The key to the perfect zoa tank

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Steady parameters

What are your params, bro?

 

[kschweer]

Steady parameters

Couldn't agree more. Don't shoot for "perfect" numbers or chase numbers. Keeping everything stable is one of the biggest things. Also in my experience many zoas and palys like more light and more flow than people think. I run a zoa dominated tank (57 rimless) with an mp10 at full power and a jebao wp25 on full power. But like said above stability is very important.

 

[luke33]

Like mentioned above, steady parameters. I've always had best luck with alk around 8. Lighting wise I have done 250w mh's, t5's and led's. They all work just fine. I like to feed heavy and keep a good cleanup crew. Nothing worst for a zoa than having algae growing around it as it really stops the growth.

 

[Jgomez324]

So you don't like my Eagle eyes?

 

[PaulKreider]

Med/high lighting and mine have never looked better, my utter chaos grow like weeds. I've also got about 15 CAR's 2 inches under the surface and they're the brightest car's you'l ever see. I think the key is not moving them around all the time, let them do their thing and they will grow like crazy!

 

[tuna_bullet]

here is mine like JPS says water quality, my lights are a 250hqi, with two Chinese leds over a 48 x 24x 24 tanksgreat color and growth

 

[OrlandoReefer]

DIP ALL NEW ZOA ADDITIONS - you do not want to introduce pox, or nudi's

low flow - I've tried bumping flow up to "medium" and some liked it more but some really disliked it. Nothing seems to dislike the low flow though.

low-med light - I'm using a kessil, but I have it turned way down and very heavy on the actinic. Looks fantastic and things are growing well. t5's work great, polyps tend to expand to massive sizes on t5's I'm assuming to expose themselves to as much of the light as possible since it has a lower intensity than LED's

Water clarity medium - ultra clean SPS parameters aren't optimal for these guys. I don't keep any fish with my zoa garden, so the water stays pretty clean. But I don't run carbon or anything fancy with that tank either, the rockwork does it all. I do have a LOT of rockwork though.

Some things do fantastic, some things not so much. Things will randomly melt and you may never find out or understand why. I lost a 30+ polyp blue hornet colony a month ago (along with several other colonies receeding) before I figured out the culprit was the bucket or Red Sea Coral Pro I had recently purchased. Went and bought a couple boxes of ocean water which is expensive, but after a 70% water change everything bounced back and is doing great. Minus the blue hornets =(

Thanks this is extremely helpful!

 

[zoajunkie83]

Me every Sunday water changes. I do not have any serious equipment in my frag tank, nano reef octo skimmer, heater, 2 power heads and quad t-5 ati bulb fixture. Been dirty since 2011. I started noticing ally palys and zoas do at there best with on spot water changes weekly. This is in a 20l tank.

 

[zoajunkie83]

Me every Sunday water changes. I do not have any serious equipment in my frag tank, nano reef octo skimmer, heater, 2 power heads and quad t-5 ati bulb fixture. Been dirty since 2011. I started noticing ally palys and zoas do at there best with on spot water changes weekly. This is in a 20l tank.

Forgot! Penguin biowheel hob filter

 

[Mauireefer808]

I import Zoas and plays from Hawaii, I used to dive for them when I lived there. You should see the NASTY water I had to get in to get these things! Haha