My Zoa are getting dull.. too much light?

[justin howley]

My tanks is several months old. I have T5's 24 watts (10k & actinic). I noticed my purple zoas getting really flat and extended and the colors are very dull now and not bright. I'm wondering if they are reacting to the light?

What is the ideal space between the light I have and the top of the tank?

 

[waynotcars]

Dude, re-size that photo to a smaller size before posting it. Makes it a lot easier to read your post

 

[ctxmonitor]

extended usually mean not enough light, which is why they are trying to extend to reach for more light.. But seems like you have a pretty shallow tank and 48watt of t5 should be enough for the size tank you have.. maybe he color combination.. u should try blue+, usually hear good things about the blue+ bulb.

 

[chinatown]

pics too small.

 

[justin howley]

Sorry, my browser has a plugin that auto resizes the pic on screen. I removed it. Well but what about dull coloration though? Everything else seems to be doing great.

 

[KathyC]

Dull coloration as compared to what? How they used to look in your tank, or how they looked at the place you purchased them?

As mentioned the age & color of your bulbs can have an affect in how they look and also your water parameters can make a difference in how they appear.

What size is the tank and how high above the surface of the water is the bottom of the light?

 

[justin howley]

Color as compared to when they were purchased a few months back. They were super purple and orange, now they look washed out. The tanks a fluval edge 6 gallon, lights are 3 months old and is about 8inches above the tank. Water parameters are normal. I'm just trying to make sure they don't get worse, my dendro's colors are awesome and have split three new heads since i got it 2 months ago, so this zoa issue is puzzling to me.

 

[KathyC]

It could be as simple as the differences in the ingredients between your salt mix and where they came from, or in water quality as a whole, or the lighting. It isn't terribly uncommon for zoas to morph slightly from tank to tank.

If they are truly 'extended' as in their 'stem' being more than 1/2" long, you may have them placed too low in the tank. If you chose to move them up, only do so in small increments of maybe 3" at a time.
They should not have to reach out to capture the light they want.
If at some point they start to take on an umbrella shape, then they are too high up.
Zoas do tend to pout a little when you move them, so do give them a couple of weeks (at least) to settle in if you plan to move them again after that.

Are you running carbon in the tank? Water tends to get a touch of yellow in it when you don't run carbon and that will also take away from their color visually.

The distance between your light & water is fine.