Zoas thinning, polyps shrinking and color changes

[PDR]

So some of the zoas in my frag system (see "farm" thread in sig) while still growing, are stretching/thinning at the mat.

I tend to think this is lighting related, but I'm not sure what I should try next. The zoas are under a 4 bulb t5 fixture at roughly 125-150 par. Bulbs are blue+ and coral+

Here is a good example of the thinning on some PE morphs (fun fact, these were standard red PE when I purchased them 2 years ago.




Here are a few of the before and after pics for coloration. - All the zoas were added to this system on August 4th of this year.

Rastas:
So this isn't actually a before and after, the first pic are rastas I just scraped off of my overflow from my DT - lit under kessils. In my DT the polyps are noticeably bigger than the ones that have been in the frag system.


You can see they are noticeably lighter in coloration. Growth has also been pretty stagnant with these whereas they grow like crazy in my DT.

Utter Chaos:


They clearly have grown, but polyps have stretched thin and gotten smaller.


WWC Purple Monster:


Same story with these.


WWC Pink Krak:


And these...


CB Rainbow Infusion :
Now these are the ones I am having the most issues with. They have come and gone, and do look better now than they did a few weeks ago.



So after looking all these pics together, it seems like they may be under too much light. But like I said, they are only under 125-150 par at the most. 8-hour photoperiod.

Any advice or ideas would be great!

 

[DSC reef]

I agree, it looks to be to much light. The cool thing is you've brought out more color. I've noticed that with certain zoas in different areas of the tank. It doesn't look like there melting so that's good. It looks like they're enjoying the spectrum but the intensity of the light is a little high.

 

[DSC reef]

Any way you can raise the light a little @PDR?

 

[PDR]

Any way you can raise the light a little @PDR?

I can, but I have some leathers that do better in a little higher par. What about raising the light so I peak at 100~ in the middle of the tank (zoas will be on the outside edges), but increase the photoperiod?

I’m not super happy with the growth in this tank and I feed it a ton, but still have no detectable nutrients. Just trying to find the right balance.

 

[PDR]

I can also move the zoas to lower par, but would still be around 100.

 

[DSC reef]

I would try the zoas at lower par then and go from there. Once you find that balance they should start exploding with growth. Maybe an occasional supplemental feeding is in order. My favorite was oyster feast and reef roids

 

[PDR]

I would try the zoas at lower par then and go from there. Once you find that balance they should start exploding with growth. Maybe an occasional supplemental feeding is in order. My favorite was oyster feast and reef roids

I’ll give that a try. I’ve never tried oyster feast, but I feed reef roids, reef chili and benereef everyday. I also dose reef energy a&b and phyto everyday.

Been doing this for weeks, and I still have no detectable no3 or po4...

 

[DSC reef]

There was something about the slurry of oyster feast and reef roids, it would stay suspended around the polyps and the micron size of the food was just right. Your zoas look healthy so I would keep on the same routine.

 

[PDR]

@DSC reef - Have those red people eaters morphed into anything recognizable or should I just call them morphs when I sell them?

 

[DSC reef]

They look like agaves to me.

 

[PDR]

Sorry to bother you again, but any idea what these are @DSC reef? (not the dragon eyes)

 

[DSC reef]

I've been looking but I can't find a match yet. I'll keep trying

 

[PDR]

I've been looking but I cant find a match yet. I'll keep trying

Yeah, I've had these for years and have never found an exact match the several times I've tried searching. They are some of my favorite.

 

[DSC reef]

There unique for sure. Now I want to ID them even more, lol.

 

[Dtfnemo]

I was having the same problem you are having, I raised my light as high as possible and reduced the photoperiod.
I also started feeding super heavy, and now things are looking better

 

[DSC reef]

@PDR what colors are they exactly to your eye?

 

[PDR]

I was having the same problem you are having, I raised my light as high as possible and reduced the photoperiod.
I also started feeding super heavy, and now things are looking better

I took some new readings and went ahead and raised my lights about 6". The zoas will now be under approximately 65-100 par depending on placement.

@PDR what colors are they exactly to your eye?

I did some minor editing to try and get it really close to what it looks like in person, but most have a cream skirt, a light purple outer ring, and a dark purple center/mouth.

 

[DSC reef]

I took some new readings and went ahead and raised my lights about 6". The zoas will now be under approximately 65-100 par depending on placement.



I did some minor editing to try and get it really close to what it looks like in person, but they have a cream skirt, a light purple outer ring, and a dark purple center/mouth.

Thanks man. As soon as I find something close I'll let you know

 

[DSC reef]

@PDR I've been searching but found nothing yet. Closest I got was vampire in drag. Similar pattern but colors don't match. I say you call them PDR'S purple vamps

 

[PDR]

So I did some digging and I found this thread that appears to have the same zoas. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/id-purple-zoa.271033/ Still not helpful because they didn't ID it. The purple puddle has very similar colors but not the right pattern.