Zoa / Paly size

[pjdiddy]

I have seen Utter Chaos in a size of a quarter coin, while mine wont get bigger than a dime. So what makes these corals differs in size?

 

[DSC reef]

IME lighting intensity has been a factor of size and color variations.

 

[Cary]

I can attest to the fact that Utter Chaos will lose its spots if it get too much light. I have some that are bright orange under blue lights. I have moved them to a more "shady" place to try to recover the "chaos"

 

[Krzydmnd]

I agree with lighting... I have a rock half covered in utter chaos. The polyps on top in direct light are smaller and mostly orange. The polyps on the side with less intensity lighting are much larger, longer lashes, and a lot more speckling to them.

 

[DanTer]

These are mine right here, the biggest of the 4 about the size of a penny. I had bought them from an LFS that had them at about the size of a quarter. They had them solely under dim blue LEDs. I'd assume the lack of light made them a lot larger. I assume mind don't mind my lights, because they have grown 2 new heads.

 

[Cary]

They look very happy

 

[urban coral farmer]

I've had this discussion with a few of my buddy's that have frag tanks and we have come to the conclusion it all comes down to light polyps in lower light are huge higher light polyps are by far smaller. Hope this helps

 

[goatcorals]

Agree with low light = bigger zoas/palys, but I wonder if spectrum matters too. I have 2 tanks with t5 bulbs. Run whites 4 hours and the blues 8 hours, but one has purple plus blue compared to blue only on the other. Both have large polyps, but the tank with a purple bulb has huge polyps.

The purple does have lower par, but I’m not sure if that’s the difference maker or not?