Zoa's Shrinking Away, Help...

[A. grandis]

I started 500mg per day..then gradually increase it to 500mg twice a day then increase it to 1000 mg in the morning and 500mg in the evening. Now I'm just keeping the dose 1000mg twice a day. I just dissolve the powder in a cup of tank's water then pour it back on area with high flow.

Ok, thanks!
Grandis.

 

[zeeGGee]

Ok, thanks!
Grandis.

You're welcome.

 

[A. grandis]

I'll try to get it and add to the tank some time...
Grandis.

 

[zeeGGee]

any updates?

 

[treedog5]

Everything is still looking good, will post a pic when I get home. Still ramping LEDs up, not sure what settings are right now.

 

[scoopsthedog]

Everything is still looking good, will post a pic when I get home. Still ramping LEDs up, not sure what settings are right now.

Late to the game here is my $.02 (prefaced with I have probably 10% of the experience a lot of people on this thread do)-

25G -I had a small colony greens and orange. Started to close then melt. I dipped in F2 and that stopped the melt. Have them under a Current USA Marine Orbit Pro. Orange still not doing well greens stabilized and slowly growing. Tank is too small to really mess with light height and flow.

At the LFS they have huge colonies under t247 exclusively that are doing very well. I upgraded my tank to a 50G and a t247 and plan on Zoa and LPS exclusively. I'll follow this thread and also let you know how mine are doing. Going to keep the ones I have now with my 25G and get a few small inexpensive Polyps for the new tank once its cycles to test position in tank for flow and lighting.

 

[Rob Romalino]

I have had an awful time dialing in my new LEDs coming from T5s and my Zoas were doing the same (growing and colonizing fine then just randomly shriveling, closing and melting)... I tried everything you are trying except the Vitamin C. I have a 125g tank that is 24" deep. my Radions are about 13" off the water with TIR lens and all parameters were normal. I was convinced that the LEDs were not very strong (i guess because they are not hot) and had the Intensity set at 70%. I guess I was burning almost everything up especially Zoas. After months of tweaking, I am at 35%, mostly blue and very little white spectrum and everything seems much happier. Montiporas, Shrooms, Frogspawns/Hammer and Acros are growing and Zoas at the bottom look much better. I think my next tweak will be to slowly raise the lights for better light spread but IMO and having dealt with my own frustrating Zoa problem... I think its a very fine line with LEDs Intensity and Spectrum!! And Zoas are supposed to be "Easy".

 

[scoopsthedog]

I have had an awful time dialing in my new LEDs coming from T5s and my Zoas were doing the same (growing and colonizing fine then just randomly shriveling, closing and melting)... I tried everything you are trying except the Vitamin C. I have a 125g tank that is 24" deep. my Radions are about 13" off the water with TIR lens and all parameters were normal. I was convinced that the LEDs were not very strong (i guess because they are not hot) and had the Intensity set at 70%. I guess I was burning almost everything up especially Zoas. After months of tweaking, I am at 35%, mostly blue and very little white spectrum and everything seems much happier. Montiporas, Shrooms, Frogspawns/Hammer and Acros are growing and Zoas at the bottom look much better. I think my next tweak will be to slowly raise the lights for better light spread but IMO and having dealt with my own frustrating Zoa problem... I think its a very fine line with LEDs Intensity and Spectrum!! And Zoas are supposed to be "Easy".

If you have time watch this very informative

Basically many corals reach peak photosynthesis at 300PAR within a very short time frame. Carbon and flow makes up the rest of the equation. Carbon and flow also seem to make a bigger difference. I think many of us run LEDs too high and for too long (what looks good for us vs the tank).

 

[treedog5]

Very informative video, thanks for sharing. I totally agree that the LEDs where part of my problem, not sure if it was the entire problem but I definitely had them set to high. They are doing a lot better and I still have the LEDs at a very low percent.

 

[A. grandis]

I have had an awful time dialing in my new LEDs coming from T5s and my Zoas were doing the same (growing and colonizing fine then just randomly shriveling, closing and melting)... I tried everything you are trying except the Vitamin C. I have a 125g tank that is 24" deep. my Radions are about 13" off the water with TIR lens and all parameters were normal. I was convinced that the LEDs were not very strong (i guess because they are not hot) and had the Intensity set at 70%. I guess I was burning almost everything up especially Zoas. After months of tweaking, I am at 35%, mostly blue and very little white spectrum and everything seems much happier. Montiporas, Shrooms, Frogspawns/Hammer and Acros are growing and Zoas at the bottom look much better. I think my next tweak will be to slowly raise the lights for better light spread but IMO and having dealt with my own frustrating Zoa problem... I think its a very fine line with LEDs Intensity and Spectrum!! And Zoas are supposed to be "Easy".

It's about the quality of light. They have different qualities, like Dr. Sanjay said once.
If you have time to read this entire thread you will understand some of it.
Then you can understand and definitely choose what you want.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/l...oas-discussion-what-are-your-thoughts.268851/

Bottom line is that with you choose LEDs you will have to pay a price to adjust everything to it.
Some times it's frustrating and a constant fight. Not worthy to me!! That's why I recommend T5s.

Warning: most people want to keep their LEDs just because they want to prove to themselves that they will be able to do it, or because they simply like the LEDs for some reason. Fine with me!
Lot's of unnecessary time and frustration IMO. I hear and meet lots of people that went back to their T5s and have the fun they are supposed to have with their tanks. But everyone have their own minds and opinions. This is just my opinion: T5s all the way!

