Zoas surviving on feeding with little light

DoctorMatt

New member
Right now I have a fowlR tank with a few feather dusters fish shrimp crabs and snails. I was wanting to get some sort of coral and was considering an easy nonphotosynthetic as my light is merely for looks right now being a 50/50 of 6500k of trichromic daylight and 420 actinic. Was wondering if zoas could survive by mostly feeding with little light or is it best to go with a nps dendro or sun coral?
 
Not the best!
I would get good lights and feed much less. MH or T5s.
Zoa feeding should be just to improve growth, if so.
Light is the primary source of energy for them (zooxanthellae).
Good light alone will be enough to maintain almost all the species very healthy.
Feeding can and will help them reproduce, but a good light source will allow their metabolism to reach it's best.

I would would say that's truth for most of the zoanthids in the market.

There is more to zoa's health than light too... water movement, water quality,...

Grandis.
 
Could you elaborate more on the lighting? MH dual bulb? power compact? T5ho? Watts per bulb and how many bulbs?

Tank dimensions/height are important too, before we can help you further.
 
Could you elaborate more on the lighting? MH dual bulb? power compact? T5ho? Watts per bulb and how many bulbs?

Tank dimensions/height are important too, before we can help you further.

Like I said lights are merely for aesthetics right now. Maybe 30 watts at best NO fluorescent bulb. Tank 30gal 18 inches tall. Was not going to rely on lighting
 
I agree probably not a good idea. Palys and protopalys maybe because they can be fed, but even those are going to look terrible and stretch out to the light. I would go with a dendro, don't need light, easier to feed then sun coral.
 
As mentioned, some zoanthid species would survive for at least a short period of timeunder the conditions you are prescribing, but not thrive. Light, unlike feeding, is necessary for good Zoanthid health. Most species actually need the sugars derived from photosynthesis to digest their food.
 
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