Tank not to happy sime friendly advice

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

Zoas (and Kenya) have been on the sad side. Super long necks Some of my corals almost look like their deteriorating.
My nitrates are at a 2
Nitrite 0
Po4 is 0.03
Are they just not happy because my levels are low ? Attached is a picture of the zoa stretching and not opening and my light schedule as well as tank

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

This is where my tank was happy so I can only assume it's where I'm at

 

[TheDuude]

Low light? Have you checked par levels ?

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

Low light? Have you checked par levels ?

No sir no par meter

 

[Koh23]

Corals needs light...

There is so many topics here with problems, and many many of them are simple light related.....

20-50w lights, and set to low % will not grow anything at long run.....

Crank that up, at least 2-3 hours per day full power, average around 60-ish % during day..... And feed,feed,feed....

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

Corals needs light...

There is so many topics here with problems, and many many of them are simple light related.....

20-50w lights, and set to low % will not grow anything at long run.....

Crank that up, at least 2-3 hours per day full power, average around 60-ish % during day..... And feed,feed,feed....

So how many watts do you recommend ? No par meter so I can only guesstimate

 

[BanjoBandito]

I agree, try to slowly ramp up the light and don’t be afraid of some nutrients

So how many watts do you recommend ? No par meter so I can only guesstimate

looks like you are running an AI prime? Is that right? That light will absolutely grow coral so look at your schedule. Try to do any changes slowly!

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

I agree, try to slowly ramp up the light and don’t be afraid of some nutrients


looks like you are running an AI prime? Is that right? That light will absolutely grow coral so look at your schedule. Try to do any changes slowly!

Do you have any tips on where I can find schedules ? Someone told me but I can't find the link and yes that is an ai prime 16

 

[Jack Ravensbergen]

Kh is always stabil at 9.9 ?

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

Kh is always stabil at 9.9 ?

For the most part it spiked 4 days ago do to putting microbacter 7 ( everyone says that wouldn't do it but it was the only thing I did that changed the tank dramatically) I did it originally for cyano but 1 dose 4mil (capful) cleared a ton of cyano but stripped all Mt po4 and nitrates out on top of carbon I took out trying to get it back on track.
I guess to answer your question, no not this week hit a 10.5

 

[BanjoBandito]

For the most part it spiked 4 days ago do to putting microbacter 7 ( everyone says that wouldn't do it but it was the only thing I did that changed the tank dramatically) I did it originally for cyano but 1 dose 4mil (capful) cleared a ton of cyano but stripped all Mt po4 and nitrates out on top of carbon I took out trying to get it back on track.
I guess to answer your question, no not this week hit a 10.5

that’s pretty “beefy” for a tank with those corals, and no corals like “swings”. Stability is key. Just be careful around that 9-10 alk range…I know people that are successful but all it would do is turn my sand into rock chunks and had bad salt creep and coralline. (Not sure if the alk caused the salt creep)

 

[BanjoBandito]

Do you have any tips on where I can find schedules ? Someone told me but I can't find the link and yes that is an ai prime 16

Just google AI prime lighting schedules, lots of people (and on this forum) post schedules for comparisons. They should have some presets available too? Just ramp up slowly. I had an xr15 on a small tank (yes I was insane) and generally just ran one of the presets.

 

[Jack Ravensbergen]

For the most part it spiked 4 days ago do to putting microbacter 7 ( everyone says that wouldn't do it but it was the only thing I did that changed the tank dramatically) I did it originally for cyano but 1 dose 4mil (capful) cleared a ton of cyano but stripped all Mt po4 and nitrates out on top of carbon I took out trying to get it back on track.
I guess to answer your question, no not this week hit a 10.5

Ok , your nutrients are not that high so it would be better to lower kh to circa 7.5/8.0
If you stop adding kh it will go down with 0.5/1 kh p/day.
Together with the low light are i think the two you have to work on.
No panic , zoa's are strong as long the changes you make go slowly ....
Grtz jack

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

that’s pretty “beefy” for a tank with those corals, and no corals like “swings”. Stability is key. Just be careful around that 9-10 alk range…I know people that are successful but all it would do is turn my sand into rock chunks and had bad salt creep and coralline. (Not sure if the alk caused the salt creep)

Agreed trying to bring it down but also don't wanna water change bc I've done almost a 40% in the last week

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

Ok , your nutrients are not that high so it would be better to lower kh to circa 7.5/8.0
If you stop adding kh it will go down with 0.5/1 kh p/day.
Together with the low light are i think the two you have to work on.
No panic , zoa's are strong as long the changes you make go slowly ....
Grtz jack

Good to know not adding any kh just waiting for the corals to consume it

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

that’s pretty “beefy” for a tank with those corals, and no corals like “swings”. Stability is key. Just be careful around that 9-10 alk range…I know people that are successful but all it would do is turn my sand into rock chunks and had bad salt creep and coralline. (Not sure if the alk caused the salt creep)

I don't Wanamaker be successful with a 10.5alk lol
I want to be successful with a 8.5-9.5 alk lol

 

[Koh23]

Also dont have par meter.....

With 2x90w rs, and one black box, rs at 100%, bb at 50/100% (50white 100blue) for 3 hours, so average is around 70%, all softies, few lps..... Didnt kill anything, didnt bleach anything.....

Adequate feeding and flow, of course adequate filtration, and you shouldnt fear the light

 

[vetteguy53081]

Likely more than lighting. Placement is one factor as they do best at midtank under moderate light and water flow. The schedule you posted may be a little low. I'll give you one to try below.
There are a number of factors why zoas close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps.

Back to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 77-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for.

Prime:
Blue- 80
white 25
red 6
green 4
purple 65
UV 55

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

Likely more than lighting. Placement is one factor as they do best at midtank under moderate light and water flow. The schedule you posted may be a little low. I'll give you one to try below.
There are a number of factors why zoas close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps.

Back to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 77-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for.

Prime:
Blue- 80
white 25
red 6
green 4
purple 65
UV 55

If this is the case I'm a little high

 

[ImThatOneGuyJoe]

Also dont have par meter.....

With 2x90w rs, and one black box, rs at 100%, bb at 50/100% (50white 100blue) for 3 hours, so average is around 70%, all softies, few lps..... Didnt kill anything, didnt bleach anything.....

Adequate feeding and flow, of course adequate filtration, and you shouldnt fear the light

My nitrates and po4 are a little low after the microbacter 7 and carbin working on getting them up
I have a nero 3 mid colum at 30 or 40%
Enough to make the grass flow on the back