fastest way to grow zoas and pallys?

raymond · Feb 2, 2011

I want to dedicate my 40 gal frag tank to growing zoas and want to know if any one has any tricks on getting them to grow fast as possible, is it a water flow thing? do they grow faster on live rock then on frag plugs or tiles?

my plan is to get and line the bottom of my tank with tiles and place frags on the tiles and let them grow and go crazy, then when its time for frag show i can take every other tile out and replace them with new tiles. how would be the best way to do this?

lars · Feb 2, 2011

I did the same thing in my bare bottom frag tank and now they cover the whole bottom. I'm about to post on my local reef club- $10 gets as many as your bag can hold. It looks nice but they did get kinda out of hand. Good luck with it.

Captain Nemo · Feb 2, 2011

I have heard that they like dirtier water, dunno how true that is, just giveem lots of light and let them go. Good luck!

btkrausen · Feb 2, 2011

Captain Nemo said:
I have heard that they like dirtier water, dunno how true that is, just giveem lots of light and let them go. Good luck!

Yeah, I've heard that too. Also, look into dosing Vitamin C. Not sure if thats just a rumor, but I believe people have had luck with zoas and dosing VitC.

emureef · Feb 11, 2011

Im one being against this type of thing. Let nature take its course, provide the zoa with a great place to live and it'll grow how its suppose to grow. There is no secret to get zoa's to grow faster so you can make more money... sorry to say.

Bubbles_B · Feb 11, 2011

From my experience I can confidently say that when I stopped changing my filter sock and stopped doing water changes for almost over 2 months that the Zs and Ps did grow a bit faster but in the end I lost 6 chalices 3 acan colonies and many SPS frags.

So in essence I agree with "emureef" do what your supposed to do it the right way from beginning to end. And let nature take it's course. Don't even attempt to create a dirty environment because the time it would take to get everything back together again took way too much time and mula.

As they always say, "Patients is a virtue" :angel:

emureef · Feb 11, 2011

Bubbles_B said:
From my experience I can confidently say that when I stopped changing my filter sock and stopped doing water changes for almost over 2 months that the Zs and Ps did grow a bit faster but in the end I lost 6 chalices 3 acan colonies and many SPS frags.

So in essence I agree with "emureef" do what your supposed to do it the right way from beginning to end. And let nature take it's course. Don't even attempt to create a dirty environment because the time it would take to get everything back together again took way too much time and mula.

As they always say, "Patients is a virtue" :angel:

I agree with you 100 percent, there is no divine secret to growing them. This hobby isn't a hobby of seconds...things grow over months and years.... it takes time.

btkrausen · Feb 11, 2011

I used to think that they liked "dirtier" water, until I started dosing vodka. Now, my tank water is clean as it ever has been, and my colonies in the display continue to pop out polyps like crazy.

skinz78 · Feb 11, 2011

I say put them in the tank and forget about them... It seems that a watched frag never grows.:neutral:

jiffy · Feb 11, 2011

btkrausen said:
I used to think that they liked "dirtier" water, until I started dosing vodka. Now, my tank water is clean as it ever has been, and my colonies in the display continue to pop out polyps like crazy.

ive heard that before, does it matter what kind of vodka? and how much do you dose, and how often?

Akwarius · Feb 11, 2011

raymond said:
I want to dedicate my 40 gal frag tank to growing zoas and want to know if any one has any tricks on getting them to grow fast as possible, is it a water flow thing? do they grow faster on live rock then on frag plugs or tiles?

my plan is to get and line the bottom of my tank with tiles and place frags on the tiles and let them grow and go crazy, then when its time for frag show i can take every other tile out and replace them with new tiles. how would be the best way to do this?

Your tile idea is exactly what I've done with my 125. Just be sure to have adequate flow and actively blow of detritus often. I've noticed that a buildup of nutrients/detritus around zoa colonies can lead to fungus or infection. I would also recommend leaving a space between your tiles and the bottom of the tank as I have done with a raised eggcrate platform. This way detritus can be more easily blown or siphoned out.

btkrausen · Feb 11, 2011

jiffy said:
ive heard that before, does it matter what kind of vodka? and how much do you dose, and how often?

Vodka dosing, or carbon dosing, requires a lot of research before you dose. Carbon is said to feed "good" bacteria in which keep your nitrates and phophates down. Check out this article on ReefKeeping to get started.

Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

Rayzback · Feb 12, 2011

I can’t say much about accelerated growth, but I have had my fair share melt in record time :{

jiffy · Feb 12, 2011

btkrausen said:
Vodka dosing, or carbon dosing, requires a lot of research before you dose. Carbon is said to feed "good" bacteria in which keep your nitrates and phophates down. Check out this article on ReefKeeping to get started.

Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

thanks

btkrausen · Feb 12, 2011

Rayzback said:
I can’t say much about accelerated growth, but I have had my fair share melt in record time :{

Yeah, i hear you on that. How's a 25 polyp colony of the Captain Americas in a day, or a 30 polyp of spidermans in less than a day sound? haha

FaviaFreak · Feb 12, 2011

Yup, blow off detritus on a consistant basis, keep them free of nudi's and other pest, give them good flow and stable parameters and don't keep moving them around, the less you mess with them and the more you don't pay attention to them the faster they will grow