Help with Zoanthids

[Dylan J.]

I've been looking around and it seems like its a pain to try to find some good solid info to help zoanthids along with growth. All I keep stumbling across is "Good Pars, Moderate Flow, Feed them.....etc"

I want to know a few things because like a lot of people I've been bit by the Zoa bug. Im starting to be a hoarder and currently have over 50 different types of zoas hidden away in my 40breeder. I'm soon planning on redoing my whole tank to rid of a few things and mainly keeping it a zoa dominated tank.

Is there anything special that I should be dosing?

Type of lighting is prefered? T5, LEDs, MH? If so, which bulbs on t5s? what type of LEDs do you prefer? what type of bulb on MH?

Obviously LEDs have different colors added with the normal blue and white lights, what colors of bulbs help improve what color on the zoa?

Zoas come from all different parts of the world so I understand some prefer colder waters, others prefer brighter lights and others prefer high nutrient waters. So has anyone nailed it to what the "perfect" chemical recipes the zoas are mostly happy in? pH, Alk, Dh,...etc.

as far as the flow what types of powerheads should I be looking at?

Should bare bottom be more welcomed than sand beds?

Should there be a refugium or no? why?

What types of equipment should be added in the sump? any types of reactors? skimmers? dosing pumps?

Type of livestock that can benefit the zoas? Fish, inverts, other corals? etc....

What helps their colors "pop"?

I think that should cover some of my questions. If any of you think more info should be introduced please share. I'm not looking for the general knowledge for basis zoa care. I think I've pretty much have established that. I want to know more of the advanced stuff. So I hope a few of those "master zoa keepers" chime in and share with not just me but the rest of us zoa crazy fans.

 

[Eienna]

Following.

 

[ohio reefer]

I am no where near a zoa expert, but I've had the best growth with T5, best colors with Led. I use a Apollo reef led 5000 on my zoas and they look wonderful. I accented my lights with some green and pink to add other colors. For some reason I've had better luck with zoas when the tank does not have any clams.

 

[sqcube4me]

zoas really like dirty water .. i have a frag tank that i do nothing but zoas in .. last water change on the tank was march 15th 2012 .. it has 2 fish in the tank and a small skimmer .. i dose iodine and PH on top offs .. it has 2 evolution 120 LED fixtures over it .. it has a small sand bed ,, it is a basic system with a 20 gallon sump

 

[Dylan J.]

I've stumbled across that info as well about T5 help zoas grow a bit fast and LEDs (which I am currently running and have noticed) promote color. When I plan on redoing this tank Im going to most likely redo my lighting with a T5 mixture with LEDs

 

[Dylan J.]

zoas really like dirty water .. i have a frag tank that i do nothing but zoas in .. last water change on the tank was march 15th 2012 .. it has 2 fish in the tank and a small skimmer .. i dose iodine and PH on top offs .. it has 2 evolution 120 LED fixtures over it .. it has a small sand bed ,, it is a basic system with a 20 gallon sump

elaborate on the dosing.

Size of water volume in the tank and sump?
how big is auto top off reservoir?
How much are you doing? (so we know how concentrated the dosage is really when it comes out)
How many gallons of RO/DI water is going through a week? (so we know how often the system would be getting dosed)

elaborate on the dirty water.

current chemistry level in tank?

Elaborate on the basic system

Filter socks?
baffles?
protein skimmer?
refugium? If yes, size and contents in refugium? deep sand bed, Bare bottom, miracle mud of some sort?

 

[sqcube4me]

Size of water volume in the tank and sump? 36x36x16 --- sump 20 gallon
how big is auto top off reservoir? top off is 2 gallons a week
How much are you doing? (so we know how concentrated the dosage is really when it comes out) 4 ml of iodine a week and 1 teaspoon of PH buffer a week
How many gallons of RO/DI water is going through a week? (so we know how often the system would be getting dosed) 2 gallons a week 8 gallons a month

 

[Dylan J.]

how big is auto top off reservoir? top off is 2 gallons a week
How many gallons of RO/DI water is going through a week? (so we know how often the system would be getting dosed) 2 gallons a week 8 gallons a month

For auto top off looking for size of reservoir, 5gallon bucket? 55 gallon rain barrel? pointing out if you add 4 ml of iodine a week and 1 teaspoon of PH buffer a week in a 5gallon bucket compared to a 55gallon rain barrel big difference on how much of that dosage is getting into the tank.

to have that little of evaporation you must keep your tank cold? my current system has approx. 40-45 gallons of water volume in the tank (once rocks and other stuff that is taking up space is once removed) and I do through 5+ gallons of RO/DI water a week and I keep my tank at 76 degrees as it is

(Also added a few other questions at my other posts above)

 

[Dylan J.]

