Zoas won’t open

[mermaid_life]

Go to the marketplace on this forum and buy a used good led light. If you cheap out on lights you'll end up eventually spending more anyway because you'll have to keep buying replacement lights.

 

[Fishology]

this is you're problem

Alright I know it didn’t this when I was starting out, I had not read the subscription, of the light I saw it was cheap land bought it. It was until barley now I looked it up as saw there were different version for fresh and saltwater

 

[Dave1993]

Alright I know it didn’t this when I was starting out, I had not read the subscription, of the light I saw it was cheap land bought it. It was until barley now I looked it up as saw there were different version for fresh and saltwater

if you don't get a light like now you are probs going to lose them

 

[Fishology]

If any one knows what the estimate of watts needed for a 40g,

 

[Dave1993]

If any one knows what the estimate of watts needed for a 40g,

just get a red sea led 90 you can't go wrong with that

 

[Dom]

My dimensions are
29.5 length
36 height with
11.5 width
It’s a 40gallon tall I believe

I use a necrew light( you can find them on Amazon) I have realized I bought the one for freshwater after doing some research.

Before you go out and start spending money, lets understand a few things:

When it comes to lighting, there are two things to consider; PENETRATION and SPREAD.

Spread is the area light covers at the BOTTOM of the tank. Think of a flashlight turned on and resting, light down on a table top.

As you pick up the light from the table, the area that light covers increases, the further you are from the table. This is called light SPREAD. And you can adjust the spread of your light by raising its mounting point above the water line.

A generic light from amazon doesn't have the necessary penetrating power to get to the bottom of a 36" tank, particularly if you have a mount point 8" above the water line.

PENETRATION is light intensity at the bottom of the tank. You need a PAR or LUX meter to measure that.

 

[Fishology]

if you don't get a light like now you are probs going to lose

Before you go out and start spending money, lets understand a few things:

When it comes to lighting, there are two things to consider; PENETRATION and SPREAD.

Spread is the area light covers at the BOTTOM of the tank. Think of a flashlight turned on and resting, light down on a table top.

As you pick up the light from the table, the area that light covers increases, the further you are from the table. This is called light SPREAD. And you can adjust the spread of your light by raising its mounting point above the water line.

A generic light from amazon doesn't have the necessary penetrating power to get to the bottom of a 36" tank, particularly if you have a mount point 8" above the water line.

PENETRATION is light intensity at the bottom of the tank. You need a PAR or LUX meter to measure that.

Thansk this actually cleared a lot up

 

[Rmckoy]

So this is what I didn’t I add a second light till I can buy another one, which may be till next week,

calcium Over 520
Alkaline 161.7
Phospates.25
Nitrate5.3
I think my alk is a little low and my nitrate is way lower than befor last time I tested it was at 5.8-5.6

Alk is 9.05 which is a little high compared to what I run . But within range
Compared to the extremely high phosphates and lower nitrates it might contribute to algae .
What lights are you using ?

 

[Dave1993]

Alk is 9.05 which is a little high compared to what I run . But within range
Compared to the extremely high phosphates and lower nitrates it might contribute to algae .
What lights are you using ?

he is using a freshwater light

 

[Fishology]

So doing more research I found the exact light I bought it was a saltwater
Light for necrew, it produces thirty two watts so by theory if I buy a light that has 20 to 30precent more watts it should be enough correct

 

[Rmckoy]

he is using a freshwater light

That says a lot …

as it was first mentioned at the beginning . Not enough light .

 

[mermaid_life]

So doing more research I found the exact light I bought it was a saltwater
Light for necrew, it produces thirty two watts so by theory if I buy a light that has 20 to 30precent more watts it should be enough correct

Post the exact light you are looking at

 

[Fishology]

NICREW Aquarium LED Reef Light, Dimmable Full Spectrum Marine LED for Saltwater Coral Fish Tanks​

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[Rmckoy]

So doing more research I found the exact light I bought it was a saltwater
Light for necrew, it produces thirty two watts so by theory if I buy a light that has 20 to 30precent more watts it should be enough correct

I don’t think there is a rule of watts per gallon since leds become more of a choice used to light tanks .

with mh and t5’s there used to be something suggesting so many watts power per gallon but it was very loosely used
Today . And with so many using leds for many reasons including cost and heating .
the only way to tell if you have enough light is to measure par as mentioned above

 

[vetteguy53081]

It’s been three weeks now and my zoas are still partly open and partly closed. I have done everything water changes, dosing remove Omg algae making my lights brother nothing has worked, I really need help.

Lighting will be a big contributor but there are other reasons they do this. Also will be water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider running moderate flow which is ideal but Zoa can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks.
Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and low nutrients can lead to an entire colony melting down. You dont need to target feed as zoas are photosynthetic. It is generally found that target feeding zoas always provides mixed results when a food falls onto their polyps.

Then to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for.

 

[Rmckoy]

Lighting will be a big contributor but there are other reasons they do this. Also will be water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider running moderate flow which is ideal but Zoa can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks.
Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and low nutrients can lead to an entire colony melting down. You dont need to target feed as zoas are photosynthetic. It is generally found that target feeding zoas always provides mixed results when a food falls onto their polyps.

Then to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for.

Do you have a exact number iodide should be . And a calculator to dose to maintain it ?

 

[Fishology]

Lighting will be a big contributor but there are other reasons they do this. Also will be water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider running moderate flow which is ideal but Zoa can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks.
Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and low nutrients can lead to an entire colony melting down. You dont need to target feed as zoas are photosynthetic. It is generally found that target feeding zoas always provides mixed results when a food falls onto their polyps.

Then to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for.

I have don’t all this but target feed my May start doing this,?I feed frozen and usually let the food just flow in the water.

 

[Fishology]

I have don’t all this but target feed my May start doing this,?I feed frozen and usually let the food just flow in the water.

I have done all of this but target feed it was I meant to say

 

[Rickybobby]

Pick up some reef safe iodine like seachem iodide and dose some of that. I had the same issue years back everything was good including my lighting. The iodide woke them right up

 

[mermaid_life]

I don’t think there is a rule of watts per gallon since leds become more of a choice used to light tanks .

with mh and t5’s there used to be something suggesting so many watts power per gallon but it was very loosely used
Today . And with so many using leds for many reasons including cost and heating .
the only way to tell if you have enough light is to measure par as mentioned above

I agree. Not great to go off of watts per gallon. If you don't have a par meter, go with lights that are well known here and read up on the par studies that other people have done.

Cheaper good led lights often seen here are viparspectra, noopsyche, smatfarms....