Newbie to Zoas

[Nanorock1970]

just got my first small frag colony on Sunday. They have looked happy till early this evening they are all closed up. Is this normal? Water quality test is good salinity is the same as the LFS. Light is a strip of single row white LEDs that also have some blue ones on during day and blue only for night.

 

[AndrewB]

Can you provide more info on your setup. How old is the tank? Other inhabitants? Parameters other than "good"?

In my experience it isn't a good sign for the entire colony to close when it was doing well before. But don't panic yet, they're forgiving little guys.

Let us know a little more and hopefully we get them back on track.

 

[bsn_rn_cen]

Welcome to reef2reef. How much flow in the area? Can you put a picture up with parameters?

 

[Nanorock1970]

Water is 8.2 ph 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 10 nitrate. 1.020 salt, constant 75 F
Saltwater newbie.
56 gal Marineland tank and the “stick” LEDs it comes with. Canister filter with spray bar to agitate and create circular flow from across the top down the front and up the backside. No wave pumps or such in the tank. Saltwater purchased from LFS
50 lbs live rock that I think was already cured as my nitrate cycle was never detected only an increase in nitrate. About 1 inch of pink coral sand.
Been running about 6 weeks now.
End of week 1 added two orange clown fish
Tested water daily and all was good with no detectable ammonia spike.
Coralline Looks good on live rock. Brown algae growth on sand and glass.
Purchased 5 turbo snails, 5 hermit crabs, a chocolate chip starfish, a cleaner shrimp, and a dwarf Angel.
Cycled for a week, rinsed bio floss from canister filter one at a time a few days apart.
Water quality still same nitrate is the only thing to change from 0 to 10.
Purchased two emerald crabs and a peppermint shrimp. (Peppermint shrimp for the glass anenamie that have appeared)
Cycles for a week. Nitrate goes to 20. Changed 10 gal water. Back to 10 on the nitrate.
Purchased canary wrasse and stripped bass(can’t remember the bass real name) and the LFS guy persuaded us to try out some Zoas... large shallow tanks of frags off all kinds.
He did dip them for us before we left the store since we did not have dip.
Sunday, Monday and most of today they would open and close and one of the colony moved off the frag block to the rock( cool to watch)
About 7 before feeding the tank they all were closed. Not the same as the first 2 days .
Light is on white for about 12 hrs a day.
Zoas are at the top of my live rock pile but mid level in the tank.

 

[Nanorock1970]

Water is 8.2 ph 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 10 nitrate. 1.020 salt, constant 75 F
Saltwater newbie.
56 gal Marineland tank and the “stick” LEDs it comes with. Canister filter with spray bar to agitate and create circular flow from across the top down the front and up the backside. No wave pumps or such in the tank. Saltwater purchased from LFS
50 lbs live rock that I think was already cured as my nitrate cycle was never detected only an increase in nitrate. About 1 inch of pink coral sand.
Been running about 6 weeks now.
End of week 1 added two orange clown fish
Tested water daily and all was good with no detectable ammonia spike.
Coralline Looks good on live rock. Brown algae growth on sand and glass.
Purchased 5 turbo snails, 5 hermit crabs, a chocolate chip starfish, a cleaner shrimp, and a dwarf Angel.
Cycled for a week, rinsed bio floss from canister filter one at a time a few days apart.
Water quality still same nitrate is the only thing to change from 0 to 10.
Purchased two emerald crabs and a peppermint shrimp. (Peppermint shrimp for the glass anenamie that have appeared)
Cycles for a week. Nitrate goes to 20. Changed 10 gal water. Back to 10 on the nitrate.
Purchased canary wrasse and stripped bass(can’t remember the bass real name) and the LFS guy persuaded us to try out some Zoas... large shallow tanks of frags off all kinds.
He did dip them for us before we left the store since we did not have dip.
Sunday, Monday and most of today they would open and close and one of the colony moved off the frag block to the rock( cool to watch)
About 7 before feeding the tank they all were closed. Not the same as the first 2 days .
Light is on white for about 12 hrs a day.
Zoas are at the top of my live rock pile but mid level in the tank.

