The right light for Zoas

[Labmaster]

Hi,

my name is Christian, I´m 36 years old and I´m from Germany.
I registered myself on this platform, because I think this community of zoa keeper is bigger and have more experience as the German community.

I want to build a tank only for Zoas and Palys, because I think there ist too much light in my SPS/LPS tank to keep the Zoas successfully.

Somewhere I have read that Zoas will be more colorful and will grow faster under light with a high proportion of blue. How does look the lighting of our pools?

Greetings
Christian

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Guten Tag Christian. Wilkommen.

SPS and zoas both come from many depths and light qualities in the ocean. So many Zoas will do well in high light but need to be acclimated to those conditions.

Yes you are correct, deeper water corals like more blue light.

The "trick" is learning what species come from what depth.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Here are some of our friends who may be able to give you some more advice and resources in your native language.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/german-reef-aquarists.233498/#post-2742289
@dacianb @armyguy

Welocme to reef2reef. We would love to see your tanks and corals.

 

[Chrisabes68@gmail]

I also find zoas a little tricky to grow....some grow like grass in my tank others just don't do too well...it has to be the lighting....I have intense LED lighting on my tank...I've been experimenting with this.....basically the brightly colored Zoas I keep a little higher up in the tank...darker ...at the lower end...of course there's always exeptions

 

[AnOldSaltyDog]

How are your water parameters? Most zoas/palys do well in slightly "dirty" water versus super "clean" water. Remember in addition to lighting water flow can have an effect on zoa growth. I agree with what has been said above in regards to differences between zoanthids lighting and depth requirements. Each variety seems to be a bit different, they are tough though, don't be afraid to try different spots in your tank till you find just the right spots for them.

Halo aus Kalifornien! Schönes Wochende!

 

[dacianb]

Welcome Christian,

I consider zoas as easiest and in the same time most difficult to keep - as are somehow temperamentals.
I kept zoas in such bad conditions that... (better keep my mouth shut) they lived happy. Than same zoas in perfect water... lived happy. And sometimes they just close and vanish. Ultra high nutrients and zero nutrients, T5 and LEDs, sand level or between SPS. I was never able to find the rule.

But one thing I know for sure... zoas looks amazing with violet leds and 450 nm blues. Any cheap colony you want (the most common types) are showstoppers under UVs or deep blue, or combinations of those with high quality whites.
Early morning my tank is flooded with sunlight (still tank lights are off) - everything is dull and brownish - for sure this is the natural color of everything (rocks, corals, you name it). But then, once leds are ON, everything changes. I was never obsessed with coral grows, but with coral colors, so I cannot tell you what type of light increase growth on zoas, but for colors go for LEDs (as many channels possible with high amount of violets in)

this is a very cheap colony under Deep Blue / blue / cyan / warm whites (high CRI) LEDs - I had to turn off the violets as is difficult to take a picture of them.

 

[joshporksandwich]

Any light can grow zoas. In my opinion a combo of metal halide and LED or T5 with leds will give you the best colors as long as your parameters are stables and you have good flow.

 

[cje0114]

I always found my best growth with heavy blue lighting, weather it be led or t5. These are under an ai prime run pretty heavily blue.

 

[cje0114]

This is my light intensity and schedule

 

[Staggs]

Should one stop running carbon in their mixed tank.....to help zoa growth?

 

[cje0114]

Should one stop running carbon in their mixed tank.....to help zoa growth?

I run carbon and purigen. No I'll effects.

 

[IotaElwyn]

This is my light intensity and schedule

That's for that, I had been looking for the right balance for an AI prime for a while now

 

[armyguy]

Hallo und Guten Abend
Welcome to the forum. If you have any questions you have that might be too hard to post in English, message me in german. Mother is from the Odenwald.
freundliche Grüße aus Tennessee

 

[armyguy]

Also wanted to comment on what the other guys where saying, MH mix with t5 will give you best results in my experience. A lot of guys are going to the chinese LEDs and the results are hit and miss. I do grow zoas but they grow like weeds so I isolate them on their own rock so they don't spread to my prized acros and pocis. Make sure you change your carbon frequently or else you risk it leaching nasties back into your system. I use no carbon because I have balanced my whole system so everything is in balance. I have found simple to be better as less can go wrong and means less maintenance
Yes, zoas kept under largely blue lights will have better coloration. I went to see my friend's home aquarium business and he runs all blue LEDs on his zoas to make the colors pop.

 

[Labmaster]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the answers.
I plan to build a lamp with LEDs (Blue, Royal Blue, UV and White) and to control them via bluetwiled.

 

[fnlyreefready]

Very little amounts of zoas in her but yet they seem to be growi like weeds especially my Cleveland browns I’m using a simple t5 with 17k whites and 26k blue and 24k blue atanic all bulbs are corilife brand (maybe be slightly off on color temperatures but I have fragged some of the small colonies into separate places in the tank to increase the size of my zoa garden. Hoping they will be grown to together in 3 or 4 months

 

[RDMVann]

So, I keep hearing with proper acclimation to the light they'll accept about any lighting/tank position but what if you now realize you made some bad choices and didn't acclimate like you should have? Do you just leave them where they are and wait it out or what? They are pretty closed up and looking bleached. I've had them about 3 weeks and they popped out a new one a couple of days ago and looks like there is about to be another one. Sometimes they are slightly more open than shown in this picture but never super open.

 

[fnlyreefready]

So, I keep hearing with proper acclimation to the light they'll accept about any lighting/tank position but what if you now realize you made some bad choices and didn't acclimate like you should have? Do you just leave them where they are and wait it out or what? They are pretty closed up and looking bleached. I've had them about 3 weeks and they popped out a new one a couple of days ago and looks like there is about to be another one. Sometimes they are slightly more open than shown in this picture but never super open.

I personally leave my whites off and just run blues for the first 2 days until they open

 

[michael inocencio]

I also leave whites off and run blues with med water flow for the first few days.

 

[fnlyreefready]

Also try feeding them directly see if you can’t trick them. Has worked for me in the past