Zoanthid Crashing

[Mackinback]

What's up everybody... So new to the scene. So go easy I picked up a 9gal Nano tank that was already established. Supposedly 6mo and the live rock was taken from a 1yr established tank.
So fast forward to today and I've now had this tank for about 3mo.. Added a few things.. And it seems to be going well.
My last recorded readings were
My zoanthids dont seem to be doing well.. 3 frags of them.. 2 are small and ok, 3rd is a bit larger and not 'blossoming' as they were weeks ago.
I did adjust my lighting a week ago due to some growth on the substrate (see in pics). And Im working on a water flow problem. My wavemaker is a bit too powerful and cheap filter doesn't do much (AQ 20). I am actually in the market for a new tank. But learning what I can with this one.

Since this is my problem thread, I'll add another issue.. So I bristle worms. Not sure traps would work as it's a small tank.. So I currently stalk the tank at midnight when they come out and do my best to catch them. But the other night I saw something different.. it was a long tentacle coming from my LR.. It was smooth (not like bristle) and it was just reaching upwards. I want to say greyish in color. It was quicker than a BW in going back into the rock. Any ideas on it? First time I've seen it.



Here are my readings.
8.2PH - Ammonia - 0 N03 - 0 N02 - 400 Cal (added cal) - Salinity 1.025 - P04 .25
Light put on timer from 9am to 7pm. Changed from 5am to 9pm.. And I put the blue light on for the last hourish.

 

[WV Reefer]

What's up everybody... So new to the scene. So go easy I picked up a 9gal Nano tank that was already established. Supposedly 6mo and the live rock was taken from a 1yr established tank.
So fast forward to today and I've now had this tank for about 3mo.. Added a few things.. And it seems to be going well.
My last recorded readings were
My zoanthids dont seem to be doing well.. 3 frags of them.. 2 are small and ok, 3rd is a bit larger and not 'blossoming' as they were weeks ago.
I did adjust my lighting a week ago due to some growth on the substrate (see in pics). And Im working on a water flow problem. My wavemaker is a bit too powerful and cheap filter doesn't do much (AQ 20). I am actually in the market for a new tank. But learning what I can with this one.

Since this is my problem thread, I'll add another issue.. So I bristle worms. Not sure traps would work as it's a small tank.. So I currently stalk the tank at midnight when they come out and do my best to catch them. But the other night I saw something different.. it was a long tentacle coming from my LR.. It was smooth (not like bristle) and it was just reaching upwards. I want to say greyish in color. It was quicker than a BW in going back into the rock. Any ideas on it? First time I've seen it.



Here are my readings.
8.2PH - Ammonia - 0 N03 - 0 N02 - 400 Cal (added cal) - Salinity 1.025 - P04 .25
Light put on timer from 9am to 7pm. Changed from 5am to 9pm.. And I put the blue light on for the last hourish.

Hi!

That’s a lot so I’ll address a few:

Bristleworms are good guys and an excellent part of the clean up crew. The other worm you described may be a peanut worm. They are also good guys and usually only come out at night.

Hydor makes an excellent pico powerhead....But if you are also running a filter you may not need the extra flow.

 

[Mackinback]

Hey WV Reefer and thanks for the reply.
So googled peanut worm, and I believe this is what I was seeing. And I seem to hear mixed reviews on worms in general. I do know they are part of the cleanup, but they can be troublesome if bigger, no?
As for the flow - I believe my filter to not be sufficient with flow. If you take a look at my 1st and 2nd pic you will see a growth over the substrate. This has been pretty new to the tank, but it is relentless. I sometimes find it covering my corals causing them stress. Of course removing it from them and things are back to peachy.
I'll check into Hydor as I use them on my fresh tank. Worst comes to worst and I will get a timer for what I have now and program it for like 5mins every hour or so.
Any thoughts on the Zao issues? My lighting schedule good? I'm hoping for my next tank to be more automatic.

