how do you promotote zoa's growth?

[Paolissimo]

Hi guy

1. I bought some corals from another hobbyst. To my surprise the plugs only had a couple of heads (even though he said at least 5-6). How do you promote zoa's growth?
2. Thanks

 

[Ziggy]

give them some time!

 

[KathyC]

You might want to mention your disappointment to the seller and see if he realizes the error.

To make zoas grow well you want to provide good parameters (though they do tend to like water that is a little 'dirty'), decent flow and the proper lighting & placement. Keeping up on water changes, not overfeeding or overstocking will help all corals thrive.

 

[ryangrieder]

Correct water pars. Correct filtration. Correct amount of light. Correct placement in tank. Correct fish in your set up. Correct tempature. Correct Feeding. Correct amount of flow and correct amount of stability. Once you achieve that, you will get the correct amount of of growth.

With that said...

Water pars.
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate should be 0ppm. Nitrate is ok though for 0-20ppm, It happens. Phosphate .04ppm and under. Calcium 380-550ppm. Magnesium 1200-1500ppm. Alkalinity 6-11. Salinity .023-.026.

Filtration.
Good skimmer. Simple set up not alot of pads that will hold nitrates. Optional fuge if have room. Filter sock is great choice. Optional but Reactor with some carbon and GFO. Keep it simple. Simple is key.

light.
light is obviously mandatory, but optional on type. T5 I notice personally has best growth. LEDs are not needed, but will really make the colors pop. Metal halide would work, but placement low is mandatory. Power compact is enough, but colors will not pop as much and really nice zoas and Palys will seem dull.

Placement & flow
Placement is huge. Depending on where placement is, hi or low means light amount, left and right will change flow rate. Zoas and Palys usually like macerate lighting, so depending on light matters where placement of high and low should be. High watts/par/lumen means placement is all around anywhere. Low amounts means place higher in set up. Flow is huge too. I notice personally my magicians, super sonics, and other higher end zoas like alot of flow. My supersonic zoas like the skirts to be bashed around every now and then. Then again, some of my more common basic zoas like just simple deep water reds or greens like moderate flow. If it seems happy, it's happy. If not fully opening or seems unhappy, then move not just over an inch, but maybe higher or lower as well depending on how it reacts.

Fish.
Reef safe fish only. No fish that may pick on or both zoas. Or even swim low on rock set up and constantly like to touch them. My wrasse and clowns constantly run my zoas and close them.

Tempature.
A nice stable 77-80 degrees.

Food.
Correct feeding is obvious as well. All corals want something different. Zoas usually planktons. Phytoplankton is what many uses use.

Stability.
Tank needs to be stable of everything I said. No fluctuating of tempature or water pars or salinity. Keep it all stable.

With all that achieved... Your zoa heads, or any corals you purchase for here on out should be happy, grow well, and thrive.

 

[Paolissimo]

Correct water pars. Correct filtration. Correct amount of light. Correct placement in tank. Correct fish in your set up. Correct tempature. Correct Feeding. Correct amount of flow and correct amount of stability. Once you achieve that, you will get the correct amount of of growth.

With that said...

Water pars.
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate should be 0ppm. Nitrate is ok though for 0-20ppm, It happens. Phosphate .04ppm and under. Calcium 380-550ppm. Magnesium 1200-1500ppm. Alkalinity 6-11. Salinity .023-.026.

Filtration.
Good skimmer. Simple set up not alot of pads that will hold nitrates. Optional fuge if have room. Filter sock is great choice. Optional but Reactor with some carbon and GFO. Keep it simple. Simple is key.

light.
light is obviously mandatory, but optional on type. T5 I notice personally has best growth. LEDs are not needed, but will really make the colors pop. Metal halide would work, but placement low is mandatory. Power compact is enough, but colors will not pop as much and really nice zoas and Palys will seem dull.

Placement & flow
Placement is huge. Depending on where placement is, hi or low means light amount, left and right will change flow rate. Zoas and Palys usually like macerate lighting, so depending on light matters where placement of high and low should be. High watts/par/lumen means placement is all around anywhere. Low amounts means place higher in set up. Flow is huge too. I notice personally my magicians, super sonics, and other higher end zoas like alot of flow. My supersonic zoas like the skirts to be bashed around every now and then. Then again, some of my more common basic zoas like just simple deep water reds or greens like moderate flow. If it seems happy, it's happy. If not fully opening or seems unhappy, then move not just over an inch, but maybe higher or lower as well depending on how it reacts.

Fish.
Reef safe fish only. No fish that may pick on or both zoas. Or even swim low on rock set up and constantly like to touch them. My wrasse and clowns constantly run my zoas and close them.

Tempature.
A nice stable 77-80 degrees.

Food.
Correct feeding is obvious as well. All corals want something different. Zoas usually planktons. Phytoplankton is what many uses use.

Stability.
Tank needs to be stable of everything I said. No fluctuating of tempature or water pars or salinity. Keep it all stable.

With all that achieved... Your zoa heads, or any corals you purchase for here on out should be happy, grow well, and thrive.

