Rasta Care

[dodger745]

Are rasta zoa's of the deepwater variety? would you say they require low light/high light?

Im trying to decide where is best to place them in my tank under 250w 20k halides.

 

[cdavis]

I've read that they are deepwater. I keep mine near the bottom and towards the outer edge of my shallow frag tank. They've responded well to that.

 

[dodger745]

I have mine on the frag plug in the sandbed. Looked good for two months and now closed up. All other zoos are opened. I dipped them again last night so I'm hoping for a recovery today

 

[joshporksandwich]

There's a bit of infor here about rastas
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/zoa-discussion-club-zoa/129327-club-zoa-spotlight-rastas.html

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

Low to medium light and same with flow. Once established, very good growers.

 

[dodger745]

Mine are on the sandbed and have looked great for two months. Sprouted a baby last week. And now are all closed up

 

[GKorals]

mine are in middle of tank and started with 1 and have at least 25 after fragging like 10..all in 5 months or so

 

[GKorals]

also forgot to say they like dirtier water...they always start to take off once my phosphate media needs replacing

 

[dodger745]

I'm thinking of moving mine up higher. Been closed up for over a week now

 

[dodger745]

We'll they are still closed up:( I don't know what else to do. Just crazy

 

[joshporksandwich]

How much flow you have them under?

 

[Tenor]

Rasta will do well with lower light and moderate flow. Move It away from the direct light and It will open again

 

[Ringo®]

Low light works for me as well

 

[dodger745]

It's on the bottom. Moderate flow, my magnesium is a bit low at 1050 so I'll put them in a shaded area and see what happens

 

[Eienna]

I hear they tend to end up with detritus buildup at the base of their colonies, and they don't like that. Blow it once in a while and see what happens?

 

[dodger745]

Right now it's only two polyps on a frag plug. I dipped it last week again to rid of any pests I couldn't see

 

[acanthophyllia]

Sand bed. I picked up 4 heads last year. Now I have at least 50 heads a year later. Low flow low light.

 

[dodger745]

Will the magnesium being a tad low have any affects? Mine were open for a good while and closed all of a sudden

 

[dodger745]

Still closed:(

My Magnesium is somewhat low at 1050 ppm so I think it is starting to affect ALK and CA as they have slightly dropped as well.

I have Magnesium on the way so I can start a dosing regimen.

These are the only things that have changed in my tank.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

This thread is 10 years old but I’m gonna bump it anyway.

I originally put my Rastas in a low light area with medium flow like many were saying. They didn’t do much. I decided to move them to the very top - only 10” from the T5s and 2” under the water, in one of the high flow areas of the tank. They are now growing like a wildfire, and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve created a monster!

They are at the same level as my Montipora digitata.