you have an update to share by chance? Hope things are better.

Mucho Reef