Lovge
Active Member
Just dropping the question out there, what exactly does having too clean of water mean when keeping zoas? I was under the impression that we wanted our water quality to be as high as possible?
zoa water quality??
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jpfaubel123
Well-Known Member
From what i learned, and have been.told; due to the way zoas feed they enjoy a little dirtier tank but i coyld be wrong
Heavy stocked tanks are zoa breeders.
Dirtier water just means more dissolved organics, doesn't mean high nitrates or phosphates. In my oponion, the higher nutrient water feeds all the micro fauna, i.e. phytoplankton, zooplankton, which in turn feeds the polyps 
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reefpeeper
Valuable Member
I think I have a good answer to this question and I have been doing this with my tank. What u need to do is feed a little more heavy and also add nutrients such as reef fuel or something of that nature. Then u must change water more frequent. This will help remove the extra build up of waste that you are adding. I try to do a small water change about every other day to three days. I have had good luck with my SPS also with this method
Only problem with high nutrients is that algae will outcompete our zoas 9/10 especially the dreaded hair algae. In the long run, i've found its better to keep a very clean tank because algae blooms can kill zoas and make it especially hard for them to grow on coral plugs.
tuna_bullet
Valuable Member
my levels are 0 across the board except phosphates .05 I run a lot of fish and feed heavy just my.02 I do 20% water changes every week, ocean water......add no chemicals at all...
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Lovge
Active Member
Ocean water?? K now im a bit more confused lol i assume u mean just salt water but heck ya never know around here lol
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Dirtier water just means more dissolved organics, doesn't mean high nitrates or phosphates. In my oponion, the higher nutrient water feeds all the micro fauna, i.e. phytoplankton, zooplankton, which in turn feeds the polyps
I am confused.
Dirtier Water (More Food) but 0 Nitrate and Phosphate?
How is that possible?
Food and Waste turn into Nitrate and Phosphate Right?
But then like the other guy says you get Hair Algae.
I do not see how this all works?
Eienna
5000 Club Member
There is a balance to be struck. Some phosphate and nitrate can be allowed before you get overrunning algae. Even in the case of acros, people are finding that 0's tend to starve the corals, so taking that experience they are not shooting for zero anymore. It's still very low (like .03 phosphate and 1 or less nitrate) but it makes a difference. What they're saying is that for zoas, the water can be allowed to get a bit higher in those numbers (and organics in general) than when keeping acros without detriment to the zoas, and that it may even be beneficial to do so.
Nitrate and phosphate are (essentially) byproducts of food, yes, but they are not the whole story when it comes to nutrients.
Nitrate and phosphate are (essentially) byproducts of food, yes, but they are not the whole story when it comes to nutrients.
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Rob&Gab
unregistered
your a god for haveing 0-CAL and 0-MAG 0-ALK ! how do you do it!
jkjk bro.i myself use ocean water. if you mean NURTI sea water or Carib-SeaWater. cause that's what i use to a 15G water change everyweek. zoas do like dirty water Nitrates are at a standstill for like i dont even no how long at 20ppm growth is awesome and so is color. .00 Phosphates.
jayhawk
Active Member
It's about knowing the threshold that you system will allow. The fellow reefer responses along with your follow up questions center around; if I add more food, I will get will elevate n03 and po4 therefore unwanted algae. I recommend slowly feeding more and watching your parameters. When you get to the point your filtration (mechanical, biological or both) stops reducing the parameters, to an acceptable level, it's time to scale back the feeding and find the ideal balance. If you need more food/nutrients, you may need to explore better filtration options. I was running basic mechanical filtration and having high levels of po4. My corals were starving. I added EcoBak (shameless plug) and a reactor, now I can feed consistently every day or feed heavily every other day (when I reference feeding I am only talking about the corals. I feed the fish every day). My po4 and no4 are near zero.
tuna_bullet
Valuable Member
I get my water from Scripp Ocean institute in San Diego its filtered straight from the Ocean for there massive systems and is FREE to the public so its very efficient...Rob my tank runs 1280mg 420cal and dkh7.5.....the exact same as the Ocean...go figure lol
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Lovge
Active Member
This is about the coolest thing i have ever heard. Soooo jealous. Wonder if the boston or mystic aquarium would hook it up like that
Tenor
Well-Known Member
I would keep my tank clean from phosphate and nitrate as much as possible. There is non-sense about zoas like a dirty water over clean water. Most of the people will use a good skimmer, live bacteria supportive for heavy or light feeding to remove the nutrient before it convert to phosphate and nitrate.
buddythelion
2500 Club Member
Well said man. Rather than focusing on a "dirty" environment zoas do best in a well established reef like most corals.
