This is the first, well second month of my informal tank Zoanthid census. I plan on counting heads every month and posting them here... at least until I make some big changes in the tank. I thought it might be useful to track growth progress and let others see growth rates of other hobbyists. This is in a Max E 170 with a Hydra 26 on "Reef Spec" settings at 100%. So far all has gone well with the exception of 1 Candy Apple red that disappeared while I was out of town. Nothing has grown off the plug yet, but almost everything seems to be thriving at the moment. I thought the Toxic Green Palys would be the fastest growers but it looks like the Space Magic Palys may beat them to the punch.
Monthly Zoanthid Census
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I was doing this for a while when I just had frags. I’m curious what reef spec settings are as I have these lights as well. Is it all colors at 100%? If your goal is more growth try feeding something like reef roids as well. Feeding seems to have helped my growth rate quite a bit 
Here is the latest. Some of these have gone down as I may be mixing 2 or 3 of the colony names. I have different frags but I swear some of them look identical. As to the question on ReefSpec lighting, it is the lighting recommended in the Red Sea manual. It is essentially cranking up the blues all the way and most of the whites, while leaving the other colors alone. I find my FUGE grows algae like crazy, but it never really took off in the tank even though there is far higher PAR.
Here is the latest and greatest on the Zoanthid Census. Things are growing off the plug now. Happy with pretty much all growth. The fastest growers are Agent Orange, Blue Spirit Plattys, Reverse Gorilla Nipples, and Surprisingly True Blue Hornets.
I’m pretty surprised at the slow growth on some of these. For example I saw my Rasta go from 2 to 7 in 2 months. I find my zoas really take off once they hit 7-9 polyps. I’m wondering if your fast growers versus slow has more to do with placement in your tank than type of zoa.
