Zoas growing larger instead or reproducing

AlexChef

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Preface:

I had 2 different types of Zoa on a frag shelf, salinity was ~1.021 so very low not enough nutrients theoretically all coral should've died. One of my Zoa's was reproducing rapidly and the other grew an additional polyp so growing but not very quickly.

Nowadays:

Raised salinity to 1.026 (Thank you Fritz RPM and a refractometer), Parameters all look excellent, except for nitrates and phosphates are 0ppm, currently battling cyano in the sand bed and on the rocks but is not growing on or near the Zoas. I moved the Zoas off of the shelf and on a rock I drilled holes in. The Zoa "eat" once daily, they get the mysis "scraps"

The Polyps seem to be growing much larger in size, however, they have not reproduced really at all. Is it because of the low nitrates and phosphate? Dosing would be a natural next step however this is a nano reef and don't want to risk an algae explosion.
 

Zoa_Fanatic

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They do this sometimes. You may not see the new polyps because of the polyp size when they first bud compared to the huge old ones. Attached is a photo of my LA Lakers. They grew massive polyps and starting budding under the skirt so I never saw the new ones until they grew up a bit. This frag started as 5 heads.
 

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High pressure shells: Do you look for signs of stress in the invertebrates in your reef tank?

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