Care for Blue Zoo's

[Haole]

No.... my zoanthids are not depressed. he he
I’m just looking for tip’s and suggestions on what is the best conditions and care to keep those vibrant blue zoanthids that I’ve seen from time to time.
I gotta have em’!!
I would think that intense lighting is needed to keep the color from fading....
I have 4-24” VHO’s..... 2-75 watt URI Actinic White (12000K) 2-75 watt URI Super Actinic R bulbs over my 40 gal. tank at the moment. From what I gather, I actually only have about 150 watts of usable light over my tank.
Would this be a sufficient amount of light to keep these beauties under?
Thanks!

 

[Haole]

Bump?
Sorry I can’t stay on and discuss.... Fighting for time online with the rest of the family! lol

 

[NaH2O]

Hmmm....I'm not sure the lighting requirements for Blue Zoanthids would be different than any other colorful zoanthid? ....here's another bump

 

[Haole]

Thanks for the bump Nikki.
Apparently I must be ok with what I’ve got....

 

[CarlaW]

I've got some zoos with bright pink centers, and they are just fine on the bottom. If yours are attached to a rock, you have the availability to move them around to find where they are happy. I think the lights you have will be fine for them. Chances are they will be all over before you are done.

 

[mfinn]

I have found that the metallic blue zoanthids don't do well with mh lighting. I have talked to a lot of people that agree that they like lower light levels. So you may have better luck with them with VHO.

 

[Haole]

Oh that’s great news!
I wasn’t really looking forward to the confusion of thinking about what kind of MH setup to buy if needed. Not to mention the initial expense.
Thanks charlie and finn..... Greatly appreciate your input!

 

[StoneyK]

your blues will grow faster under mh but they tend to lighten up and look almost purple(this is just a lighting effect,you can put them under vho or pc actinic and they are immediately the brilliant blue like all the pics)
they do look better under vho or pc but they grow slower and polyps are much smaller
so it kind of depends which you prefer.
I had mine under a 400w 10k and they sprouted a whole new color morph so now I have my true blue coloy and a colony of brick red zoas with neon red circles around blue eyes. I now keep my true blue colony in a cave because the 400w is imo too intense for direct light they get plenty filterd though the cave mouth and reflected off the glass.

 

[Haole]

Thanks for your input, Stoney!
Actually I don’t have any blue ones at the moment, but they are definitely on my wish list of corals that I would like to have.
A better skimmer is the priority right now so all I can do is save up and be patient. lol

 

[JasonD]

Here is my blue zoo coloring during a tank move from PC's to MH back to PC's.

Before Move in PC Lighting:

Two Months After Move in Indirect MH Lighting (20K XM, 175 WATT)

Two Months After Move in Direct MH Lighting (20K XM, 175 WATT)

After (second day back in PC Lighting):

From my experience blue zoo's grow faster and larger under MH lighting, but loss their color. The color will return under PC lighting, but it is not instantaneous. I am on day two and they look a little better, but are still very dull. My blue zoo's that did best in my MH tank did not receive direct lighting. So I put most of them back in the PC tank and left a few in the shadows in the MH tank. I can't say this is true for all blue zoo's. I think mine are a deep water zoo from Florida. All my other zoo's and corals are doing very well in my MH tank. Their colors look as good or better. It was just the blue zoo's that suffered the color loss.

 

[Haole]

Thanks for the pic's, Jason!
Now you're making me drool! lol