Thanks for the very informative answer. The corals were put in a very small tank, a picotope, which is 3 gallon. The water parameter are good, nitrate, ammonia, nitrite are all zero, ph is good, salinity is where it should be. I do not test for calcium so i do not know if its good. I do water changes every week and I use reef crystal for salt. On top of the tank, i use ecoxotic paronama strip together with a stunner strip (also from ecoxotic) Water movement is good, all the polips move with the current. I only have one blue samsel, one peppermint shrimp (which i read they are known to eat corals) 2 snails, 1 hermit crab and a bunch of other small snails, i think they are cerith. I do not have a skimmer, as I can't find a small one that would fit the tank. I think maybe the light is not strong enough or i am missing something that would stop growth, I had them for a month, and I haven't seen any improvements.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Hard to get steady parameters in a Pico but no skimmer needed for that size tank.Just keep doing small water changes every week.Be Patient.Try feeding them Cyclop eez.

 

[kidninja]

i've actually seen alot of growth recently with my zoas, i as well was having a hard time growing them but now they are all spreading

dirtier water + leaving them alone = more zoas

 

[Paolissimo]

i've actually seen alot of growth recently with my zoas, i as well was having a hard time growing them but now they are all spreading

dirtier water + leaving them alone = more zoas

Thats what the person that sold me the zoa told me, they like dirty water. who knows, they are wide open, hopefully they'll grow. I wouldn't mind a tank full of zoas, they are soo nice

 

[jerl77]

sponge power for me works great here and look up vitainm c dosing too

 

[Bryceandmandy]

Red sea's reef energy a&b, essentially amino acids and vitamins. Dose with iodine, namely lugols solution and keep your alk around 12-13.

 

[E.intheC]

Personally, I wouldn't add any "coral food" or supplements to a Pico tank.. It's hard enough to keep water quality stable in such a small volume of water.

 

[jerl77]

Smart idea

Personally, I wouldn't add any "coral food" or supplements to a Pico tank.. It's hard enough to keep water quality stable in such a small volume of water.

Sent from my DROIDX using Reefs

 

[Silverni2]

I've heard the term dirty water before can u guys give some detail on that term? My assumption is higher nitrates?
Thanks

 

[Bryceandmandy]

The way i interpret 'dirty tank' is one with a higher dissolved organic load. Lack of or skimming, And/or high nitrates.

 

[zeroblake07]

Correct water pars. Correct filtration. Correct amount of light. Correct placement in tank. Correct fish in your set up. Correct tempature. Correct Feeding. Correct amount of flow and correct amount of stability. Once you achieve that, you will get the correct amount of of growth.

With that said...

Water pars.
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate should be 0ppm. Nitrate is ok though for 0-20ppm, It happens. Phosphate .04ppm and under. Calcium 380-550ppm. Magnesium 1200-1500ppm. Alkalinity 6-11. Salinity .023-.026.

Filtration.
Good skimmer. Simple set up not alot of pads that will hold nitrates. Optional fuge if have room. Filter sock is great choice. Optional but Reactor with some carbon and GFO. Keep it simple. Simple is key.

light.
light is obviously mandatory, but optional on type. T5 I notice personally has best growth. LEDs are not needed, but will really make the colors pop. Metal halide would work, but placement low is mandatory. Power compact is enough, but colors will not pop as much and really nice zoas and Palys will seem dull.

Placement & flow
Placement is huge. Depending on where placement is, hi or low means light amount, left and right will change flow rate. Zoas and Palys usually like macerate lighting, so depending on light matters where placement of high and low should be. High watts/par/lumen means placement is all around anywhere. Low amounts means place higher in set up. Flow is huge too. I notice personally my magicians, super sonics, and other higher end zoas like alot of flow. My supersonic zoas like the skirts to be bashed around every now and then. Then again, some of my more common basic zoas like just simple deep water reds or greens like moderate flow. If it seems happy, it's happy. If not fully opening or seems unhappy, then move not just over an inch, but maybe higher or lower as well depending on how it reacts.

Fish.
Reef safe fish only. No fish that may pick on or both zoas. Or even swim low on rock set up and constantly like to touch them. My wrasse and clowns constantly run my zoas and close them.

Tempature.
A nice stable 77-80 degrees.

Food.
Correct feeding is obvious as well. All corals want something different. Zoas usually planktons. Phytoplankton is what many uses use.

Stability.
Tank needs to be stable of everything I said. No fluctuating of tempature or water pars or salinity. Keep it all stable.

With all that achieved... Your zoa heads, or any corals you purchase for here on out should be happy, grow well, and thrive.

Hello .. How are you!!

I just read your info about zooanthids , and i will like to ask you for some tips about my zooanthids . I have an small tank, i'm new in this hobby, but i just change the light than i used to have , before i had a Led Arm from ecoxotic with 6 12k whites and 3 453nm blues led's and my zooanthids was working good , but i just decide to change the light for a Par 38 from ecoxotic also, but i just notice than one of my zooanthids is not open like before, i been watching than is trying to catch light, but i don't understand that because the bulb brings light to almos the whole aquarium, i been thinking to move it to the middle of the aquarium to see if my zooanthids gets better!! Well i hope you can help me in this time!! Thank you very much !! Have a great day..'

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

I only dose calcium and lugols solution and now my zoas open up and are spreading like Kenya trees , I do 5 gal water change on Sundays and Wednesdays

 

[Custom05Taco]

I only dose Fuel and weekly water changes

Sent from my ADR6300