What am I doing wrong with these zoas?

[JosephM]

I bought a couple new zoas. Punk rockers and sunny D’s. I thought it’d be nice to have them on the side of my rock and away from my zoa garden (I’m getting some different ones that I want in my zoa garden) and they just don’t ever want to fully open, half the time they’re closed. All I can think is lighting or flow but I always thought zoas were just one of those things that would be fine almost anywhere. In the picture the circled red ones are the two new ones (the one that’s closer to the left has been moved out of frustration, they were both together but I was going to try higher light) the yellow is the area where my other zoas are thriving and giving me new polyps every week. And the green are my power heads. I have a 165w viparspectra 9” off surface of water on 40% blues and 10% whites. I want those numbers higher but they’re gonna have to come down some when I get this shipment of corals in. Any advice will be taken because I don’t want to have all my zoas on that tiny area to the left because I’ll have over 15 kinds once this shipment will come in and they’ll have nowhere to grow if they’re all bunched up

 

[sp1187]

are you buying them all from the same source?

 

[JosephM]

are you buying them all from the same source?

The good ones came from a fellow reefer and my go-to LFS and I bought 3 from a different LFS and 1 is good and the other 2 are the ones in question. They looked good at the store and opened up within an hr of my tank but the next day and they’ve been bipolar (note that this LFS is supposedly well known in my area for being good but they do run only blue on their tanks)

 

[sp1187]

I ask because could be parameter differences between sellers tank and yours.
might be taking them awhile to acclimated.

 

[JosephM]

I ask because could be parameter differences between sellers tank and yours.
might be taking them awhile to acclimated.

They have their parameters listed on their tanks and they’re pretty close to mine except maybe .005 salinity difference and .5 dkh if I recall

 

[sp1187]

They have their parameters listed on their tanks and they’re pretty close to mine except maybe .005 salinity difference and .5 dkh if I recall

I'd suggest putting them, temporarily, with the other ones just to see how they do.

 

[1guydude]

Turn ur white up 10%. Give time.
D

 

[JosephM]

I'd suggest putting them, temporarily, with the other ones just to see how they do.

That's a smart idea lol, moving them now.

Turn ur white up 10%. Give time.
D

My only thing with that is I have a shipment of corals coming on tomorrow. Ive never ordered online so I'm not too knowledgeable on acclimating shipped corals to the light. Could I turn my lights up now and just put the shipped corals on the sand and move them up a little every week or do I have to lower my light intensity as well?

 

[1guydude]

Idk what lights your supplier is using or how bright or kelvin temp color they are using. You can ask and mimic and try and acclimate to your needs.
Your tank just looks dark imo even for an actinic blue tank. Maybe the picture.
D

 

[JosephM]

Idk what lights your supplier is using or how bright or kelvin temp color they are using. You can ask and mimic and try and acclimate to your needs.
Your tank just looks dark imo even for an actinic blue tank. Maybe the picture.
D

I'll ask them. And I think it's also the picture. I'll toy around some more I just don't want to stress everything else, I have to remind myself to take it slow sometimes.

 

[sp1187]

Turn ur white up 10%. Give time.
D

yep. more white.

 

[sp1187]

what else you got in there and what's coming tomorrow?

 

[JosephM]

what else you got in there and what's coming tomorrow?

I currently have Rastas, blood suckers, WWC AOI, watermelons, some sort of rainbow Favia, a hammer, 3 types of shrooms, devil's hand leather, and a birds nest. Package coming Friday will have 26+ corals - a hammer, alve, couple montis, 6 types of zoas, like 10 types of Favias, another mushroom, platy, Duncan, candy cane, chalice, blasto, leptastrea, and goniastrea. I went a little overboard on a live sale to say the least

 

[HB AL]

That's a smart idea lol, moving them now.

My only thing with that is I have a shipment of corals coming on tomorrow. Ive never ordered online so I'm not too knowledgeable on acclimating shipped corals to the light. Could I turn my lights up now and just put the shipped corals on the sand and move them up a little every week or do I have to lower my light intensity as well?

I would not mess with your current light settings at all since it could effect your current corals that are doing fine. What i would do is put the current corals having problems and the new shipment of corals all on the same frag rack, starting low in the tank, then you can observe them all together to make it easier to check on their health. If things go well then slowly raise the rack until it reaches the height the corals are gonna be at once placed on the rocks.
If you don't have a frag rack I would get one as they make it easier to keep an eye on and moving/acclimating new, recovering, recently fragged, etc... corals. If not then place them close together on the sand to start off then slowly move them up to their final resting place.

 

[JosephM]

I would not mess with your current light settings at all since it could effect your current corals that are doing fine. What i would do is put the current corals having problems and the new shipment of corals all on the same frag rack, starting low in the tank, then you can observe them all together to make it easier to check on their health. If things go well then slowly raise the rack until it reaches the height the corals are gonna be at once placed on the rocks.
If you don't have a frag rack I would get one as they make it easier to keep an eye on and moving/acclimating new, recovering, recently fragged, etc... corals. If not then place them close together on the sand to start off then slowly move them up to their final resting place.

Okay that's exactly what I was wanting to know. I definitely ticked my corals off last time I dimmed them for the shipment. I will get the levels to where my corals want them and purchase a frag rack! Thank you

 

[JosephM]

@HB AL Should I get a corner frag rack or is it best to have a regular frag rack and put it under the LED. Because I know that LED's intensity is definitely less in the corners.

 

[HB AL]

@HB AL Should I get a corner frag rack or is it best to have a regular frag rack and put it under the LED. Because I know that LED's intensity is definitely less in the corners.

What i have is a regular 12 inch frag rack (clear plastic so light still goes through) that i cut in half to make it smaller if i don't need the whole thing. I will mount it either on the front or side glass panel and if the frags are doing well I then move the rack higher over the course of a couple weeks then move the corals onto their locations on the rocks.

 

[JosephM]

What i have is a regular 12 inch frag rack (clear plastic so light still goes through) that i cut in half to make it smaller if i don't need the whole thing. I will mount it either on the front or side glass panel and if the frags are doing well I then move the rack higher over the course of a couple weeks then move the corals onto their locations on the rocks.

So something like this mounted on the front panel will be good? POPETPOP Coral Holder Acrylic Aquarium Fish Tank Glass 32 Hole Cover Clip Support Holder

 

[1guydude]

Sounds like a day of dipping and glueing down frags. Lol. Right on.
D

 

[JosephM]

Sounds like a day of dipping and glueing down frags. Lol. Right on.
D

Oh yeah. I definitely have my work cut out for me. I’ve already gotten the shipment and had to go through it all but they were all DOA so now I have to do it again with the replacements