Playboy bunny zoa losing color

Chrisv. · Sep 23, 2021

I’m new to zoas but not to reefing, and I have a recently set up zoa nano. my parameters are as follows;

No3: 1.0
po4: .13
sg: 1.025
temp: 79.0
alk: 8.3
ca: 390

i dose brightwell aminos every three days or so but do not feed right now because I have no fish in the tank and I’m worried that amphipods will explode if I feed with no predators around.

I’m running chemipure blue and filter floss in my aio back chamber. No skimmer.

The tank was set up with relatively established live rock from my LFS. So far there are only zoanthids a small cleanup crew, and what seems to be an unreasonable amount of pods.

for lighting I’m using an ai prime hd 16 set with all blue channels set to 40% and all other channels set to 20%. This gives me a par of 100-140 throughout the tank.

my bunnies wer an amazing pink color for 2.5 weeks after adding, but they are turning brown! Polyps are large with very short stalk. The only real change I have made is bumping the lights from 30% to 40%.

do you think I induced the color shift by hitting them with too much light? Is this strain particularly known for needing low light? The queen Midas next to to them look spot on.

blaxsun · Sep 23, 2021

An image or two probably wouldn’t hurt.

Chrisv. · Sep 23, 2021

Chrisv. · Sep 23, 2021

For example the ones on the top right of the lower cluster

captainbeardly · Oct 1, 2021

Chrisv. said:
I’m new to zoas but not to reefing, and I have a recently set up zoa nano. my parameters are as follows;

No3: 1.0
po4: .13
sg: 1.025
temp: 79.0
alk: 8.3
ca: 390

i dose brightwell aminos every three days or so but do not feed right now because I have no fish in the tank and I’m worried that amphipods will explode if I feed with no predators around.

I’m running chemipure blue and filter floss in my aio back chamber. No skimmer.

The tank was set up with relatively established live rock from my LFS. So far there are only zoanthids a small cleanup crew, and what seems to be an unreasonable amount of pods.

for lighting I’m using an ai prime hd 16 set with all blue channels set to 40% and all other channels set to 20%. This gives me a par of 100-140 throughout the tank.

my bunnies wer an amazing pink color for 2.5 weeks after adding, but they are turning brown! Polyps are large with very short stalk. The only real change I have made is bumping the lights from 30% to 40%.

do you think I induced the color shift by hitting them with too much light? Is this strain particularly known for needing low light? The queen Midas next to to them look spot on.

Are you dosing the coral aminos or restor?

Chrisv. · Oct 1, 2021

captainbeardly said:
Are you dosing the coral aminos or restor?

Coral aminos

captainbeardly · Oct 1, 2021

Chrisv. said:
Coral aminos

Coral aminos are more for the sps dominated tanks and it’s strictly free form aminos which is easier for sps corals to consume and breakdown. Restor is more for lps and softies as it’s a mixture of free form and complex aminos. Complex aminos are a little heavier and are better for your zoas and or lps if you have them.

Chrisv. · Oct 1, 2021

captainbeardly said:
Coral aminos are more for the sps dominated tanks and it’s strictly free form aminos which is easier for sps corals to consume and breakdown. Restor is more for lps and softies as it’s a mixture of free form and complex aminos. Complex aminos are a little heavier and are better for your zoas and or lps if you have them.

Interesting. I had no idea. Are the complex in the sense that they are actually short AA polymers (short peptides) or something else? If peptides, do they have to be refrigerated to keep them from breaking down? Do corals use them directly or metabolize them to amino acid monomers and then use them?

captainbeardly · Oct 1, 2021

Chrisv. said:
Interesting. I had no idea. Are the complex in the sense that they are actually short AA polymers (short peptides) or something else? If peptides, do they have to be refrigerated to keep them from breaking down? Do corals use them directly or metabolize them to amino acid monomers and then use them?

So with brightwell products the way they preserve stuff does not have to be refrigerated. Also they are key lated so it’s all time release that’s why you does every 3 days. I myself use brightwell additives and have done a lot of research on the products and the simple facts that none have to be refrigerated is what sold me. Being able to put them on a doser without spoiling is a huge bonus.