Grandis.

 

[A. grandis]

Very informative video, thanks for sharing. I totally agree that the LEDs where part of my problem, not sure if it was the entire problem but I definitely had them set to high. They are doing a lot better and I still have the LEDs at a very low percent.

Long run will tell you that very low light intensity for zoas will just keep them alive, not the optimal. Mainly struggling to survive.
With a T5 system like the ATI you will have them thriving for many years with the stability they need. Plug and play!
Take a look at the link above and have fun. Hopefully you will be able to read the WHOLE thread before you take a final decision.
I know many people did...
Hope you get it now.
Aloha,
Grandis.

 

[treedog5]

I know grandis said I wouldn't see growth with the LEDs at a low setting but I will have to disagree. Look at those green zoa's and compare to the pic I posted when I started this thread. Everything seems to be doing great now, still dosing my vitiman C and LEDs at the same settings.

 

[A. grandis]

Wow, they ARE growing... Doing much better. Hope it keeps doing it!
Mine were growing crazy for a while and then they started melting/receding under my LEDs. Not the same with the T5s.
My T5 system never had any problem like that!

I started vitamin C today on the T5 system!
I've noticed that as soon as I've put the vitamin in the water the polyps opened a bit more. Only 4 drops!!!!
That was instant craziness!! The vitamin C does make them to open. I'm not sure about changing colors and so on because it's just the first day, but they opened a bit more. that's for sure. Very interesting!!
The bottle says it helps the immune system and even recommends to dip the fish food in a solution with it for the fish.
Using the Brightwell's vitamin C...

Best wishes with your zoas!
Aloha,
Grandis.

 

[A. grandis]

Hey ZeeGGee and other friends...
Little update on the Vitamin C dosing!

The other day I added double dose (which was only 8 drops!!!! LOL!) of the Brightwell's vitamin C.
I couldn't be mistaken... After 3 days I've noticed some of the zoanthids that were kinda stable with their growth and reproduction to add some heads to the colony. Also, some of the zoas that are shaded by others were showing signs of vivid colors. You can tell that the vitamin C is probably stimulating or truly being absorbed and used by those guys because that was the only new thing I started to add to the system. My lights were changed recently, but I haven't noticed those particular signs in those areas of the tank in the past years after changing bulbs. When you know your system you can tell!
That is tremendously interesting to me!!!
The vitamin C is simply diluted in the tank's water and they can absorb it so well!!
Would be great to hear from others too...
I'm happy that after so many years reading those comments I've tried in my own tank.

I'm dosing only 4 to 8 drops 3 times a week!

Aloha,
Grandis.

 

[TheEngineer]

I really doubt the vitamin c from brightwells is doing anything. It is extremely diluted. I've dosed straight vitamin c many times. It cleans up the water and can help heal zoas but at much higher concentrations than you are using.

I think this is a case of your eyes playing tricks on you :)

 

[A. grandis]

I really doubt the vitamin c from brightwells is doing anything. It is extremely diluted. I've dosed straight vitamin c many times. It cleans up the water and can help heal zoas but at much higher concentrations than you are using.

I think this is a case of your eyes playing tricks on you :)

I kinda thought so. I know the amount of Vitamin C I'm dosing aren't anything comparing to the recommended by Brightwell's and what many people dose normally.
I'm afraid to have them growing too much and too fast 'cause I already have a nice growth and want to actually control it!
Perhaps you're right and I am the one that is getting the effects of the dosing in my own mind? LOL! o_O
I'll stop dosing at once and see what happens.

Grandis.

 

[TheEngineer]

I kinda thought so. I know the amount of Vitamin C I'm dosing aren't anything comparing to the recommended by Brightwell's and what many people dose normally.
I'm afraid to have them growing too much and too fast 'cause I already have a nice growth and want to actually control it!
Perhaps you're right and I am the one that is getting the effects of the dosing in my own mind? LOL! o_O
I'll stop dosing at once and see what happens.

Grandis.

You could dose the real stuff and see :) It is pretty inexpensive.

 

[A. grandis]

You could dose the real stuff and see :) It is pretty inexpensive.

I prefer go slow with the dosing mainly because I don't really need anything to make them grow any faster in the first place! LOL!
I'll stop for a moth or so and see what happens to those particular polyps I was talking about.
Then I'll decide what to do...
Grandis.

 

[treedog5]

I'm still dosing my vitiman C also, once the bottle runs out I will wait a while and see if the zoas are still improving or start to decline.

 

[zeeGGee]

Hey ZeeGGee and other friends...
Little update on the Vitamin C dosing!

The other day I added double dose (which was only 8 drops!!!! LOL!) of the Brightwell's vitamin C.
I couldn't be mistaken... After 3 days I've noticed some of the zoanthids that were kinda stable with their growth and reproduction to add some heads to the colony. Also, some of the zoas that are shaded by others were showing signs of vivid colors. You can tell that the vitamin C is probably stimulating or truly being absorbed and used by those guys because that was the only new thing I started to add to the system. My lights were changed recently, but I haven't noticed those particular signs in those areas of the tank in the past years after changing bulbs. When you know your system you can tell!
That is tremendously interesting to me!!!
The vitamin C is simply diluted in the tank's water and they can absorb it so well!!
Would be great to hear from others too...
I'm happy that after so many years reading those comments I've tried in my own tank.

I'm dosing only 4 to 8 drops 3 times a week!

Aloha,
Grandis.

Nice! Btw, I switched to a cheaper Vit. C. -Sodium Ascorbate powder.