Having trouble keeping zoas and shroomies

[Millsaps2378]

Hello all! I have been having some issues with keeping zoas and mushroom's in my tank. LPS and SPS seem to be doing great but I have tried multiple different kinds of zoas and mushroom's with no luck. Typically they will look great for about a month then the mushrooms shrivel up and let go of the rock they are on then just fly around the tank and zoas do great for about a month as well then slowly shrink and then shrivel away. I've only found 1 type of zoa that has been doing fine for about 3 -4 moths now but haven't seen much growth out of it and I'm not sure what type it is. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong since almost every other coral does great. I usually try to put them in med light and med flow areas. Tank has been running for almost 2 years now
Parameters:
salinity: 1.025
Temp: 76-77
Alk: 11
Calc: 430
Nitrate: 16ppm

Lights:
2 reef breeders NANO LED

 

[Spare time]

Phosphate level? What are the dimensions of that tank? What test kits?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Hello all! I have been having some issues with keeping zoas and mushroom's in my tank. LPS and SPS seem to be doing great but I have tried multiple different kinds of zoas and mushroom's with no luck. Typically they will look great for about a month then the mushrooms shrivel up and let go of the rock they are on then just fly around the tank and zoas do great for about a month as well then slowly shrink and then shrivel away. I've only found 1 type of zoa that has been doing fine for about 3 -4 moths now but haven't seen much growth out of it and I'm not sure what type it is. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong since almost every other coral does great. I usually try to put them in med light and med flow areas. Tank has been running for almost 2 years now
Parameters:
salinity: 1.025
Temp: 76-77
Alk: 11
Calc: 430
Nitrate: 16ppm

Lights:
2 reef breeders NANO LED

Mag level, water change schedule, where are you getting your water. Pic would help. How are you moving water. I would run alk at 9.

 

[Millsaps2378]

Phosphate level? What are the dimensions of that tank? What test kits?

Don't have a phosphate tester. 40g breeder and alk and calc are Hanna and all other tests are red sea

 

[Millsaps2378]

Mag level, water change schedule, where are you getting your water. Pic would help. How are you moving water.

Mag was around 1400ppm when i checked it last week. I use tap water with prime but hasn't ever caused any issues with any other corals. We have very clean tap water here and i've done multiple tests on them and never found anything bad in it. I unfortunately don't have any pics of the dying corals and i move the water by 5g buckets

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Mag was around 1400ppm when i checked it last week. I use tap water with prime but hasn't ever caused any issues with any other corals. We have very clean tap water here and i've done multiple tests on them and never found anything bad in it. I unfortunately don't have any pics of the dying corals and i move the water by 5g buckets

This is my take, your light I not strong enough. No matter how clean our tap water is, rodi is needed for a reef tank. Your lights are for a nano tank with low light coral. 30 watts each . Two 60 watt lights would work better for you.

 

[Millsaps2378]

This is my take, your light I not strong enough. No matter how clean our tap water is, rodi is needed for a reef tank. Your lights are for a nano tank with low light coral. 30 watts each . Two 60 watt lights would work better for

My LFS has these lights on multiple show tanks that grow all kinds of corals. If not enough light was the issue wouldn't the zoas be reaching for light instead and the mushrooms stay expanded to get as much light as possible instead of shriveling up? I have all kinds of other corals including LPS and SPS that have done great with no issues and a leather that has done great also. Also, i have used tap water for 2 years now with no issue. Not saying this couldn't be the issue but how does everything else do fine but zoas and mushrooms die when those are supposed to be the "hardier" corals?

 

[howietumba]

Alk too high. Ive noticed when i ran my display at 10.5-11 alk my shrooms and zoas shrank then melted. Maybe just me though.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

My LFS has these lights on multiple show tanks that grow all kinds of corals. If not enough light was the issue wouldn't the zoas be reaching for light instead and the mushrooms stay expanded to get as much light as possible instead of shriveling up? I have all kinds of other corals including LPS and SPS that have done great with no issues and a leather that has done great also. Also, i have used tap water for 2 years now with no issue. Not saying this couldn't be the issue but how does everything else do fine but zoas and mushrooms die when those are supposed to be the "hardier" corals?

Like I said, it was my take, I'm running a 75 gallon with zoa's taking 190 200 par spreading like hotcakes and loving life some of those same zoa's were in my wife's 20 gallon with a 60 watt light and were not doing well. Again that was my take on your situation.

 

[Millsaps2378]

Like I said, it was my take, I'm running a 75 gallon with zoa's taking 190 200 par spreading like hotcakes and loving life some of those same zoa's were in my wife's 20 gallon with a 60 watt light and were not doing well. Again that was my take on your situation.

Gotcha! Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Millsaps2378]

Alk too high. Ive noticed when i ran my display at 10.5-11 alk my shrooms and zoas shrank then melted. Maybe just me though.

I can try to lower some. I would love to keep zoas and shrooms but I just don't want to have issues with everything else trying to chase numbers when everything else looks great

 

[howietumba]

Normal alk is 7-9 anyways. Lower it slowly though. Maybe .5 a day.

 

[Spare time]

Don't have a phosphate tester. 40g breeder and alk and calc are Hanna and all other tests are red sea

First thing to do is get a quality phosphate test. Next, I would consider new lights. Those are very weak lights. Do you see the corals stretching at all ?

 

[Rick's Reviews]

What shroomies/mushroom do you have, I may be able to help in regards to these

 

[Spare time]

Alk too high. Ive noticed when i ran my display at 10.5-11 alk my shrooms and zoas shrank then melted. Maybe just me though.

Alk should be irrelevant to soft corals plus that is where I keep my alk with no issues.

 

[Millsaps2378]

What shroomies/mushroom do you have, I may be able to help in regards to these

I've only tried a few different kinds of zoas. stratocasters, watermelon, eagle eyes, snitches, and a couple others with no luck. After a few weeks they slowly shrink then shrivel away...I've only been able to keep one colony(about 20 polyps) of zoas alive for about 3.5 months but haven't seen really any growth. Mushrooms i have typically only tried different variants of yuma mushrooms and they also do pretty well for a few weeks then slowly shrink and let go of the rocks they are on. I have tried them in different locations around the tank to see if i can find a spot they like but the same thing typically happens no matter where i put them. They are typically always in a med/low flow and med/low lighting area