 

[Nanorock1970]

Here is a photo of my tank.

 

[James M]

Welcome to reef2reef!!
Your salinity is low and should be brought up, You would need to do this slowly .
you Definitely need a Powerhead/wavemaker to sustain marine life ( think about the ocean )
I believe those LEDs aren’t able to keep corals alive because of the there low wattage output . Look into a led black box .
Chocolate chip starfish aren’t reef safe and will eat the zoas

 

[Nanorock1970]

Even without any "wave" pumps, I am seeing the Zoas moving with the current in the tank. It is def. not a heavy current.
I have Matrix High capacity biofiltration in my bottom basket using the whole container that said for up to 200 gal. and Chemi-pure Original formula in the second chamber and the third chamber is just biofloss. I have biofloss in all chambers on top of the media. Flow rate on the filter is rated at 265 GPH (penn-plax cascade 1000). Update this morning on my Zoas..they are open a little bit under my blue light. My tank is away from any window, north light filtering in from about 15' away.

 

[Nanorock1970]

Welcome to reef2reef!!
Your salinity is low and should be brought up, You would need to do this slowly .
you Definitely need a Powerhead/wavemaker to sustain marine life ( think about the ocean )
I believe those LEDs aren’t able to keep corals alive because of the there low wattage output . Look into a led black box .
Chocolate chip starfish aren’t reef safe and will eat the zoas

Yes, everyone has been saying the Chocolate chip starfish is not reef safe. The LFS owner that sold us the Zoas knew exactly what we had in our tank. I have seen the starfish make a run at the zoas but it did not actually go near them. (saw fast movement across my live rock from one side towards the Zoa colony but left them alone). Oh and the stripped bass is a Chalk Bass and I also have a Black Tip Fromia Starfish that I bought the same day as the Zoas, Chalk Bass, and Canary Wrasse. Here is a close up of the zoa colony from 2 days ago.

 

[Nanorock1970]

So another update. They have opened up and seam to be ok with the white light on. Maybe they closed up for some reason that is normal???

 

[bsn_rn_cen]

Maybe cuc or something irritated them but glad they are back open

 

[Nanorock1970]

Here is a video showing the water movement on my colony. This was taken this morning.

 

[Nanorock1970]

Welcome to reef2reef!!
Your salinity is low and should be brought up, You would need to do this slowly .
you Definitely need a Powerhead/wavemaker to sustain marine life ( think about the ocean )
I believe those LEDs aren’t able to keep corals alive because of the there low wattage output . Look into a led black box .
Chocolate chip starfish aren’t reef safe and will eat the zoas

How do I bring up the salinity? I am currently buying my saltwater from my LFS. Sorry for the maybe obvious question but I have to ask my newbie questions.

 

[Nanorock1970]

So my Black Tip Fromia Starfish is an omnivore and listed as reef safe but the Chocolate Chip Starfish is a Carnivore and not listed as reef safe. Also I am getting conflicting info on the chip...Feed or not to feed. I have been feeding it once a week a half frozen clam. Not sure what to do with the Chip if he hits the Zoas....I think my wife is going to go with keep the starfish...

 

[James M]

How do I bring up the salinity? I am currently buying my saltwater from my LFS. Sorry for the maybe obvious question but I have to ask my newbie questions.

You would need to buy you own salt and use tap water with conditioner or a RODI system .

 

[Nanorock1970]

You would need to buy you own salt and use tap water with conditioner or a RODI system .

So that is the first time someone doing saltwater has said to use tap water with conditioner. I have asked on another forum about RO and RODI water requirements for saltwater or just tap with conditioner and I keep getting RODI to mix salt or add to tank to lower salt. Pros/Cons?

 

[James M]

So that is the first time someone doing saltwater has said to use tap water with conditioner. I have asked on another forum about RO and RODI water requirements for saltwater or just tap with conditioner and I keep getting RODI to mix salt or add to tank to lower salt. Pros/Cons?

No the first....but a RODI system is way better then using tap