zoa placement in tank

[JenniferL]

My tank is a 55g corner bow front. I have 4 x24W T5HO lights 2 actinic and 2 plain white. Only be 24" long due to the shape of the tank. Water depth is about 21" deep. Lights are about 4" above glass cover. Anyway my question is how far away should zoa's be away from light. I bought 3 frags on the weekend, I have the neon pink ones on the top of my rock (about 14" away from light) along with the other frag and they are opening up but the other one is neon green with some others on there as well, but the neon is not opening at all yet but the others on the same rock are.
Also, a little off topic I have just started using RO water (did one change this morning) my phosphate reading in my tank is .5 ppm, and nitrates read 0 on one test kit and about 15-20 ppm on the other. is this too high for reef? Could this be causing them to stay closed?
Thanks

[lorenz0]

If zoa's aren't opening just give them time. some open quicker than others.

But they can be placed 1/2 down the tank easily with that light

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by JenniferL

My tank is a 55g corner bow front. I have 4 x24W T5HO lights 2 actinic and 2 plain white. Only be 24" long due to the shape of the tank. Water depth is about 21" deep. Lights are about 4" above glass cover. Anyway my question is how far away should zoa's be away from light. I bought 3 frags on the weekend, I have the neon pink ones on the top of my rock (about 14" away from light) along with the other frag and they are opening up but the other one is neon green with some others on there as well, but the neon is not opening at all yet but the others on the same rock are.
Also, a little off topic I have just started using RO water (did one change this morning) my phosphate reading in my tank is .5 ppm, and nitrates read 0 on one test kit and about 15-20 ppm on the other. is this too high for reef? Could this be causing them to stay closed?
Thanks

Ive found that you really need to play around sometimes with the placement of zoas....some seem to really like light and others, not so much....21ish" inches is about what most people believe to be the threshold of what T5 will effectively penetrate... that being said, most of my zoas are at or near the bottom of my tank(20") Im running two 36"tek 6 bulbs(6' tank)....

15-20ppm is high....but not OMG! high....what are the brands of the two test kits in question?

[The Grizz]

I am wondering the same thing about my zoa's I have them at the top of my tank about 8" or so from top of the water level. I am running 3 - 250w 14,000k Mh, 2 - 54w 10000k T5, 2 - 54w Fuji Purple, and 2 - 54w Actinic. All my light's are about 8 - 10 " above the water level. BTW tank is a 155 Bow Front.

My gorilla nipple's, green, yellow and orange and some of my blue's frag's are open where they are sittin but the red are not all open. The blue's look almost purple.

Sorry JenniferL if I jacked your thread maybe this will help both of us.

[JenniferL]

The kit that is reading 0ppm nitrate is API saltwater master test kit, the other is Mardel test strips. The API is color coded so hard to read exactly what it is at.

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by JenniferL

The kit that is reading 0ppm nitrate is API saltwater master test kit, the other is Mardel test strips. The API is color coded so hard to read exactly what it is at.

I would trust the API over the test strips.....if your worried about it take a sample to your LFS and have them triple check your results...

also what Lorenzo said can be true....Ive had a colony close up for a couple weeks for no apparent reason.....have you looked at them closely for nudis?

[JenniferL]

Now that you mention that, when I got them the other day, there was a few little slug looking things on them. About a few mm long, nude in color and had horn like things on top of their heads and on their backs.

[ScubaSteve]

Ummm, yup. Those are nudibranchs and are probably your culprit. Bare in mind you've had the frags for less than a week. Give them some time.

[banditpowdercoat]

Same tank/lighting etc as my corner tank and Zoa's love it pretty much anywhere in there. On sand, halfway up. didn't matter. they got HUGE wherever they were placed