Why are my Utter Chaos reaching so much?

[renay86]

I'm interested to get people's opinions on why my chaos zoa's are reaching so much. I've had them about 4 months, one of my first introductions. The other zoa's were added about 1 month ago and have stayed pretty compact.

I feel like normally reaching and inflating is associated with not enough light but I think the light is on a reasonably high output (Hydra 32, schedule below). Not absolutely sure. I don't have a PAR meter.

Salinity - 35ppt
Temp - 27c (80f)
pH - 8.2
Alkalinity - 7.8dkh
Calcium - 480ppm
Magnesium - 1450ppm
Nitrate - 3 to 5ppm (always under 10ppm)
Phosphate - 0.03ppm
Weekly 10% water changes.

Thanks.

 

[IKD]

Generally an indication they want more light. You could frag one or two and place it higher and see if they stop stretching in that location.

 

[blaxsun]

Probably light, but they could also be reacting slightly to flow. Unrelated, you may want to tackle that algae growth before it spreads much more.

 

[Pkunk35]

Those zoas all look super healthy to me so maybe the reaching is just a sign of excellent health here with the frag just trying to dominate the area,
That being said my zoas will sometimes do this when there is debris, fan worms, algae, etc at the base causing the polyps to sort of separate more at the base instead of “carpeting” and this happens to my palys much more so than zoathid but will happen to both.

 

[renay86]

Thanks for the responses everyone. The algae situation is a work in progress but has been decreasing since I got more clean up crew. Just struggling a bit with the top of the rock work at the moment.

Pkunk35 - I hadn't thought of that. There is what looks like a white sponge at the base of the chaos so maybe that is stopping it from carpeting.

 

[areefer01]

No need to frag. Looks like your lighting system can be lowered? If so it would be easier, and quicker, to lower, wait 24 to 48 hours, and see how they respond.

Please note that by doing this you will increase the PAR unless you also lower intensity. So if you lower do so in small increments.

Flip side is you can also increase PAR if you are not max. Again, turn the nob slowly.