Lighting Acclimation for my first Corals (Zoas)

[Jib]

Picked up some new corals yesterday, which are mostly Zoas. Have a couple of questions around light acclimation. Currently running a AI Prime 16HD over my 14G peninsula. Light is about 8-9 inches off the top of the water. Here are my current settings (note, this is the normal, would be 50% lower now and ramping over next few days)

To help acclimate them, I set the acclimation schedule on the light starting at 50% and ramping up over 7 days. Last night and this morning all of the Zoas were out. As the light got brighter, 3 of 4 retreated and are now closed up. Even the star polyp seems angry and is closed. The one that is open likes high light per the seller, and seem to be reaching for more light. The Zoas that are angry prefer medium light per the seller. The frag rack they are on is at about the 1/3 mark up the tank. Hard to lower further with rock work.

It seems like they are angry over the lighting intensity, but I feel like my lighting isn't very high.

Anyone have thoughts? Should I set my lighting to something like 25% and ramp it longer? Or just give them more time to settle in? Current picture of the tank.

Thank you for the thoughts,

Jib

 

[Big Bosha]

I think ramping the lighting may help. However, I believe they may be just adjusting to the new lighting. Just keep an eye on them for a few days and dont change the lighting until you're sure they are not opening because of the lighting intensity.

 

[Alchameth]

50% change over 7 days is pretty quick. You said they were fine at first. I'd set it back to 50% and set the ramp to do it over 3-4 weeks.

 

[Jib]

50% change over 7 days is pretty quick. You said they were fine at first. I'd set it back to 50% and set the ramp to do it over 3-4 weeks.

Right, at first was just yesterday. And as they went in the tank the lights were coming down off their high for the day. So it seemed like they were out when it was just heavy blues. Seems like they got cranky when the whites started coming on.

I think ramping the lighting may help. However, I believe they may be just adjusting to the new lighting. Just keep an eye on them for a few days and dont change the lighting until you're sure they are not opening because of the lighting intensity.

Yeah, I hate to make knee jerk reactions, I just started second guessing my intensity and ramp time with their reaction.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I'm not a big believer in long acclimation periods for corals. I don't think its necessary.
Once you have a tank full of corals, are you going to mess with your lights each time you add a new one? Won't that upset existing corals?

I'd just go ahead and set your lights to your preferred schedule and allow your corals to acclimate to it as quickly as possible.

Zoas are pretty forgiving. I've had them happy at the top of the tank and happy at the bottom.
They will adapt as long as you provide sufficient lighting.

 

[Big Bosha]

Yeah, I hate to make knee jerk reactions, I just started second guessing my intensity and ramp time with their reaction.

It's easy to make quick adjustments due to fear of losing the corals. One of my biggest mistakes was quickly changing anything based on how my corals were reacting.for me the key has always been what BRS has said. It takes months for something good to happen, it takes minutes for something bad to happen. Patience is something I've had to grasp in the hobby over the past 8 months of learning. With my fw tanks I've kept for years, results were quick and easy. Although I believe that made them less rewarding.

 

[Jib]

I'm not a big believer in long acclimation periods for corals. I don't think its necessary.
Once you have a tank full of corals, are you going to mess with your lights each time you add a new one? Won't that upset existing corals?

I'd just go ahead and set your lights to your preferred schedule and allow your corals to acclimate to it as quickly as possible.

Zoas are pretty forgiving. I've had them happy at the top of the tank and happy at the bottom.
They will adapt as long as you provide sufficient lighting.

Your first paragraph is a good question which I haven't thought much about yet. I definitely understand where you are going with it.

To your third paragraph, when I was buying the Zoas, I didnt see one of them preferred high lighting, while the others all medium. I planned them for the same part of the tank. Do you think thre high lighting zoas will adapt or soemthing where they'll struggle. It will not be a high light part of the tank. They are JF Kung FU Fighters if it matters.

 

[Big Bosha]

To your third paragraph, when I was buying the Zoas, I didnt see one of them preferred high lighting, while the others all medium. I planned them for the same part of the tank. Do you think thre high lighting zoas will adapt or soemthing where they'll struggle. It will not be a high light part of the tank. They are JF Kung FU Fighters if it matters.

From what I understand, zoa's are pretty forgiving. And pretty much adapt to any lighting situation with proper parameters. However, they may not adapt in a way youd like. They may reproduce slowly, reach for the light more than the others, or not open all the way. I have come to find the "high end" zoas tend to be harder to care for. The "low end zoas" will spread like weeds with easy care. It is all dependent I believe on the type of zoa.

 

[Alchameth]

I prefer to error on the side of caution, corals aren't cheap... Way I see it is corals are more forgiving with lower light for awhile vs throwing them under way more light than they are used to.

You can supplement and feed roids or phyto to makeup for lesser light... What can you do when you burn or bleach them because you didn't acclimate them properly.

I'd rather find a good spot for the and adjust my lights to acclimate then move corals around the tank to acclimate them that way because then you have to deal with moving them every couple days and then oh is it not happy here because too much light, or is it annoying flow etc etc.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I'm not a zoa expert by any means. I only have one kind of zoa, a small but fast growing Utter Chaos colony. I bought a single polyp and put it on a frag rack at the top of my tank for a few weeks to acclimate. it started popping out new heads, so I figured it was happy.
I had some left over pcs of rubble rock so I glued a few pcs together, drilled a hole for a plug, and glued the Utter Chaos frag down to the rock and placed it down on the substrate in the tank. Figured I'd give it it's own rock in case I ever wanted to remove it.... It has since popped out a few more heads since the move to the bottom of the tank.
They seem pretty forgiving to me.

 

[Jib]

Thanks for the help all, just to be on the safe side I extended the acclimation period out 3 more days while I figure things out. Didn't change the intensity just yet.