The Key to Zoanthid Growth - Is it Iodine?

rosshamsandwich · Mar 11, 2018

where do you get calcium iodine from and what product of magnesium do you use

Cary · Mar 11, 2018

I use seachem additives. Mag in reef complete, calcium in reef calcium, iodine in reef plus. All liquid products.

1 cap per gallon of each in sw when making sw several days before doing water change. Make up water 1 cap per gallon of only reef complete.

Generally if you do regular sw changes the calcium iodine and magnesium are at the right proportions and additives aren't necessary. I choose to add these additives. I am just detailing what I do not advocating this for everyone. As many people will tell you, your tank and inhabitants will tell you if you are doing the right thing.

rosshamsandwich · Mar 12, 2018

Cary said:
I use seachem additives. Mag in reef complete, calcium in reef calcium, iodine in reef plus. All liquid products.

1 cap per gallon of each in sw when making sw several days before doing water change. Make up water 1 cap per gallon of only reef complete.

Generally if you do regular sw changes the calcium iodine and magnesium are at the right proportions and additives aren't necessary. I choose to add these additives. I am just detailing what I do not advocating this for everyone. As many people will tell you, your tank and inhabitants will tell you if you are doing the right thing.

Thank you for your candor.

Cary · Mar 12, 2018

Thanks.

rosshamsandwich · Mar 12, 2018

You're welcome.

BootyPup · Mar 12, 2018

Honestly, I have never even been able to successfully keep Zoas before, then a month a go I bought two zoa frags with four heads about on each. At least 3-4 heads have grown on each frag now with about 2-5 baby heads forming on each frag. I have no clue what is contributing to the new growth.

Cary · Mar 12, 2018

Congrats.

rosshamsandwich · May 7, 2018

do you use a protein skimmer?

Cary · May 8, 2018

I don't on my 8g (where most of the zoas and palys are located). I do have one on my 29g, but I also have fish in it.

littlebigreef · May 8, 2018

Just a few things to consider. First and most notably, a frag with with 5 heads is going to be able to kick out babies faster than a single or doubled headed frag so sometimes its just a matter of the frag getting to a certain size before you really start to notice new growth. Secondly, I've found that new frags may take some time (up to a few months) before they fully adjust to lighting, dosing, feeding and water params. I've had a few that I've written off as non-starters that later grew out.

I swear by Lugol's solution and usually put 5-6 drops in every 2-3 days for a 340 gal system. I firmly believe it helps the zoanthids along as well as crustaceans (shrimp seem to molt more often and generally do well).

Michael Llabona · May 8, 2018

I think it's all about "dirty" water. When my lfs gets colonies from Indonesia, they literally come in muck water. When my nitrates were high they got noticeable growth every month. Now that I have SPS and keep my nitrates and phoshate low, I don't even see much growth. Maybe a polyp a month.

uhgster1 · May 10, 2018

Be careful if you have shrimp in the tank. It will make them molt their shells. My cleaner shrimp literally molted every time I dosed iodine. I thought it was good for them but I found out that that it shortens their lives.

Zos4me · May 12, 2018

I myself didn't have any success in my frag tank and being a relative newbie to saltwater and and coral I figured it was just how things are and they were slow growing. Then I decided to add trace elements and reef roids mixed with reef chili 3 times a week and wow. one frag that hasn't grown in months now has 2 new polyps and one of my other colony actually grew so big it actually attached itself to the egg crate and I had to cut off a couple to get it off. That was the only thing I have changed. Just another angle from a newbie

rosshamsandwich · May 12, 2018

Zos4me said:
I myself didn't have any success in my frag tank and being a relative newbie to saltwater and and coral I figured it was just how things are and they were slow growing. Then I decided to add trace elements and reef roids mixed with reef chili 3 times a week and wow. one frag that hasn't grown in months now has 2 new polyps and one of my other colony actually grew so big it actually attached itself to the egg crate and I had to cut off a couple to get it off. That was the only thing I have changed. Just another angle from a newbie

do you run a skimmer? do you turn off your skimmer when you dose?

rosshamsandwich · May 22, 2018

DO YOU ALL STILL RUN SKIMMERS ON YOUR ZOA TANKS?

andre zaharchenya · May 25, 2018

Zos4me said:
I myself didn't have any success in my frag tank and being a relative newbie to saltwater and and coral I figured it was just how things are and they were slow growing. Then I decided to add trace elements and reef roids mixed with reef chili 3 times a week and wow. one frag that hasn't grown in months now has 2 new polyps and one of my other colony actually grew so big it actually attached itself to the egg crate and I had to cut off a couple to get it off. That was the only thing I have changed. Just another angle from a newbie

Do you have any fish in frag tank ? What is your frag tank set up ?

mike werner · May 25, 2018

I wasn't able to keep them growing at a good rate or any rate for many years.dirty tank,clean tank,iodine,skimmer,no skimmer you name it I probably tried it.so three other reefing buddies and I all decided we would get on the aquaforest component 123 ,3 part system.first month better growth,second month even better growth.we are all on the 5 month or so mark and all I can say is wow.i have two tanks one 54gal no skimmer one 200 gal all the bells and whistles.one high nutrient (54gal) one low nutrient (200gal) both tanks now show incredible zoa as well as sps,lps and a few softies growth.it's kinda crazy but 4 different guys 6 different tanks and we ALL have noticed incredible growth and coloration in all our corals not just some.
this product is amazing in our opinion and I highly recommend you polyp people try it out.just my 3 cents for what it's worth.

andre zaharchenya · May 25, 2018

mike werner said:
I wasn't able to keep them growing at a good rate or any rate for many years.dirty tank,clean tank,iodine,skimmer,no skimmer you name it I probably tried it.so three other reefing buddies and I all decided we would get on the aquaforest component 123 ,3 part system.first month better growth,second month even better growth.we are all on the 5 month or so mark and all I can say is wow.i have two tanks one 54gal no skimmer one 200 gal all the bells and whistles.one high nutrient (54gal) one low nutrient (200gal) both tanks now show incredible zoa as well as sps,lps and a few softies growth.it's kinda crazy but 4 different guys 6 different tanks and we ALL have noticed incredible growth and coloration in all our corals not just some.
this product is amazing in our opinion and I highly recommend you polyp people try it out.just my 3 cents for what it's worth.

This ? How much you dose daily ?

mike werner · May 25, 2018

andre zaharchenya said:
This ? How much you dose daily ?

first,that's waaaaaay to much for it.bulk reef supply $56.95 out of stock at the moment. it's out of stock for a reason cause it sells quick and is that good.reccomended dosage is 50 ml.to 27 gal.of water.for the premix.we only dosed half of that.i recommend that you search it on r2r and they have all the details.you can also order all the components and make your own solutions and it cuts the price by about 1/3.i recommend getting the premix first,then after you love it start making your own.seriously,this stuff is the single best thing I have ever bought for my reef.