Zoas not opening up?

[Flow863]

Does any one have any idea why my zoas arent fully opening up and are losing color?
My water chemistry is fine
And i thought it was my lighting that i had which was only 36 watts t5 but i have swapped that for a 150 watt metal halide and i was expecting them to open up fully and get their color back but no luck yet....does anybody have an idea how to fix this?

 

[Sniperhank]

What does water parameters fine mean? Though I doubt that is the issue tbh. How many bulbs was the previous T5 unit? A huge change in lighting without being slowly acclimated could be causing this issue. Might also be flow...but I'd put my money on lighting.

 

[Flow863]

Calcium 460
DKH 11%
ph 8ish
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
And the previous t5 was 2 18watt bulbs
And the one i currently have is a 150 watt metal halide but i placed it towards the bottom to acclimate it to the light but he will probably stay at the bottom so i may just leave i their

 

[Sniperhank]

Yeah, pretty drastic change in lighting. Give it some time and it should open back up fully, since I'm assuming it was before. Is the flow the same as where it was previously? My largest struggle with zoas has been getting them the correct flow, never seem to be able to find the sweet spot for them.

 

[Flow863]

They werent opening up all the way with the other lighting which is why i upgraded the lights cus i thought that was the problem....they have also faded in color
Heres a pic of the very first day i got them you can see they are fully open and colorful

 

[boardsurfer]

Your skimmer still producing skimmate? (working). Keeping up with water changes? Have you noticed any hair algae at all? How old is your tank.

 

[Flow863]

My skimmer is not producing as much skimmate as i would like
And i do a water change weekly of about 10%
Their is hair algae appearing in the tank
And it is about 2 months old

 

[boardsurfer]

They were probably getting adequate lighting at the LFS, then you exposed them to only 36 watts of light, then blasted them with 150 watts with the halide. What size is your tank?

Also- do you use RO/DI water for water changes? I would do a 25% PWC to help if it's high phosphates (since green hair algae is present, but that could be due to potent halide now on the tank).

Tank pretty new to be producing a whole lot of skimmate.

 

[Flow863]

Yea they have went trough 3 different lightings in about a week so that may have something to do with it
And yea i buy my saltwater from my LFS and its ro/di water
My tank is a 27 gallon cube
Heres a pic of it

 

[boardsurfer]

I would say lighting, it's reacting to the light. Keep up with your water regular water changes, and monitor. I bet it'll come back fine.

I would cut the lighting back at first...possibly put a few layers of screens (window screening) over the top of the tank to shield off so much light. Keep 3 on, take one off after 2 days, take off the second after the 5th day, and then take off the last one after 8 days. Don't go by my suggestion of 'days' literally, but something like that. I did this on my 125 after I upgraded lighting, but used 5 screens. Always good to acclimate to new lighting and err on the side of caution.

 

[Flow863]

Yea i hope they do and hopefully they start spreading
And I was wondering if I should add magnesium supplement?
If so how do i know if its needed?

 

[boardsurfer]

As far as magnesium is concerned, I think with that tank being so new and not a whole lot of corals in there- it'll get all it needs from the water column during water changes. But read this about magnesium. Keep us informed on how they're doing!

 

[Flow863]

Ok
Thanx alot and i will keep updates on my tank
=)

 

[Sniperhank]

There is no need to dose anything if you aren't testing it. Your water changes will replenish those elements.

 

[don_chuwish]

I like the tank!
One other thing to look for - I only know cuz I've seen them: zoanthid eating nudibranch. Check the colony closely, esp. at night with a flashlight. Our zoas were staying closed a lot and then we saw some nudi's. Sucked them up with a feeder, CoralRx dipped the frag and haven't seen any since. Might have to dip again though in case any eggs survived.

- D

 

[Flow863]

Thanx =)
and i will do that