Zoas won’t open

[ocsurferdad]

Hello fellow reefers,

This is my first post, thank you R2R for membership. I have been struggling with getting my zoas to open. They were good for a week or two then closed up. I dipped them with Seachem before placing into tank. I believe my water parameters to be pretty good. But not sure about my lighting and flow. My lighting is OCEAN REVIVE T247-B FULL SPECTRUM DIMMABLE LED REEF LIGHT. Which is super bright even at 1% so not sure if I’m burning them or what. I run them at 5% blue 4 hours, full spectrum white 4 hours, then blue 4 hours again. Would appreciate any suggestions and if I missed anything you would like to know please ask.

pH 8.2 ish
Salinity 1.025
Ca 420 Ppm
Alk 240 ppm
Nitrate <5 ppm
Nitrite <0.25 ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Phosphate <0.25 ppm (don’t have ultra low test kit)
Temp 79
Flow 10X

Thank You

-O.C. Surferdad

 

[Ron Reefman]

First, welcome to Reef2Reef!

So how long has your tank been running and how long have you had the zoas? How deep is your tank? Can you double check your alk level? 240ppm is 13.4dKH which is quite high. You want to be down in the 130 to 160ppm (or 7 to 9dKH).

I've got zoas I made extremely upset when I did a long dip in hydrogen peroxide (15 minutes) to kill some nuisance algae. I did the long dip because I was less concerned with keeping the zoas and more concerned with killing the algae. The rock went from the peroxide into a quick freshwater rinse and then into a 5g holding tank with new saltwater, a wavemaker and a good led. After 2 days I changed the water. It took almost 2 weeks before the zoas started to open more like normal.

I know your Ocean Revive fixture well, I worked for the company for a couple of years. It's a good fixture and makes good PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation). Most all led fixtures seem bright to our eyes, but so is the sun and that is what they need to grow! Even in a shallow 12" deep tank' I'd recommend you run the blues at 50% to 60% and the whites at 20% to 40%.

 

[sailorman]

Study the zoas very carefully for nudibranchs which can also keep the zoas from opening. Hard to see in the beginning, they can look just like the zoa.

 

[ocsurferdad]

First, welcome to Reef2Reef!

So how long has your tank been running and how long have you had the zoas? How deep is your tank? Can you double check your alk level? 240ppm is 13.4dKH which is quite high. You want to be down in the 130 to 160ppm (or 7 to 9dKH).

I've got zoas I made extremely upset when I did a long dip in hydrogen peroxide (15 minutes) to kill some nuisance algae. I did the long dip because I was less concerned with keeping the zoas and more concerned with killing the algae. The rock went from the peroxide into a quick freshwater rinse and then into a 5g holding tank with new saltwater, a wavemaker and a good led. After 2 days I changed the water. It took almost 2 weeks before the zoas started to open more like normal.

I know your Ocean Revive fixture well, I worked for the company for a couple of years. It's a good fixture and makes good PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation). Most all led fixtures seem bright to our eyes, but so is the sun and that is what they need to grow! Even in a shallow 12" deep tank' I'd recommend you run the blues at 50% to 60% and the whites at 20% to 40%.

Thank you

First, welcome to Reef2Reef!

So how long has your tank been running and how long have you had the zoas? How deep is your tank? Can you double check your alk level? 240ppm is 13.4dKH which is quite high. You want to be down in the 130 to 160ppm (or 7 to 9dKH).

I've got zoas I made extremely upset when I did a long dip in hydrogen peroxide (15 minutes) to kill some nuisance algae. I did the long dip because I was less concerned with keeping the zoas and more concerned with killing the algae. The rock went from the peroxide into a quick freshwater rinse and then into a 5g holding tank with new saltwater, a wavemaker and a good led. After 2 days I changed the water. It took almost 2 weeks before the zoas started to open more like normal.

I know your Ocean Revive fixture well, I worked for the company for a couple of years. It's a good fixture and makes good PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation). Most all led fixtures seem bright to our eyes, but so is the sun and that is what they need to grow! Even in a shallow 12" deep tank' I'd recommend you run the blues at 50% to 60% and the whites at 20% to 40%.

Thank You Ron and Sailorman!

The tank is 16-17 months old. It’s a corner tank 80 gallon, 24 inch deep. Some of the zoas I have had since the 1 year mark and some only 3 weeks. Repeat Alk 234 (Hanna CaCO3). I will start with slowly decreasing the alk. I am very concerned with the light increasing however because I have tried to turn them up even 2-3% and then everything starts to mushroom/umbrella but that was before they closed up. I’ll try Adjusting and see how that works. I should probably mention the zoas are all kept about 12’-16’ from surface and light is hung 12’ above top of tank.

 

[Ron Reefman]

What percentages are you running now? And for how long each day?

 

[ocsurferdad]

What percentages are you running now? And for how long each day?

As of Today I dipped my zoas again no evidence of infestation. I upped my lighting now running Blues at 50% 8-12, Whites 30% 12-4, Blues again 4-10

 

[sp1187]

how many different frags?

 

[Ron Reefman]

As of Today I dipped my zoas again no evidence of infestation. I upped my lighting now running Blues at 50% 8-12, Whites 30% 12-4, Blues again 4-10

You should run the blues with the whites during tha 12 to 4 time span. Remember the zooxanthellae use blue spectrum to do photosynthesis, and they need it bright in order to even get it started and they do it for 5 to 8 hours.