Zoas turning clear ?

Coralmaniac21 · Feb 13, 2019

I bought some zoas from petco where i usually get my corals from and i split the frag with like 40 heads in half.. half for my tabk half for my moms tank.. got them maybe 1 week ago

My tank is a 60g hexagon 24 in hes tall. The light is a 4 bulb t5 HO with alum reflectors sitting about 8 to 10 inches above the tank. Two t5 are blue + one purple + one coral + fairly new bulbs. The zoas in my tank are near thr bottom maybe 4 inchs up from the sand bed on a rock. They are doing fine in my tank.

In her tank its a 30g long so like what 13 inchs tall ? It uses a t5 fixture but its a normal output fixture using an ati blue plus and i believe coral plus. The fixture is right on the hood so 2 inhes from the water level.

The zoas are maybe 7 inches up in the tank on the end of the tank though.. In her tank the zoas are long and while wide open some are starting to turn clear like a jelly fish. Her tank also has 0-5ppm nitrates while mine has 10-20 most of the time.

Why are hers doing this ? Too much light ? Not enough ? Too low nitrates ? Other corals are doing fine.. has a kenya tree. Frogspawn. And a small frsg of hollywood chalice all of which are growing

TheEngineer · Feb 13, 2019

Can you post a picture?

Coralmaniac21 · Feb 13, 2019

Sure here.. mmm now there all closed see that one in the front on the 2nd pic.. it looks transluscent

TheEngineer · Feb 13, 2019

I don't see anything glaringly wrong. How old is this tank? The pics make me think it is pretty new.

Coralmaniac21 · Feb 13, 2019

Another pic .. bout 2 months old

TheEngineer · Feb 13, 2019

I'd guess too much light is one issue here. A new tank isn't helping, but that's another topic...

Try moving them to the sand and see if they open up. It might take a couple of days.

Coralmaniac21 · Feb 13, 2019

Well the tank was instant cycled using a gallon of nitrifying bacteria.. i did the same thing to my at the time 27g hex now 60g hex.. it didnt do that to zoas. Doesnt explain why the frogspawn and other corals are fine

I thought to little light makes zoas reach like they are ? They are t5 ati but on a normal output fixturr.. of course the tank is short and zoas are only maybe 7 inches from the light.

Ill try moving them down to the bottom vs being up high like they arr.. maybe going down another 4-5 inches will help

TheEngineer · Feb 13, 2019

There's another time and place for the concept of "instant cycling," but it is off topic for your question :) You'll find that those shortcuts won't produce a stable tank in the long run.

Stretching zoas, that are open, can be a sign they need more light. When they are closed, it is more likely too much light, not too little.

Also, just to dot the i... what are the parameters in the tank and how are you testing them?

Coralmaniac21 · Feb 13, 2019

Api test kits for most of the basics like kh ph nitrates ect. The phosphates im using seachems two part thing and magnesium i get tested locally as i dont have a kit for it yet lol.

I use a refractometer that i calibrated using calibration liquid from brs.

Calcium is 460 alk is 9. Ph is 8.3, salt is 1.026 Nitrates are 0-5ppm last i checked it was 0 there is only 5 small fish in the tank 4 damsels and a bangai cardinal so they get fed once a day maybe 2 and not alot.. the system is using the same concept my main tank is.. hob. Power heads.. and surface skimmer and thays it.. although it has a internal filter i put in as i needed another power head and it can act like one with its spray bar lol.