Zoa Help

[NX.Vash]

Hey guys have a few questions.

My Zoa's used to be nice and bright and always open when the lights are on. Now they seem like they never fully open and when they do they look tiny.

Have been testing my parameters repeatedly and aside from a small nitrate level everything else is spot on. I have a 29 gallon biocube with close to 30 pounds of rock. In chamber one I have a heater, in chamber 2 I removed the bio balls and made a media basket out of egg crate with 3 chambers. On top I have a layer of filter floss, then under that is a bag of phosguard, then a bag of purigen, then a large bag of matrix. Upgraded return pump is in chamber 3.

For lighting I have a Fluval Marine and Reef 2.0 Full spectrum LED, and also have a hydor koralia power head.

I will attach some a couple pics of my corals. My leather seems to be doing very well so I'm not sure whats wrong with my zoa's. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Zoa

Leather

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It might not be quite enough light.
It appears most zoa seem to need 80-100 par at the min.

Double check the specs and your intensity settings as well as the amount of time they are on.

 

[NX.Vash]

I took some screen shots of how I have the lights setup in the WiFi app. I have my day lights set to never go above 70% due to being told that this light is too much for my tank and that is what was causing algae problems. Blues ramp up to 100%, I also have the cloud effect turned on.

Daylight

Night / Blue

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Well I don’t belive it causes algae, no. It uses very similar spectrum to coral and there’s a lot of other reasons for algaes. A lot.

Check out these par specs and compare it to your tank and the distance for the zoas.

http://fluvalaquatics.com/us/freshwater/aquarium-lighting/series/marine-and-reef-2/

Assuming all the other parameters are in check (rodi, slightly dirtier water , decent flow) not sure what the cause would be.

 

[NX.Vash]

ok per the chart on there, where I have them currently at 70% power the par is 181.3. At full power it would be 259. This has me scratching my head :/

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

ok per the chart on there, where I have them currently at 70% power the par is 181.3. At full power it would be 259. This has me scratching my head :/

So they’re high up in the tank?
I have some zoa paly in 500-700 right next to my Xenia so I wouldn’t worry.

How are your no3 and Po4?
What’s your flow like?
Rodi water?

Are you running moon light at night as well?
On Light , There is the slight possibility of too much yes. But at 180 for 10 hrs or so I’m not sure that would be an issue.

 

[NX.Vash]

They are about ~7 inches below the light on the second highest tier of my rock work.
no3 is 20ppm currently. Have been fighting a never ending battle with that lately. Po4 according to my api kit is 0. I actually just got my low range Po4 hanna checker today so I will test that as soon as I can.
Flow at that spot is moderate to high I would say. As for RoDi, I am working on saving up for a unit but have been using sealed gallon jugs of distilled water for both top off and water changes.

My blue light is on from an hour before the whites kick through 2 hours after the whites turn off fully. There is a break on both whites and blues mid day where they drop down in intensity for 2 hours.

Do you think I should start slowly ramping my whites up little by little?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

They are about ~7 inches below the light on the second highest tier of my rock work.
no3 is 20ppm currently. Have been fighting a never ending battle with that lately. Po4 according to my api kit is 0. I actually just got my low range Po4 hanna checker today so I will test that as soon as I can.
Flow at that spot is moderate to high I would say. As for RoDi, I am working on saving up for a unit but have been using sealed gallon jugs of distilled water for both top off and water changes.

My blue light is on from an hour before the whites kick through 2 hours after the whites turn off fully. There is a break on both whites and blues mid day where they drop down in intensity for 2 hours.

Do you think I should start slowly ramping my whites up little by little?

How old is the tank ? Are you seeing any corraline growing?
Distilled water can be iffy. Ive seen both good and bad with it fro members over the years.
One indicator of water can be funny or funky algae and lack of corraline.

If the Po4 is quite low or super low , that could be an issue. Zoas love dirty water. Generally not clean or “pristine “. So I wouldn’t sweat that being high.

You’ll forgive me , how long is the total time the Light is on?
How long is the peak?
It ramps up to 70, drops for two hours , then back up till it begins the ramp down for the night correct ?

If you like the color of the tank, I wouldn’t mess with it.
My tank runs a very warm look nonodd problems.