Chrisv. · Oct 1, 2021

captainbeardly said:
So with brightwell products the way they preserve stuff does not have to be refrigerated. Also they are key lated so it’s all time release that’s why you does every 3 days. I myself use brightwell additives and have done a lot of research on the products and the simple facts that none have to be refrigerated is what sold me. Being able to put them on a doser without spoiling is a huge bonus.

the no refrigeration is a big plus. I haven't heard about the amino acid monomer vs "complex" thing before I will have to dig in a little further. Have you tried both and observed a difference?

captainbeardly · Oct 1, 2021

Chrisv. said:
the no refrigeration is a big plus. I haven't heard about the amino acid monomer vs "complex" thing before I will have to dig in a little further. Have you tried both and observed a difference?

On my 40 gallon I mainly dose the Restor and once a week I only do like 7 drops of the coral aminos just for a little extra for the 3 sps I have in my tank. And I only do that because I already had it before I figured out about Restor. Reef Dudes did an interview with the Brightwell aquatics guy asking about the difference between the two without going into all the scientific stuff that’s in it. But basically the Restor is perfect with mixed reefs due to having both free form and complex and regular aminos for the sps dominated. Sps have a harder time breaking down the complex aminos whereas the free form they can absorb easier. I’m not a scientist or anything lol just the general knowledge I have on the products. Also goes into if you don’t do a lot of water changes the Replenish will replace the minor trace elements as well and best used with a 2 part, kalk, or calcium reactor.
Like I said I’m no scientist or professional but I have noticed better coloring in my zoas, lps, and sps using Restor.

BoneDoc · Oct 1, 2021

What lights are you using? If the polyps are reaching upward, it could be that the lights is not as intense and that’s why they are showing more brown to get more energy from photosynthesis

Chrisv. · Oct 1, 2021

BoneDoc said:
What lights are you using? If the polyps are reaching upward, it could be that the lights is not as intense and that’s why they are showing more brown to get more energy from photosynthesis

It's an ai prime hd and they are at about 130 par. They are flat against the rocks. Just some polyps are shifting brown.

jfoahs04 · Oct 1, 2021

Chrisv. said:
It's an ai prime hd and they are at about 130 par. They are flat against the rocks. Just some polyps are shifting brown.

Every tank and variety of zoa is different so YMMV, but my zoas tend to do best under 100 PAR. Usually around 80 is what I shoot for. I'm also running an AI Prime 16HD, but this has been the case with previous lights as well. At higher levels of the tank, some of my zoas have turned duller shades of their original colors.

Chrisv. · Oct 1, 2021

jfoahs04 said:
Every tank and variety of zoa is different so YMMV, but my zoas tend to do best under 100 PAR. Usually around 80 is what I shoot for. I'm also running an AI Prime 16HD, but this has been the case with previous lights as well. At higher levels of the tank, some of my zoas have turned duller shades of their original colors.

I've gotten super conflicting advice on par. A bunch of people with very fancy collections have insisted I need to get up to 175ish to make colors pop. On the other hand I have seen a lot of people with fantastic tanks that are more in the 75-100 par range. It's frustrating to have the ability to measure and control, but to not know where to set things.

Chrisv. · Oct 1, 2021

jfoahs04 said:
Every tank and variety of zoa is different so YMMV, but my zoas tend to do best under 100 PAR. Usually around 80 is what I shoot for. I'm also running an AI Prime 16HD, but this has been the case with previous lights as well. At higher levels of the tank, some of my zoas have turned duller shades of their original colors.

Did you measure your par personally? With what method?

BoneDoc · Oct 1, 2021

i would try a more di feeding with something like reef roids or reef chilli. Zoas will eat all of those food

Chrisv. · Oct 1, 2021

BoneDoc said:
i would try a more di feeding with something like reef roids or reef chilli. Zoas will eat all of those food

As others have noted, I have some that REALLY seem to react to food as I target feed them (ha I saw a rainbow incinerator literally eat a mysis yesterday!) And others (including these) that just seem to not move when fed. Are they eating even if they don't visibly move?