Calling Zoanthid Experts!

[Myka]

I'm no Zoa expert by far, and my Zoa tank is anything but a display! I'm looking to improve, and I'm thinking it might be the light that's causing the most distress here. I think I have underestimated these Zoas and Palys by thinking they would flourish in lower light conditions.

Currently using Hagen Glo 2x24w T5HO fixture with UVL 454 bulb and AquaScience 15,000K bulb. It actually isn't as blue as it sounds being about 18,000K visually.

I'm not looking to spend a bunch of money on this tank, it's more of a sidebar than the full script, ya know? So, I'm looking at the Fishneedit fixtures. Reviews say they're pretty reliable, and a decent bang for the buck, so they seem fairly suitable for my intended use.

The tank is 20 gallons 24x13.5x16" in a trophy/tulip shape (use link in signature if you want to see pics), so handy as it is a 24" fixture will fit. I put a built-in overflow/sump in the back corner which is about 12x3" so using a 4-bulb T5 fixture would leave half of one bulb partially lighting the overflow.

I can only rely on fans to keep the tank cool. Not a lot of bulb choice in 70w, but I am worried about a 150w cooking the tank with the small water volume. I would definitely use a 20,000K halide bulb. I like the color manipulation of T5s, and I think the tank would look best with T5s.

So anyway...what do you guys think? 70w halide? 150w halide? 4x24w T5? I'm leaning towards the T5s.

[Zoaelite]

I would personally go with the T5's I had my collection under halides for a short period but was never really happy with how they looked. T5's give you that real blue color pop, the 4 bulb fixture would work perfect, I might even go 3 actinic and 1 day light.

What are you using for flow in the tank right now?

[Myka]

I have some bleaching, polyp extension isn't very good, growth is moderate, etc. Although oddly I am getting good growth on some of the more challenging morphs. Flow is provided by a MJ600 on the "return", and an MJ900. There is a MJ400 powering a PhosBan reactor, but it obviously isn't really providing much flow. I have a Koralia 2 laying around I could put in there, but I think that might blast the water right out of the tank. I'll toss it in today sometime and see what happens. I have some carbon running passively in the overflow too.

I agree with what you say on the T5s. For bulbs I was thinking UVL 454, UVL Super Actinic, KZ Fiji Purple, and maybe KZ Coral Light II (New Gen)...? However, the Fishneedit fixtures come with bulbs so I was going to pick three 20K and one "pink". I have a handful of other bulbs hanging out in my fish room I can mess around with too.

[Zoaelite]

I'm not sure how you might accomplish this but randomizing the flow would do wonders for you. You could build a mini surge tank for pretty cheap, would be really interesting to watch. What are the parameters right now and are you dosing Iodine?

[Myka]

I could pick up a RedSea Wavemaker for pretty cheap. I sold mine a couple years back...it does a good job on small tanks. I'm not about to put a Vortech on there, but as far as I know any other controlled powerhead would be too much. Maybe a SCWD on it's own circuit? Can't remember the flow required for a SCWD, but I remember a SCWD cuts down the output of a pump by about 30%. Surge? Hmmm...

I have never tested this tank. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes using water from my reef. I just redesigned the tank today, removed a bunch of different nuisance algae, and in the process did a 60% water change so testing it now wouldn't tell us much about the past. I don't dose iodine. Seeing as there is a plague-like algae problem I imagine dosing iodine would be like adding fuel to the flames. I put different rock in the tank so this should hugely help with the algae issue.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Myka

I have some bleaching, polyp extension isn't very good, growth is moderate, etc. Although oddly I am getting good growth on some of the more challenging morphs. Flow is provided by a MJ600 on the "return", and an MJ900. There is a MJ400 powering a PhosBan reactor, but it obviously isn't really providing much flow. I have a Koralia 2 laying around I could put in there, but I think that might blast the water right out of the tank. I'll toss it in today sometime and see what happens. I have some carbon running passively in the overflow too.

I agree with what you say on the T5s. For bulbs I was thinking UVL 454, UVL Super Actinic, KZ Fiji Purple, and maybe KZ Coral Light II (New Gen)...? However, the Fishneedit fixtures come with bulbs so I was going to pick three 20K and one "pink". I have a handful of other bulbs hanging out in my fish room I can mess around with too.

wow as i read this more it seems we are really in the same boat sooooo hers my story ive been using halides forever on my zoa tank like yourself a 20,000 k bulb ive been supplementing with actinics a few hours before and a few hours after.im also running carbon 24/7 through my filter. i am also using the fish needit pendants( awesome btw...small light and clean)

sooo a few days ago i cut out my halides all but an hour or two a day not even on timers just when i get hoime from work since ive done this my zoas are now all out and looking better than ever. im at about 10 hrs with actinics and 2 hours with halides. all my sps are hating me for it but the zoas are just glowing.i seem to have better luck with high end zoas and palys then i do with common greens or browns. for flow i had a koralia 2 and a koralia nano since i removed the nano im getting alot more open zoas all the time.

im gonna be following along here to see what others thoughts are as im seriously thinking halides are on the strong side and maybe only needed for a short amount of time. since i cut my halides off my duncans are amazing looking my zoas are all out and looking great and im ghetting less algae. but my hammer is not doing well my birdsnest is now not showing pe and my gorg is sliming like something crazy

[reefwars]

i should mention im gettin bad cases of valonia, and the odd case of cyano plus a few random blacvk string like algaes ive never seen before. im glad the zoa tank is getting tore down in the time to come i think a fresh start is what it needs two many years and too many methods

[The Grizz]

My zoas seem TO REALLY take off when I took out my 22,000k bulbs and put in some 12,000k along with my 10,000k & 14,000k.