Tips on getting color back into zoas and palys

Acanman13 · Jan 24, 2014

It seems like ever since i went to LEDS (about a year ago) my palys and zoas have lost a lot of color. Anyone have any tricks or suggestions on how to put some more life into my zoas and palys? Also with LEDS i see some people have almost a 50/50 mix of blues and whites and some have blues up 90-100% and the whites down to about 70%. I have some LEDS from a local store with no dimmers but have looked into maybe putting in new ballast and a dimmer for them. My buddy has the same LEDS and doesnt dose but loses no color. Ideas?

Dylan J. · Jan 24, 2014

Lol whats up.

For a more better answer than earlier:

Zoas/palys thrive on nutrient and high protein that is in the water column. If you have a sump/refugium and its clean then your going to have issues with Zs/Ps IMO.

Some people have better success with them under T5s then LEDs while others have the same success with them under LEDs just as T5s

Acanman13 · Jan 24, 2014

My tank has has always had a refugium on it. Some suggested iodine?

TJ's Reef · Jan 24, 2014

Iodine, dosing, nutrients may have some positive affect but most likely WAY TO MUCH LIGHT. I run my full spectrum DIY LED's at approx 40% without optics and can grow SPS and Clams at bottom of tank. Since you do not have dimmable LED's can you remove optics if any or add any screening to top of tank to shade or raise fixture higher up ?

Cheers, Todd

joshporksandwich · Jan 24, 2014

How long are you running your lights for? be specific on blue and white time. Also tank dimensions

Acanman13 · Jan 24, 2014

Runnin the whites for 7 hours and blues for 9, hour before and after. Tanks a 40 breeder 36x18x18

joshporksandwich · Jan 25, 2014

Acanman13 said:
Runnin the whites for 7 hours and blues for 9, hour before and after. Tanks a 40 breeder 36x18x18

Run whites for 5 and blues for 5 and make them be both on together for 15 min. Try it for 1 month and lets see how it goes. I had a similar problem with my non dimmable units and all I needed was to adjust the time for them to color again. Too much light made them dull and I melted a few. If you know anyone with a par meter it will help.