Zoas not opening

[carnophage]

I have a 28g Biocube with DIY LED's; Dimmable with 12 white and 12 blue. Tank has been setup for almost 2 years. I have anemones, lps, sps and a clam. But my zoas are not opening up. They are all alive, just not open. The anemones look great, clam is open, sps shows growth. Currently no fish in the tank, just an urchin, cowrie, skunk cleaner shrimp and a serpent star.

Salinity is 1.024
temp is 78
upgraded return pump, and 2 K-Nanos
I do the Part A & B every couple days
Nitrates and Nitrites are near zero
PH is around 8.2
5g water changes every 2 weeks

Any ideas????
Thanks

 

[A. Grandis]

What is the MG?
Try to somehow isolate the urchin and the shrimp.
They could be irritating the zoas.

Grandis.

 

[carnophage]

Mg?

 

[A. Grandis]

Mg?

Magnesium.

Grandis.

 

[carnophage]

I don't have a test kit for that.

 

[carnophage]

Tested again today:
PH- 8.2
Nitrate- 0
Phos- 0
Calc- 420
KH- 125

 

[A. Grandis]

KH 125?

Make sure there is no predators at night and other corals irritating the zoas.
Please give us some more info on the system and when did you notice the polyps closing.
Did you change your lights recently?
Pics?

Grandis.

 

[carnophage]

dKH-7

The lighting is LED, no changes, just dimming occasionally. I check every night, an have not seen anything. It has been around a month or so since I noticed, but hey have never really grown well. I have anemones, but they do not touch. I am leaning towards something that affects the whole tank, because i have some on the rock-work, and some more on a frag rack. all acting the same. I will try and get some photos tomorrow with the light on. I appreciate your help.

 

[A. Grandis]

No problem. I'll wait for the pics…

I'm guessing light or water chemistry, as ways, if no predators or irritators.

I'm not a fan of LEDs at all. We see so many people having "mystery troubles" they can't solve and sometimes they change back to their old MH/T5 fixtures and things gets better in a week or so.
What LED do you have? Perhaps others with LED could give you some tips about your particular fixture? Most of the time people just don't know how to fix problems with LEDs and keep suggesting here and there. That's simply because the problems are with the quality of the artificial light provided for the long run.
For how long did you have the LEDs over the zoas before noticing problems?

Could be a pathogen, but you would see marks and weird looking polyps most of the time.

I'm assuming you have no algae problems, right?

Grandis.

 

[carnophage]

Have always had the LED's. It is a DIY setup, I did myself. I have had the tank setup before we moved, and zoas did fine. Unless they degrade over time. I also have other high light items which at the moment look good. I have some hair algae in a couple spots, and some macro growing in the tank. I may just try replaceing all the led's, if there are no other ideas.

 

[carnophage]

Some of them have taked a almost triangle shape, instead of round like they should be. I will work on photos.

 

[A. Grandis]

Have always had the LED's. It is a DIY setup, I did myself. I have had the tank setup before we moved, and zoas did fine. Unless they degrade over time. I also have other high light items which at the moment look good. I have some hair algae in a couple spots, and some macro growing in the tank. I may just try replaceing all the led's, if there are no other ideas.

Other idea:
My suggestion is to keep zoas (, SPS and LPS!!!) with T5s and/or MHs.
T5s are very good for shallow tanks because of the wide availability for changing the spectrum and has less heat than MHs.

Just my suggestion.

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Could be bacterial infection, light, water parameters or a combo of them.

Grandis.