Zoa's Shrinking Away, Help...

[Lenny_S]

My only argument with needing to raise the LED's are that the person that I got the rocks from had the maxspect running on the tank and they sit the same height as the OR. The zoas were looking really nice when I got them from him, that's why I think it has to be something else. But I'm willing to try whatever you guys suggest.

The bottom line is there is pretty much no way for all us armchair quarterbacks to know what the real right answer is. All we can really do is speak from our own experience and what has worked for us in similar situations. And all I can say from my personal experience with the lighting aspect anyway, is that raising the LED lights higher made a noticeable improvement in coral health, growth, and reduced shadowing and "hot spots". Just decide if you think it's worth a try.

By the way, here is how my lighting is now with the hanging kit (12" Above the water line)...

Much nicer look than the wood blocks too ;)

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Alk:9.3
If you bring this down to 8, I think you will be happy with the result. IMHO

 

[treedog5]

I really appreciate all the advice that is being offered up on this thread, I am more than willing to try each piece of advice that is being offered. I adjusted the LED intensity yesterday and will give that a week to see if any changes occur. If no change then I will try to find a way to raise the light higher and see what effect that may have. After that I will try raising my p04 levels to a detectable level and see how that goes, this will be weekly or biweekly steps that I will take and hope for the best. Does that sound like a good plan?

 

[Lenny_S]

Sounds like a plan

 

[Jonathan Presseau]

Good thread. I was not aware Zoa's were fans of whites. I have been running mainly blues on my zoa tank. Also, good to see others mention Alk and PO4 levels which I hear again and again for zoa tanks.

I am actually going to raise my lights now to see how that effects various colonies.

Thanks.

 

[treedog5]

Post back and let me know if it has a positive or negative effect on your tank...

 

[goatcorals]

All you need is some more ideas to confuse the situation, but I didn't see flow mentioned. When mine get super small sometimes a little higher flow helps. Perhaps something after to've considered some of the other ideas. Do polyps with better flow seem a little better?

I will say the curling you're seeing I once saw when I had dinos. Hoping you don't have that scourge. Do you see any brown stringy algae or any bubbles? Sometimes this can be confused with cyano too.

 

[Bbaz123456]

Wow, lots of crazy, silly advice/recommendations in here....I'm sorry op.
I will not throw any more at you to muck up the water even more. Just take them slow, whatever you do.
Ok, I lied. I'm going to give you my advice and you do what you want with it.
I would not touch your lights, alk, or any of that. Zoas do not care about what color your lights are. Zoas really don't care what your alk is, for the most part as long as it is reasonable. They do care about stability and do not like alk swings or changes in lighting.
They do need po4!
High po4 will not hurt them or most corals, even up to 1-2.00 ppm. Sps are a different story.

 

[Bbaz123456]

All you need is some more ideas to confuse the situation, but I didn't see flow mentioned. When mine get super small sometimes a little higher flow helps. Perhaps something after to've considered some of the other ideas. Do polyps with better flow seem a little better?

I will say the curling you're seeing I once saw when I had dinos. Hoping you don't have that scourge. Do you see any brown stringy algae or any bubbles? Sometimes this can be confused with cyano too.

Yes, flow is important too

 

[CodyRVA]

They do care about stability and do not like alk swings or changes in lighting.

Yep...

 

[treedog5]

LOL thanks guys.... Sounds like I need a new tank...[emoji85]

 

[fishman78]

zoas are very sensitive to cyanobacteria and algae. I see you have low magnesium .... strontium may have it too low, if so, the zoas weaken and close.
Make water change to drop a bit these nitrates .... and seeks its origin to tackle them

 

[joshporksandwich]

have you tried a big water change? Do you get shocked when you touch the water. The on;y times i remember all my zoas looking weird like that was 1. alk went to 12 and the other i had a pump that when i was moving stuff te cable was stripped and there was electricity on the water.

 

[Bbaz123456]

If you are going to listen to anybody, listen to Mr. Pork sandwich! He knows his zoas!!

 

[treedog5]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Josh.. To answer your questions, no I haven't done 1 large water change. Only been doing a 10% weekly change, and no I don't feel a shock when placing my hand in the water. Also my last Alk check didn't seem high but I can check it again, I will do a large water change in the next few days and report back...

 

[treedog5]

I did a 15 gallon water change last night, when I get home today I will see if that had a positive effect on the zoas. Stay tuned !!!

 

[treedog5]

1 day after a 15 gallon water change, not any better that I can tell.

 

[treedog5]

As you can see my hammer is nice and fluffy but these zoas are just withering away..

 

[goatcorals]

Do you run carbon? Your bubble tips may be "irritating" your zoas. Allelopathy...

If not consider some of that rox 0.8 from bulk reef supply.

 

[CodyRVA]

Honestly, it's been almost two weeks since you created this thread and I can't see any melting from the images you've provided. If they are melting please fill us in, otherwise... I'd just leave it be. Keep things consistent, less is more. If it was a chemistry issue they would have likely started melting, I'm still leaning towards light. When I swapped to a stronger fixture my Zoas looked like hell for months, but eventually adapted and now they look great.

Just don't do too much and stress them out more and cause an issue when it might take care of itself? Just my two cents.

Unless they start melting rapidly I would be patient and wait it out.