Do Candy Apple Green zoas like more light than other zoas?

[Tired]

I have a new frag of these guys, and I can't seem to find a spot in the tank where they aren't stretched up some. My other zoas are happy and are mostly pretty flat to the rockwork, but the candy apples have fairly long stalks. So, do they just like more light than others? 

 

Will it hurt them long-term if I leave them like that? They aren't straining up like I've seen some do, the disk and frill are flattened at the top, they just have long stalks.

[mcarroll]

If they're new, but getting good flow and light, then I would simply let them settle in for a while.

 

Safe to assume that dissolved nutrient levels are well above 0.0 ppm?

[Break]

Many zoas are more light hungry than they are given credit for. I've kept several varieties over the years with longer stalks that stretch for the light - if they still multiply and have good color, I don't worry about them. Sometimes moving them up causes them to stretch less, sometimes not.

 

I find light to be more of a factor than flow when it comes to placement. In both my experience and reading from that of others, they seem to prefer more blue and less white light. After turning my blues up recently, some of mine started reaching a bit less.

 

On the other hand, I have always found Rastas to cling to the rock even when on the bottom of the tank.

 

It won't hurt them to stretch, but they may not look exactly as desired. I would say put them in a spot with strong light and give them a few weeks. If they're growing new heads, you're ok.

[Tired]

I don't know the exact nutrients currently, just did a water change, but they're definitely not zeroed out. Last I checked, they were both a little high, since I'm still figuring out the right balance of food and water changes to keep everything happy. The corals don't seem to mind. Good colors, everything's open, zoas are multiplying. Algae loves it, though. Which is what I was going for, except that the nutrients were intended for the macros, not the micros. Oh well. I'll pull some of it out, let my snails attack the rest, and see if the seaweed gets a foothold in sucking up nutrients once it's been in the tank a bit longer- some of it is new and probably still settling in.

Glad I'm not one of those people who hates having any sort of algae. I don't mind the look of it, really- just as long as it's not on my corals. Going for a dirtier tank, as nutrients go, though I might need more snails to keep up with the microalgae. 

 

The frag has a tiny bud of a polyp that's been turning into a proper polyp since I got it, so I'm pretty sure they aren't in desperate need of anything. They seem to grow pretty fast, if this one polyp is any indication- which is exciting. These are nice, I'd like to get a little patch going. They remind me of Sunny Ds. 

 

I think I'm going to leave the blue/white balance where it is, for now. I like how it looks to my eyes, and nothing seems to have any major complaints about it. I might try increasing the light volume overall, once I get rid of some of this algae, and see if there's a generally positive response. I would like for these to be flatter to the rock, they look like weird mushrooms (the land kind, not the coral kind) right now. 

[Break]

4 hours ago, Tired said:

I don't know the exact nutrients currently, just did a water change, but they're definitely not zeroed out. Last I checked, they were both a little high, since I'm still figuring out the right balance of food and water changes to keep everything happy. The corals don't seem to mind. Good colors, everything's open, zoas are multiplying. Algae loves it, though. Which is what I was going for, except that the nutrients were intended for the macros, not the micros. Oh well. I'll pull some of it out, let my snails attack the rest, and see if the seaweed gets a foothold in sucking up nutrients once it's been in the tank a bit longer- some of it is new and probably still settling in.

Glad I'm not one of those people who hates having any sort of algae. I don't mind the look of it, really- just as long as it's not on my corals. Going for a dirtier tank, as nutrients go, though I might need more snails to keep up with the microalgae. 

 

The frag has a tiny bud of a polyp that's been turning into a proper polyp since I got it, so I'm pretty sure they aren't in desperate need of anything. They seem to grow pretty fast, if this one polyp is any indication- which is exciting. These are nice, I'd like to get a little patch going. They remind me of Sunny Ds. 

 

I think I'm going to leave the blue/white balance where it is, for now. I like how it looks to my eyes, and nothing seems to have any major complaints about it. I might try increasing the light volume overall, once I get rid of some of this algae, and see if there's a generally positive response. I would like for these to be flatter to the rock, they look like weird mushrooms (the land kind, not the coral kind) right now. 

Sounds like you're on top of things.

 

I have been slowly upping my light output a bit each week, myself. If you turn yours up, do it slow and gradually - zoas can handle a lot of light, but don't respond well to sudden big shifts.

[Tired]

Boy, you weren't kidding about sudden shifts. I melted a frag of Utter Chaos because I tried upping my lights by about 5% and those were directly under it. Guess that was too much of an increase. They abruptly got way smaller than before, then just kinda melted away. Ouch. Noted; not only is that way too much, zoas will not respond to it by closing up and allowing me to correct it, they'll either not react at all or will just Die. 

 

Candy Apples are still tall and sort of silly-looking, but they grew that bud into a whole polyp and are working on another addition, so I think they're fine. Not what you'd call fast growth, though. I put them on the back wall of the tank, so them reaching towards the light means they lean towards me. Tried moving them all around the center of the tank, and this is one of the areas where they were least tall, so it's where they stay. The polyp on the bottom keeps itself at a semi-reasonable length a lot of the time, for some reason? 

The color is better in person, they're just at a terrible angle for photography. I love the little sparkles in the frills. 

Oh, and the back wall of my tank seems to be permanently in the ugly stage. I need to get a Q-tip or something in there and try to pull some of that hair algae out from around the corals. Don't want to use my usual toothbrush, I know that can damage corals if you get the bristles on them. Need to remember- keep the back wall clean around those frags so it can't get long again. I don't mind hair algae on the rest of the wall, little extra nutrient export is probably a good thing. And I like the green of it.