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Static zoas?


Oldsalt01

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I've had my 14g Biocube up for 14 months with no issues. Added a small clump of radioactive dragons eyes and a small mixed clump of Red's and watermelon's in March, a small plug of Pinks & Gold's in May, small plug of Front Loops in July. Since then nothing other than the P&G's have grown and they are very stringy. Most of the time only about 50% of the polyps on the zoas are open and I'm not seeing any new polyps and the 2 new one's on the Front Loops have stopped growing . Nitrates at 10ppm, Phosphate is negligible, Calcium is within acceptable range, salinity running around 1.024. Stock lighting with a photo period of around 9-10 hours, depending on when I get home in the evening. Not dosing anything. 2-3 gallon water change every week. Anyone have any ideas?

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What is your Alk of your tank?

 

What is the Alk of your salt mix?

 

I am not familiar with the stock light, but I presume it to be LED? What intensity do you run the lights at? Is it that same intensity all day or a bell curve replicating the sun?

 

When you say PO4 is negligible does that mean your test shows 0 ppm? Zoa's need some PO4 in the water. Do you have any algae issues?

 

FYI I would get rid of those Pink & Golds ASAP. They will take over. Just do it you will thank me later.

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I'll retest for NO3 and PO3/4 as I've not checked in a couple of weeks. No idea the Alk levels as my water comes from my LFS whom I trust and I don't have an Alk test kit. Stock lighting is CFL's, about a year old. They probably need replacing. PAR is unknown at tank bottom.

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Sorry. Fat finger hit reply before I was done. Small amount of GHA and some Brown, lots of bright green that my Trochus love. Choraline is coming in nicely since I offed the big Asterina that was eating it. PO4 does indeed read 0ppm. Other tank mates: 3 Trochus, 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 blueleg and 2 red hermits, 2 medium Ocellaris, 2 medium fire fish and a leather toadstool that is doing great. Off to check the levels.

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Without Alk readings and an understanding of whether you have Alk swings (which zoas simply hate) this is going to be very difficult to determine.

 

The light sounds weak and one which I would replace.

 

What is your flow like?

 

You have some of the easiest growing zoa's. They should thrive under most conditions.

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Yah, that's what I thought as far as easy growing. New tests: NO3 @ 10ppm, PO4 @ 0.5ppm, so that's up a little. Filtration is slightly modified: 1st stage is stock cartridge with extra floss in front of it. Second stage is a DIY 3 level eggcrate filter tower with 3 ceramic balls on lowest level, 2 levels of reticulated foam on middle level, more filter floss on top level, with stock flow plate at the very top. Upgraded return pump is an MJ900. I will have my LFS check my Alk as soon as this hurricane decides where it's going. Thanks for the input.

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I do not see you running Carbon? That's an issue.

 

Are you sure your PO4 is 0.50 ppm and not 0.05 ppm? If it is 0.50 ppm that is a bit high for only NO3 at 10 ppm. This would also be the reason for the algae which could be out competing your zoas for nutrients. I would try to lower your PO4 by doing 25% water changes weekly over the next month. You want your water dirty, but there must be balance between C - N - P.

 

Before that please report on your Alk findings.

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U r right. Po4 is .05..... Fat finger syndrome, lol. Won't make the LFS before the Hurricane hits so will have to wait til at least the weekend, but I will report.

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New data as of Oct 8. Alk - 8-8.5, PO4 - .03, Sp Gravity - 1.025, Nitrates - .10. So all my parameters are fine. The only change I can think of now is to replace my 14 month old actinic and 10000k CFL's. They've probably shifted to the red and my zoas don't appreciate it. I'll update when they are replaced, but the more I think about it the more sense it makes. ?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update. Tested my Calcium and it turned up low so I brought it up to 420. Some of my Dragons Eyes are opening again but my Froot Loops and another piece of Dragons Eyes are still closed. The new 10000K a D Actinic's went in a week ago and there's been no appreciable change in the zoas. My Alkalinity remains about 8.4. everything else is a out the same. Just sitting here scratching my head. Anyone have any other ideas?

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  • 3 weeks later...

16 month old 14g Biocube, MJ900 upgrade to return, slightly modified center chamber with floss over foam block, over GFO, over ceramic balls. I also run an extra foam pad in front of the stock carbon filter cartridge.

 

Another update: I lost my Froot Loops. They had been closed for almost a month so last week I took my plastic scraper and gave them a gentle nudge. Brown goop came oozing out and I figured "that ain't good" so yanked them. My new Utter Chaos palys are doing great, growing new heads and looking fab. One clump of Dragon Eyes is making a big comeback, but only about 1/2 the heads on the other are opening. My toadstool has been sloughing more lately but it seems to love where it is so I'm not messing with it. I've noticed an increase in GHA lately. Not sure why, my Nitrate's are less than 10ppm and my phosphates are about .02, but I've gone back to GFO in my filter. All my other parameters are well within acceptable limits. Everything seemed to go downhill when I yanked some of the Pink 'n Gold's palys that were trying to take over, out of the tank. The fish didn't react negatively, just the zoas. I'm beginning to think I should stick with paly's cuz I seem to have trouble with zoas. Does anyone feed their zoas? I've read both positive and negative feedback about this so I'm a bit confused. How about supplements? Feedback appreciated.

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