Zoas not opening

[toynewb]

i have some yellow brick road zoas that haven't been open for 2 weeks now. i took the rock they were on off the frag plug and glued them on a rock. now they don't open ever. i tried fresh water dipping and a little stuff fell off, but it didn't seem too harmful. any thoughts?

here are the params
sg - 1.025
ammonia - 0
Mg - 1260
Ca - 370
Alkalinity - 7

the other zoas are opening just fine. there is a little green algae next to it, but i have removed it. should i take it off the rock and put it on a clean plug? they haven't melted yet, but don't look good.

 

[CStrickland]

Your ca/alk/mg is a little low. Has it been a while since youve done a water change?
Also what kind of light are they getting?

 

[toynewb]

did a water change on monday. i'm using instant ocean salt. always had those kinda low parameters with this batch of salt i think.

they are getting LED 89w lights. the other zoas seem to be doing ok. i did a par test awhile ago and they're close to the sand. it's about 110 par at most down there.

here's a pic

 

[CStrickland]

Maybe move the rock they're on up a little higher?
Diff zoa can be picky about that. I have a few batches and some took a long time to find their happy place, some like a lot more/less light than others. And it takes a while cause once they get fussy and close up you have to give them like a week to open again before you know if they like the new spot.

 

[DrewHaus]

I used to use instant ocean salt and had the same problems with low ca/alk/mg. I switched to red sea pro and rarely have problems maintaining ca/alk/mg. Just a thought.

 

[toynewb]

Maybe move the rock they're on up a little higher?
Diff zoa can be picky about that. I have a few batches and some took a long time to find their happy place, some like a lot more/less light than others. And it takes a while cause once they get fussy and close up you have to give them like a week to open again before you know if they like the new spot.

i moved the zoas off the sandbed so it move effectively 1-2 inches off where they used to be. should i take it off the rock and put it on a frag plug on the sand again?

maybe i give it another week? they're not melting..... yet.

thanks for the input so far.

I used to use instant ocean salt and had the same problems with low ca/alk/mg. I switched to red sea pro and rarely have problems maintaining ca/alk/mg. Just a thought.

yea i was thinking about it. i don't see instant ocean being the best with those #s. thanks for the tip.

 

[Four drachma]

My guess is they aren't happy with the low light level. My yellow brick road likes just slightly better than medium lighting. With LED's my corals all struggle, so I run metal halide's for 5 hours during the mid day and it keeps them happy. Good luck, my yellow brick road is one of my faves.

 

[toynewb]

My guess is they aren't happy with the low light level. My yellow brick road likes just slightly better than medium lighting. With LED's my corals all struggle, so I run metal halide's for 5 hours during the mid day and it keeps them happy. Good luck, my yellow brick road is one of my faves.

perhaps, not too sure. they were on the sandbed before and were open then. when gluing them onto the rock i moved them up like 1-2 inches so there should be more light.

where'd you get your yellow brick roads? i really like them as they are really just bright yellow.

 

[RayAllen3422]

My guess is they aren't happy with the low light level. My yellow brick road likes just slightly better than medium lighting. With LED's my corals all struggle, so I run metal halide's for 5 hours during the mid day and it keeps them happy. Good luck, my yellow brick road is one of my faves.

Many people have great success with LEDs. It really depends on which ones you use.

 

[Four drachma]

I ordered them about a year ago from an online retailer...the frag they sent was of three tiny polyps, the cluster is about the size of a golf ball now. I ordered some fire and ice at the same time and they've really multiplied, they're about the size of my hand now. They look bright red under the LED's, really beautiful.

 

[Four drachma]

Many people have great success with LEDs. It really depends on which ones you use.

Don't get me wrong, I love my LED's. For about half of my corals which include mushrooms of various kinds, and some Zoanthids, but for most of my other corals including leathers, toadstools, most all SPS, really respond well when I supplement their light exposure with several hours of MH's. If I neglect the MH exposure, they slowly shrivel back, or don't open fully, and the growth slows to a standstill.

To each his own, but I'll always have a pair of halides hanging over my tank. My tank is fairly deep too, (32"), so that's another reason.

 

[toynewb]

I ordered them about a year ago from an online retailer...the frag they sent was of three tiny polyps, the cluster is about the size of a golf ball now. I ordered some fire and ice at the same time and they've really multiplied, they're about the size of my hand now. They look bright red under the LED's, really beautiful.

yea i got them from a online retailer too. problem is, i don't want to pay 35 bucks for shipping another tiny frag of it again. these aren't easy to find either.