 

[WV Reefer]

Hey WV Reefer and thanks for the reply.
So googled peanut worm, and I believe this is what I was seeing. And I seem to hear mixed reviews on worms in general. I do know they are part of the cleanup, but they can be troublesome if bigger, no?
As for the flow - I believe my filter to not be sufficient with flow. If you take a look at my 1st and 2nd pic you will see a growth over the substrate. This has been pretty new to the tank, but it is relentless. I sometimes find it covering my corals causing them stress. Of course removing it from them and things are back to peachy.
I'll check into Hydor as I use them on my fresh tank. Worst comes to worst and I will get a timer for what I have now and program it for like 5mins every hour or so.
Any thoughts on the Zao issues? My lighting schedule good? I'm hoping for my next tank to be more automatic.

There are plenty of people that just do not like worms in their tank. I have a few Bristleworms in my 75 Gallon that are huuuuge and they do not bother anything at all. Worms gets a bad rap because they will be seen munching on things like a dead fish and the owner will assume the worm killed the fish. I’ve even had a Eunice Worm which is actually a “killer worm” and it did not harm anyone.
Bristleworms can “poke” you if you touch them but I use my bare hands and have never had this happen. Fireworms are similar to Bristleworms but it’s very rare to actually find one in a reef tank. They have red fluffy gills alongside the bristles so they are quite identifiable if spotted in the reef.

I do see the cyano forming on the sand and you are correct, it needs more flow down there. This could be irritating the zoas as it forms on the rocks. When I get cyano I turn down the white light and up the flow.

Zoas can be hit or miss sometimes. In the beginning I would get them and they would slowly melt away. Now they do quite well in my tanks.

I would dial in that flow and get the cyano in check and hopefully that will help with the zoa issue.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm looking at your list of parameters and I'm a bit confused.

Here are my readings.
8.2PH - Ammonia - 0 N03 - 0 N02 - 400 Cal (added cal) - Salinity 1.025 - P04 .25

Is that... Ammonia - 0, N03 - 0, N02 - 400, Cal (added cal)...
If that's the case your nitrate is way too high and I assume that's not what you mean.

Or is it... Ammonia - 0, N03 - 0, N02 - (missing the number), 400 Cal (added cal)...
If that's the case, what is your nitrate level?

From the picks you posted your corals look OK. Sometimes zoas get bugged by something in the water and they won't open for a day or two or until the irritant goes away. I've seen some zoas in my tanks that didn't open for weeks. Don't stress over it too much. The cyano that is starting to develop on the sand says your water parameters aren't perfect, AND/OR you just need more flow at the sand.

 

[Blizzahjh]

Browned out zoas are typically from a missmatch of light vs nutrients. If they are brown it means there are more nutrients in the water then the light they are receiving. It seems as if your light is high enough so i would think you have a high nitrate level based on visuals on your zoa's. Color on zoas would be the equivalent to us getting a tan on the beach. Not enough sun and we dont tan, too much sunscreen (nitrates) and we dont tan. Too much light and not enough nitrates (sun screen) and you burn/bleach. Probably a stupid analogy but it helped me when i first started.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Browned out zoas are typically from a missmatch of light vs nutrients. If they are brown it means there are more nutrients in the water then the light they are receiving. It seems as if your light is high enough so i would think you have a high nitrate level based on visuals on your zoa's. Color on zoas would be the equivalent to us getting a tan on the beach. Not enough sun and we dont tan, too much sunscreen (nitrates) and we dont tan. Too much light and not enough nitrates (sun screen) and you burn/bleach. Probably a stupid analogy but it helped me when i first started.

Blizzahjh, I've been in the hobby for 15 years and a serious student of led lighting (worked for an aquarium led company). I have to admit, I've never heard anybody try to tie lighting to nutrients or nitrates as a potential problem. Lighting can be a problem, nutrients can be a problem and nitrates can be a problem, but I don't think there is a direct relationship between them.

You wrote,"Browned out zoas are typically from a mismatch of light vs nutrients. If they are brown it means there are more nutrients in the water then the light they are receiving." so are you saying that if the zoas are brown and the nutrient level is high, I can fix that by adding more light? I don't think thatss what you mean, but by tying light to nutrients, that is what you are implying. At least it seems that way to me. Maybe you can explain it better because your sunscreen and sunlight analogy is completely unrelated to nutrients and light.

 

[Blizzahjh]

Ok maybe not the best analogy for you i guess.... you arent suggesting that the ratio of light vs nutrients doesnt decide color and growth of a coral though are you?
Blasting a ton of light into a nitrate filled tank isnt going to fix anything, however if you are a nutrient heavy system its been shown that more light will give you better growth where as a ULNS runs better on less light.

