Hey r2r... ok so here it is.... i have 40g breeder dominated zoa reef ..some shrooms, acans, and 2 torches.... my thing is i have a 4 bulb 36" t5 fixture that i can set 2 bulbs at different times... bulbs are 3 ati blue+ and 1 ati actinic.... i started getting some gha and was getting over on some frag that i have a bunch of and couldnt control it so i ran gfo....yes i have read in forums its a no no with zoas...maybe that was my problem with them some closing or it could have been me giving them less light cause i cut the time down to try to get the gha out..... so my thing is what should a good schedule be for my 4 bulb t5.... and how long and do you think 4 bulb is too much.... light fixture is 14" from top rock and 24" from sand bed... since gha i have only ran 2 blue+ from 2pm to 6pm then actinic led from 530pm to 10pm..... need help over 60 different zoas and dont want to lose
Zoa lighting help
- Thread starter ckcustomz
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I can’t really suggest anything with the light settings as I run a led. Gha though is really caused by nutrients and specifically phosphates. I’ve heard some people say older compact bulbs can cause algae to grow but I don’t have any experience with that.
It sounds like before the gha algae your tank was doing good since you have 60 types of zoas? I’m thinking your nutrient levels are just off and possibly the light changes you made are also an issue. Have you tested nitrates and phosphates? It might just have been too fast of a drop in nutrients.
I’ve been battling some gha for a while now. It’s a slow war for me but it’s receding. It started popping up everywhere so I did some research. I started feeding my fish half as much and I also started rinsing the frozen food instead of just dumping everything in. This brought my nutrients down a lot and the gha started to die off in many areas. I also started pulling off patches by hand and in many cases it had not grown back. I still have 1 patch that I think will be gone in 4-5 weeks.
I’m not a believing in messing with the lights if the corals are growing good under the current settings. Figuring out the nutrients is prob a better rout.
It sounds like before the gha algae your tank was doing good since you have 60 types of zoas? I’m thinking your nutrient levels are just off and possibly the light changes you made are also an issue. Have you tested nitrates and phosphates? It might just have been too fast of a drop in nutrients.
I’ve been battling some gha for a while now. It’s a slow war for me but it’s receding. It started popping up everywhere so I did some research. I started feeding my fish half as much and I also started rinsing the frozen food instead of just dumping everything in. This brought my nutrients down a lot and the gha started to die off in many areas. I also started pulling off patches by hand and in many cases it had not grown back. I still have 1 patch that I think will be gone in 4-5 weeks.
I’m not a believing in messing with the lights if the corals are growing good under the current settings. Figuring out the nutrients is prob a better rout.
My nitrates are at 5ppm and when i stopped the gfo my phosphates were at .04 ppm and got rid of most of the algae....it was prob my mistake by cutting light time... gonna bring up my light time and go back to 4 bulbs on and see if everything goes back to normal and just watch how certain zoas act as in who closes and who extends and then move those around...thanks for the input ..by the way was thinking going led but like i said i mostly have zoas and shrooms....only 7 acans, 1 blasto , and 2 torches so i dont thi k thats enough for me to go led yet lol
5ppm nitrates is on the lower side for zoas and lps. How are your acans looking?
I’ve been trying to keep my nitrates at 15, my lps and zoas seem to like that best. I remember one time throwing in a bag of I think phosguard and everything closed up like yours overnight. It took a couple weeks for everything to get back to normal. I think it was just too big/too fast of a drop.
I have a 29g biocube and the stock lighting wasn’t enough for even most lps I was trying. So I ended up taking the hood off and I went with a Radion g4 figuring I could do sps down the road if I wanted to. As of now I think I am enjoying the lps/zoas/shrooms plenty.
I’ve been trying to keep my nitrates at 15, my lps and zoas seem to like that best. I remember one time throwing in a bag of I think phosguard and everything closed up like yours overnight. It took a couple weeks for everything to get back to normal. I think it was just too big/too fast of a drop.
I have a 29g biocube and the stock lighting wasn’t enough for even most lps I was trying. So I ended up taking the hood off and I went with a Radion g4 figuring I could do sps down the road if I wanted to. As of now I think I am enjoying the lps/zoas/shrooms plenty.
All my lps is good and have grown multiple heads on all..... i forgot i have a hammer , a lobo and candy cane.... no color loss or bleaching... i think it was my gfo and cutting light down that messed it all up
A. grandis
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Remove GFO for good!!!
Get back with the normal schedule with your t5 fixture, using all the bulbs normally. Make sure you go slow.
Total of about 8 to 9 hours a day!
Do 10% water changes every week to control phosphates and nitrates.
No big deal!
Grandis.
Get back with the normal schedule with your t5 fixture, using all the bulbs normally. Make sure you go slow.
Total of about 8 to 9 hours a day!
Do 10% water changes every week to control phosphates and nitrates.
No big deal!
Grandis.
JohnnyReef
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Are you using ro/di water? When was the last time you changed all the filter in the ro/di?
What I did to get my gha under control was removed all rock that had it and scrubbed with a wire brush. Then rinsed the rock in buckets of ro/di water. I put the rock back in and did not perform a water change until the following week. I added turbo snails to help get rid of anything I missed. Sometimes water changes will feed the problem imo. So by not doing the water change you’re limiting what’s feeding the gha.
What I did to get my gha under control was removed all rock that had it and scrubbed with a wire brush. Then rinsed the rock in buckets of ro/di water. I put the rock back in and did not perform a water change until the following week. I added turbo snails to help get rid of anything I missed. Sometimes water changes will feed the problem imo. So by not doing the water change you’re limiting what’s feeding the gha.
Agreed.
I think you can lower the fixture a bit as well. Or run fixture longer.
Its quite possible the sand isn’t getting quite enough light.
IMO , 100par is a good average for zoas. Many lps, will take quite a bit less light.
