110g Mixed Reef V2

Delphinus · #1 09-11-2008, 05:27 AM

I give it about 6-8 weeks before that shelf will be covered in zoos.

Tank looks nice, Doug. What new light are you considering? (sorry if this is answered in an earlier post)

fishytime · #2 09-11-2008, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lorenz0

doug those zoa colonies are amazing

I will confess that these zoas are the nicest ones I have so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I give it about 6-8 weeks before that shelf will be covered in zoos.

Tank looks nice, Doug. What new light are you considering? (sorry if this is answered in an earlier post)

6-8 weeks??? They must grow faster for you.
Im thinking the Maristar 2x250w MH(ushio 10000ks on the outside 20000k in the middle) with 4x39w HOT5s(fiji purples). Galaxy ballasts.

Doug.

Delphinus · #3 09-11-2008, 04:14 PM

That would be a nice light combo.

Maybe 6-8 weeks is a little "overstated". What I've found with zoanthids though is that they reach a point of "critical mass" where all of a sudden they ramp up the sprawling rate. It seemed like you had larger colonies (as opposed to the little 6-7 polyps each frags that I always seem to start at

) so I thought maybe you were close. Could be more like a couple months though. At some point though you'll notice it, I'm sure. I find that what happens is of course they all grow at different rates and of course the really nice ones grow the slowest, and they wind up getting swallowed and they disappear. So something to watch out for if you happen to have any favourites.

Here's an interesting observation though, speaking of frag sizes. About 4 months ago or so I picked up a rock covered in blue zoanthids. There must have been close to 100 polyps on it. They did really well for about a month, then started dwindling away. Not real noticeable at first but eventually I was thinking, hey, didn't this rock have more polyps? I found a little clump of 2 polyps floating loose and I glued those to a frag disk. Starting from a frag size of 2 polyps is a pretty meek starting point, but that little frag is now about 10 polyps or so. Meanwhile though, the colony rock is now just a rock. For some reason the colony crashed. I have no idea why - if it's a predation or disease or just generic failure-to-thrive. But the little frag is doing well. It's like they need to be "borne" in your tank to be super hardy - otherwise it's a crapshoot.

Of course this stuff only happens to the nice ones. My reddest zoos crashed earlier this summer too, I have yet to find more of the same variety. Got a couple others "close" to the same degree of bright red but of course it's never quite the same. 30 or so other varieties in this tank and they all spread like weeds (although most were very slow to start), so I don't really think it's a environmental issue, .. just some adapt better or worse than others...

fishytime · #4 09-12-2008, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

That would be a nice light combo.

Maybe 6-8 weeks is a little "overstated". What I've found with zoanthids though is that they reach a point of "critical mass" where all of a sudden they ramp up the sprawling rate. It seemed like you had larger colonies (as opposed to the little 6-7 polyps each frags that I always seem to start at

) so I thought maybe you were close. Could be more like a couple months though. At some point though you'll notice it, I'm sure. I find that what happens is of course they all grow at different rates and of course the really nice ones grow the slowest, and they wind up getting swallowed and they disappear. So something to watch out for if you happen to have any favourites.

Here's an interesting observation though, speaking of frag sizes. About 4 months ago or so I picked up a rock covered in blue zoanthids. There must have been close to 100 polyps on it. They did really well for about a month, then started dwindling away. Not real noticeable at first but eventually I was thinking, hey, didn't this rock have more polyps? I found a little clump of 2 polyps floating loose and I glued those to a frag disk. Starting from a frag size of 2 polyps is a pretty meek starting point, but that little frag is now about 10 polyps or so. Meanwhile though, the colony rock is now just a rock. For some reason the colony crashed. I have no idea why - if it's a predation or disease or just generic failure-to-thrive. But the little frag is doing well. It's like they need to be "borne" in your tank to be super hardy - otherwise it's a crapshoot.

Of course this stuff only happens to the nice ones. My reddest zoos crashed earlier this summer too, I have yet to find more of the same variety. Got a couple others "close" to the same degree of bright red but of course it's never quite the same. 30 or so other varieties in this tank and they all spread like weeds (although most were very slow to start), so I don't really think it's a environmental issue, .. just some adapt better or worse than others...

Ive had the same things happen. Some seem to take off and do well, some seem to take off then wither away and one just didnt do well from the get go. Wonder if it is related in any way to RTN in sps?

I lost these RPEs slowly over about three months Didnt seem yo do well right from the start. Tried them everywhere in the tank.

These two both started off well, then quickly crashed.

One thing I noticed with a couple of my colonies. For about a week or so they would look bad and I would think, aw crap not another one crashin, but then they would open back up and I could swear that the polyps multiplied. Ever see that? Or is it just my imagination?

Doug.