I mean maybe im wrong about this but i think maybe im just not good at explaining myself. Back to lurking i suppose, will leave posting to the experienced reefers.

Good luck Op

 

[Mackinback]

Thanks for the replies...
So I didn't think there was anything wrong with the brown Zoas. So I guess it's good I posted a pic of them. I just thought that they were blossomed out, they were fine. I was concerned about the last pic with the Zoa's that stay curled up.
Although I will say nothing has really 'grown' any. But I wasn't too worried as I might be bleaching the LR when I switch tanks anyways.
I did miss a number Ron.. But it's Zero as well. Those readings were from 6/16.
I am a bit overdue for a water change, but just checked my Nitrate.. That is currently at 10ppm
So I will concentrate on flow to address this cyano.
So I know it was said zoas can stay closed for awhile.. Mine are probably at a week or 2 on that last pic. The other sets seem fine.

I appreciate the input greatly.

MacK

 

[Mackinback]

Another question (sorry).. but should I incorporate more blue light into my schedule?

 

[WV Reefer]

Another question (sorry).. but should I incorporate more blue light into my schedule?

In reefing, Blue is always best.

 

[Mackinback]

Things do look better under blue.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Most corals have zooxanthellae (algae) that do most of their photosynthesis using blue spectrum. Yes, they do use a little red, but it isn't even close to how much blue.

In fact, have you heard of people running lights out for 2-4 days to get rid of algae? I know most algae, like most terrestrial plants use red for photosynthesis. So rather than lights out entirely, I went all blue. It took a little longer to get rid of the algae (about a week). But the corals opened up and polyps came out every day and the tank looked just fine.

 

[Mackinback]

Interesting thought Ron.. So running the lights out meaning lights off for a few days.. I've heard of that during an algae bloom, and they also cover the tank.
But since blue is good, I don't have a problem doing this.
I'm reading through your build thread. Looking for ideas on my next move.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Interesting thought Ron.. So running the lights out meaning lights off for a few days.. I've heard of that during an algae bloom, and they also cover the tank.
But since blue is good, I don't have a problem doing this.
I'm reading through your build thread. Looking for ideas on my next move.

Ask questions, even PM me if you like. I just started the build thread for the 50g tank I didn't sell (I sold 3 others). But I have a couple set up ideas that I've used in the past that have proven quite useful to my bigger tanks. They are in older build threads that are at another website (where I've been the past 5 or 6 years).

 

[Mackinback]

So I don't think my Zoa's are just curled up.. I think this particular frag is dying.. My other Zoa's seem to be pretty well.. Long stems.. Open during the day. Just not the coolest looking..
But here is the 'dying frag'. It may not be a big thing.. But I think it'd be good practice to get this going again. So any tips? I'm purchasing a coal feeding kit.. Not sure of that relates to Zoa's. But my other corals will appreciate it.

 

[WV Reefer]

So I don't think my Zoa's are just curled up.. I think this particular frag is dying.. My other Zoa's seem to be pretty well.. Long stems.. Open during the day. Just not the coolest looking..
But here is the 'dying frag'. It may not be a big thing.. But I think it'd be good practice to get this going again. So any tips? I'm purchasing a coal feeding kit.. Not sure of that relates to Zoa's. But my other corals will appreciate it.

I know you said you had adjusted your lights some.......Do you think they might be stretching because they need more light?

 

[MPS]

Browned out zoas are typically from a missmatch of light vs nutrients. If they are brown it means there are more nutrients in the water then the light they are receiving. It seems as if your light is high enough so i would think you have a high nitrate level based on visuals on your zoa's. Color on zoas would be the equivalent to us getting a tan on the beach. Not enough sun and we dont tan, too much sunscreen (nitrates) and we dont tan. Too much light and not enough nitrates (sun screen) and you burn/bleach. Probably a stupid analogy but it helped me when i first started.

Maybe not a bad analogy. I get it. I'm dealing with zoas dying off as well and a change in lighting is the only thing that has changed.

 

[Mackinback]

Mine have bounced back a bit. Not super crazy growth.