Help with Zoos coloration

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Milez803

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Apr 5, 2007
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i bought some blue zoo awhile ago....its in my 130 gallon tank..i'm running 250 watts on them..i notice the color of the zoos seem to fade to brown..not sure of the reason..they open up fine..but as for color..its due to go bleh..i'm running 10k bulbs..i thought it might have been the light..due to lack of light..so i switch on my 400watts for awhile..and it seem to stay the same..my tank is 22 inch height..and the light is 1 1/2 feet above the water..is it something i'm lacking which is cause my zoos to fade in color..even my orange zoos seem to be fading..any advice would help guys..thanks
 
Alot of the blue colored zoanthids don't really like tank lighting. They just fade to a brown or grey color.
I've had several colonies do that, and just don't seem to go back to blue no matter what you do. You can try to put them in a little bit of shade, along with any new blue zoanthids you get. Some just don't like strong light.
I have found that most zoanthids look better under bluer mh bulbs. Like 14k to 20k bulbs.
I do know of a blue zoanthid that does seem to like direct mh light and they are Tubs Blues.
HTH
 
Yes to what finn is saying. I also have tubs blues that love the MH but my Purple Deaths do not ( there growing like mad but faded). I will try some shade. Best of luck to ya. Thanks Finn
 
yeah..maybe i should hide my blue zoo somewhere in a cave..to prevent the light from turning them brown..i'll try for for once..and see if its works..thanks guys
 
With this amount of light i say mid range in the tank would be fine. The better light you have means more placement options and they will adjust to the higher light even if placed high. The liight also helps bring out colors that maynot be seen with other type light.

But light is only one factor in there health.

Coral need good water movement and proper feeding with controlled water conditions.

What size tank and whats used for water movement?
Whats type food do you use and the feeding scedule?
 
for tank size..its around 130 something..its a custom made tank..so not really sure ..about the size..i just know its 48 inch long..36 wide and 22 height..with a overflow box right in the center of the tank..about 1 feet long and 6 inch wide.... as for water movement i just have 2 return pump with small pressure valve..and one max jet which i switch out the fan... i don't feed my coral...maybe i should..and only 5 fish in the tank..mandarian goby, yellow warass, and 3 chromis. 30 hermit crab..2 blue leg..1 red leg..black sea urchin and 20 different type of snail..ranging from turbo, to nerith, and marg.. i duno my system has been develop through a old tank..i can't seem to bring the coloration of any of my color back to how it was in the 55 gallon hex tank...even my xenia stop reproducing..which is a bad sign.. but everything is live....
as for feeding..i feed the fish marine flake once every 2 days..and that it..
 
In a 135 you want around 2500 gph and from sources other then your return pumps. As for food its best to feed your fish more often and a variety. Like 5 or 6 types of food 2 or 3 times a day in smaller amounts. Cyclops real good for fish and coral. Then the flow is needed to deliever the food dource to the coral. THey can capture there food but its hard if its the wrong type or it doesnt pass by them enough. In a reef tank fish are good because as you feed the fish you also feed the coral.
 
The original issue was about his blue zoanthids turning brown. Mid level in a tank with 400watt mh is not what blue zoanthids need.
Many of the blue zoanthids we get lose the blue color in bright light, which they already have done.

Oh for what its worth,, most zoanthids don't capture food.
 
Zoos will do just fine under high lighting and do need small meaty bits of food. Some can even be targt fead though not needed. I suspect low flow and poor feeding habits are the bigger issue here. I was helping with original question though.

This may help , GL..

http://www.asira.org/caresheets
 
thanks alot guys..maybe i might just buy another flow ..its just i don't like too many cord..in my tank..because my tank has all 4 side as view tank..that why don't want to have any pump to destroy the view...
 
i just add my old powerhead..another 1600gph in my tank..so my tank is maybe running around 2500 with my max jet with the addon.. at this moment..yeah my view is destroy by the big powerhead..but the current is view strong...i hit the current along the wall to bounce off..not sure if that a great idea....and my xenia seem to be swing back and forward..not sure if that a good sign..hehe..hope that help...on my sps and zoos..
 
You need to arrange the coral around the flow. You want to create a circular motion that hits all areas. If this seems to help then perhaps researching better powerheads might help.
 
If I can butt in here since Milez is getting some conflicting opinions. I have never met anyone who knows more about the proper care of Zoanthids than Finn, who has reared everything from the commons to being on of the first in the area to spend a fortune on the exotics. Through many years, he's done a lot of research and had much personal experience on these. If you ask him any direct question, you will get an excellent reply and it will be pretty close to spot on.
 
My brother has Zoo heavy tank and upgraded to MH lighting. He has PPE and many other types. His zoos took to the light like a fish to water , little pun intended. Better growth and color and in the low areas and the high areas. Zoos will do fine under lower lighting also but my bro's tank impressed me.

The original thread starter also stated he has low flow and only feeds flakes to the few fish he has. Zoos do eat fish waste and i cant see fish flake waste doing it.
 
I never said that zoanthids didn't like high light.
My zoanthid tank is only 18" deep and I use a 250 watt PFO HQI ballast with a se 14k bulb.
My zoanthid tank has been doing very well with that light.
My tank has over 2 dozen different zoanthids, palythoas and protopalythoas color morfs.

I did say many blue zoanthids don't like direct mh light.
I've had several blue colonies that just turned grey. Many people I know around the country have reported the same thing on several other forums. When blue zoanthids started showing up 7-8 years ago, many of us displayed them up high, where they were very visable. Some left them in shaded areas. Everybody I know or read about complained about the same thing. They faded.
I recently bought a frag from a LFS of blue paly's. I left them out in the open. They faded.
The colony at the LFS is under a overhang and still blue.
One of the exceptions are the Tubs Blues

As far as food capture, when I feed my tank, only the protopalythoas, palythoas, and some of the pe types show a feeding response. The rest do not capture food. Some will close up as a defense response when the food hits them, but they open up almost immediately.
It maybe that zoanthids get nutrition from the water as the food we add for fish becomes a slurry and absorb it somehow that way.
I add Sea Chem Reef Plus, which is a vitamin and amino acid supplement

But I still say most zoanthids don't capture food.
This is what I've learned in 18 years of keeping different types of zoanthids, and palythoas.
 
If you have any zoos then just try this. Get some cyclops , or if their large enough brine shrimp , and target feed them with a turkey baster. Just blow it toward them and whatch. They will take it . This isnt needed but i think if they feel happy and have plenty of food they will multiply much faster.

Also some frags get dyed for color and this might fade but i cant say either way on this one.
 
thanks gary..but from ..you provided..i start feeding my cyclops and remove it from direct light..the blue is starting to come back from the center..also i just pick up some new zoos frags..lemonaid, lunar eclipse, and molehawk..i hope it grows fast..looking to get it to grow and maybe trade from some other zoos..still trying to collect the joker paly and some other rare one....i'm about to buy 2 new 400 watts MH and switch it to 20k bulbs..hope its help with the color..i know it will affect my sps growth rate thou
 
SPS perfer good water current over high lighting but do well in higher lighting. If you upgrade your light then dont go full time. Start with a few hours of main light and bring up slowly. This will let stock adjust to higher lighting and prevent any algea blooms.
 

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