Do certain zoas grow faster then others?

[The 262 Reef]

I havent really had all my zoas long enough to compare growth rates.. but just wondering.

Ive been told to keep certain zoas in higher lighting vs lower lighting.. for example: alien eyes.. wich i have more close to the 200 par range vs my frag plug pedestal of zoas at around 100par.

Is too much "white light" bad for them.. i ask this because it seems like the color seems to fade out and look more white in the center of the rastas more during the day vs at night when its just mainly 445nm and 460nm with some green and red.

Not really understanding why sometimes randomly a few polyps or sometimes big clusters of polyps randomly close up. I have asterina starfish.. and removed lots and lots of them but honestly ive never seen any polyps gone missing and/or chunks missing from polyps.. but i have been removing as many as i can from my tank.. they dont seem to be a problem in my tank except they infest quickly.. i always thought of them as algea control until i read something about them a few weeks ago.

 

[James M]

It really depends on the tank. Radio active dragon eyes grow so slow in my tank but gobstoppers grow really fast

 

[Joshua Warne]

I’m a firm believer in the fact that zoas grow best in lower par 100 or less, and color up best in higher par 200-300. To answer your question, zoas definitely have different growth rates and the also have different lighting/flow requirements to flourish. Some like low, some like high. Once you find the sweet spot they will get comfortable and take off.

Keep a close eye on your zoas. It’s most likely something brushing or walking over them. If you start seeing death or color loss then you could have an issue. Until you see that I would consider the closing harmless.

 

[The 262 Reef]

I’m a firm believer in the fact that zoas grow best in lower par 100 or less, and color up best in higher par 200-300. To answer your question, zoas definitely have different growth rates and the also have different lighting/flow requirements to flourish. Some like low, some like high. Once you find the sweet spot they will get comfortable and take off.

Keep a close eye on your zoas. It’s most likely something brushing or walking over them. If you start seeing death or color loss then you could have an issue. Until you see that I would consider the closing harmless.

Thanks! Yea i dont really see a health issue in the zoas, more seems like the color fades out a hit in the center when the lights are at their brightest.. but eventually when the light ramps down at the end of the day and i have more blue and red light they flourish greatly in color.

 

[The 262 Reef]

It really depends on the tank. Radio active dragon eyes grow so slow in my tank but gobstoppers grow really fast

I have noticed that dragons eye grows pretty slow in my tank as well.. i bought the frag rock with maybe 8 polyps... and its been about 9 months now and they are just starting to cover up the entire rock frag and onto the new surface.. seems to be as well for the rastas too.. which is one of my favs. Hopefully i can get the bam bams and fruity pebbles to really develop a colony before the eagles eyes and green bay packers take over.. which they seem to be outgrowing everyone so fast!!!.. maybe ill take the plug off and start growing them somewhere else. In the midst of making a new frag plug pedestal for more zoas.

 

[Joshua Warne]

Fading colors, losing patterns in the center are generally a nutrient issue. Meaning low NO3/PO4 or too much par.

From your photos everything looks great. I wouldn’t change anything unless you’re seeing some drastic impacts on zoas. I will say that if you notice an increase in color loss during the peak hours with more white, I would lower the intensity of the lights a bit. Zoas can thrive in 50 par without issue, but too much par can kill them if not acclimated properly.

 

[The 262 Reef]

Fading colors, losing patterns in the center are generally a nutrient issue. Meaning low NO3/PO4 or too much par.

From your photos everything looks great. I wouldn’t change anything unless you’re seeing some drastic impacts on zoas. I will say that if you notice an increase in color loss during the peak hours with more white, I would lower the intensity of the lights a bit. Zoas can thrive in 50 par without issue, but too much par can kill them if not acclimated properly.

Yea that makes more sense to me. Thanks for the info. Its hard for me to want to lower my intensity ect ect because i do like the acros and montis/digis and stylos/staghorn. Its a mixed 75g reef tank and i feed every wednesday with aminos phyto/zooplankton and reefroids and some corals get mysis shrimp and fish eggs. And then on friday i do my water changes from 5-10gal depending on what my nitrates test generally before i do the water change. Sometimes i get a little overboard with feeding the fish cuz they steal the corals food which really is irritating. Thinking about getting an auto doser for phyto and zoo also for seachem reef fusion 1 and 2. I do have reef complete and reef carvonate by seachem because i can get the extra correct ratios of magnesium but thinking about starting to test for magnesium and adding a seperate magnesium supp. I generally keep my system no more then 460for calcium and no less then 420.. and my alkalinity dkh generally stays at 11.. never really do i see it swing.. using Reef Crystals salt and i try not to do water changes to late at night because of ph swing and also try mix the new water and salt together for 20min at room temp with a power head.