Zoas, too much or too little light?

[aviator300]

I got these Zoas about 6 weeks ago and here are pics when I got them and also pics from today. They seem to be growing taller really quickly but the colors are sort of faded so I'm not sure if they are getting too much or too little light. They may be classified as Palythoas though and I know they produce longer stalks.

 

They are about 7" below the surface with light 7" up for a total distance of 14" from the light source.

 

The light is a NanoBox Mini tide running blues at 140 (54%) and whites 60 (24%)

 

These pics were six weeks ago.

 

These are from today. note the elongated stems, but the heads almost seem faded in color.

 

 

[Nanomaniac]

My first thought would be not enough light, any other corals in the tank? If so how are they doing?

[Matteo]

lack of color can also be lack of supplements and nutrients too

[Cencalfishguy56]

lack of color can also be lack of supplements and nutrients too

yup zoas do better in dirty water IMO which is why I wont keep them, I like a clean tank lol

[Hard Softy]

yup zoas do better in dirty water IMO which is why I wont keep them, I like a clean tank lol

Damn zoa's are my fav, guess I'll just have 2 have a dirty tank

In my inexperienced opinion I say to little light... there reaching ...

[Cencalfishguy56]

Damn zoa's are my fav, guess I'll just have 2 have a dirty tank

In my inexperienced opinion I say to little light... there reaching ...

lol well you can have a clean tank, but in my experience I ran a 2.5 macro and zoa tank no chemical media and fed the zoas with reef frenzy so the water was dirty lol they had amazing coloration and grew a new polyp quickly, had about 5 different kinds as well as gsp lol

youre probably right, at 14" that seems very low lighting

[aviator300]

^{More thoughts and ideas please ?}

[Matteo]

Lower the nano box a bit and see what happens? Or increase intensity?

[jack1978]

Definitely stretching for light. Also maybe too clean of a tank....as previously stated.

But definitely stretching for light. I bet if you get the light dialed in, they will be short, squat and more vivid in color. When softies stretch and expand to catch more light, their colors appear more drab. When they're all compact and tight, the color is more rich and intense.

[aviator300]

Lower the nano box a bit and see what happens? Or increase intensity.

I've always been conservative to start with and have seen and heard of more coral damaged by high light levels than by low so maybe I was too conservative so i'll turn up the juice.

[Rookie1]

I'm having the same issues with my sunny d's. Also running a nano box at 35/75 white/blue I think. I moved them from the sandbed to about halfway up the rock structure a little less than a week ago. Haven't seen any improvement yet.

[Matteo]

I'm having the same issues with my sunny d's. Also running a nano box at 35/75 white/blue I think. I moved them from the sandbed to about halfway up the rock structure a little less than a week ago. Haven't seen any improvement yet.

My sunny ds love my v3s!

[Rookie1]

My sunny ds love my v3s!

 

V3s? Can you elaborate a bit please.

[NYfishies]

If you do plan to increase your light I strongly suggest you do it SLOWLY.

[jimbonds]

I don't like the term "dirty water" because no corals really like the water to be dirty. That having been said, softies like zoanthids and GSP can do well in water with NO3 and PO4 concentrations elevated beyond what SPS will usually tolerate. That doesn't mean that zoanthids won't do well in ultra low nutrient systems. People who run ultra low nutrient systems will usually supplement things like amino acids and trace elements. I've seen low nutrient systems with extremely healthy and vibrant zoanthids.

[Cencalfishguy56]

I don't like the term "dirty water" because no corals really like the water to be dirty. That having been said, softies like zoanthids and GSP can do well in water with NO3 and PO4 concentrations elevated beyond what SPS will usually tolerate. That doesn't mean that zoanthids won't do well in ultra low nutrient systems. People who run ultra low nutrient systems will usually supplement things like amino acids and trace elements. I've seen low nutrient systems with extremely healthy and vibrant zoanthids.

youre crazy man corals love their water dirty

[jimbonds]

youre crazy man corals love their water dirty

 

HAHA, that's why I let my baby poop in my tank!

[Cencalfishguy56]

 

HAHA, that's why I let my baby poop in my tank!

the more merrier! Lol

[Matteo]

 

V3s? Can you elaborate a bit please.

The newest nanobox products use V3 arrays

[IronChefItaly]

My tanks parameters disprove a lot of what is stated in here. I run under 0.03 and 3 ppm phosphate and nitrate respectively and manage to have an entire 15 lb rock commited to 10+ varieties of zoanthids. I also manage to keep purple bonsai, seriatopora and montipora happy. Nanobox lights are definitely capable of sps so I'm more suspicious of your water parameters.