Good knowledge and all but looking more along the lines for a Display Tank. Not sure I could get away without doing water changes in my tank without other LPS and few of the SPS dying off.

 

[joshporksandwich]

When people tell you dosing most of the times they refer to calcium and alk sometime mag. It doesn't mean anything other than by dosing you keep your parameters stable. If you keep everything stable everything will get used to your parameters and start growing. Even though everything comes from different parts of the world the majority of the corals will adapt even though some like more light, flow or nutrients. For example a lot of people say anthias need to be fed a lot for them to survive on an aquarium but I've had 7 anthias for 2 years and for the last year I've feed them only every other day.

Fish are very beneficial to corals since a lot of zoas eat fish poop. hermits and snails keep zoas algae free.

Refugium not only helps get rid of excessive nutrients but pods and any tipe of micro organisms breed and multiply there and keep corals also fed.

Skimmer also helps get rid of unwanted solids that corals don't consume. If you don't have one you need to do a lot of water changes.

Leds, t5 and metal halide all grow and color coral great but if your parameters are not stable nothing will look good. T5 color better but you don't get the pop leds give you

just keep a stable tank and everything will get better. I tell people to do water changes because it gets rid of junk on the water and it replenishes what got consumed or used by corals to grow.

That's all i got

 

[Dylan J.]

That's all i got

Oh come on now josh I know you got more than that lol

Get ready for some questions haha

As far as keeping Parameters in check, what are some equipment to help stable the water quality. Such as a Biopellet reactor, GFO and Carbon reactors. What are some thoughts on it, are they worth having and running if someone is looking to get serious with zoa keeping?

 

[Dylan J.]

Not looking for the "basic" answers that almost everyone blogs/posts about. I want to know more of the detailed answers.

 

[Rob&Gab]

Oh come on now josh I know you got more than that lol

Get ready for some questions haha

As far as keeping Parameters in check, what are some equipment to help stable the water quality. Such as a Biopellet reactor, GFO and Carbon reactors. What are some thoughts on it, are they worth having and running if someone is looking to get serious with zoa keeping?

dont do bio balls. only carbon and GFO.

 

[Rob&Gab]

Leds, t5 and metal halide all grow and color coral great but if your parameters are not stable nothing will look good. T5 color better but you don't get the pop leds give you


That's all i got

How can you say such a thing! LED's are awesome. But i do have 2 fixtures a t5 for the tank in the basement and LED's on the display in the living room. But LED's have been best crazzzzy growth and amazing color.

 

[Dylan J.]

dont do bio balls. only carbon and GFO.

You mean biopellets or bio balls? Can you explain some of the reasons to run Carbon and GFO?

 

[Dylan J.]

How can you say such a thing! LED's are awesome. But i do have 2 fixtures a t5 for the tank in the basement and LED's on the display in the living room. But LED's have been best crazzzzy growth and amazing color.

What type of LED's are you running?

 

[joshporksandwich]

Everyone that comes to my house get's amazed of how simple my setup is. The fanciest thing i have is an apex. I have an 18g sump with bioballs and a 14g fuge. I dose once a week and try to do 10-15% water changes every 2-3 weeks. I don't check my parameters unless i see something wron.

 

[Eienna]

How can you say such a thing! LED's are awesome. But i do have 2 fixtures a t5 for the tank in the basement and LED's on the display in the living room. But LED's have been best crazzzzy growth and amazing color.

What type of LED's are you running?

I wanna know too.

 

[Dylan J.]

Everyone that comes to my house get's amazed of how simple my setup is. The fanciest thing i have is an apex. I have an 18g sump with bioballs and a 14g fuge. I dose once a week and try to do 10-15% water changes every 2-3 weeks. I don't check my parameters unless i see something wron.

What do you dose? Type of lighting? My tank is a very simple set up as well but still doesn't look nothing like yours lol

 

[Rob&Gab]

What type of LED's are you running?

answer to your question. i have always beenr unning LED's you dont need a crazy fancy million doller fixture for your tank to look good and get good color and growth .

these are a nice price at 300$ with some change good service And are welll worth it.

here is my thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ocean-revive-led/141737-unboxing-evergrow-it2040-units.html