A few zoas

[melev]

Thought I'd share some pictures of some zoanthids in my tank. Enjoy.









Under actinics only:

[MUCHO REEF]

Awesome, Marc it's just hard to believe that you are indeed a professional stripper LOL, must be a wood stripper I take it? Again, two thumbs up on the pics.

Mucho

PS, care to share some details, parameters, feeding, additions etc.

[LoudProudNPunk]

they look great.

[melev]

Originally posted by MUCHO REEF
Awesome, Marc it's just hard to believe that you are indeed a professional stripper LOL, must be a wood stripper I take it? Again, two thumbs up on the pics.

Mucho

PS, care to share some details, parameters, feeding, additions etc.

Here are some samples of my work, if you dare.

The reef is 280g, using this lighting.


Flow is my return pump from a 5' x 3' custom-made sump, two VorTech pumps and a Tunze Stream.

I feed nightly a mixture of cyclop-eeze, bloodworms, and mysis. 55g are changed monthly, and the tank has a huge skimmer, refugium and calcium reactor.

From time to time I dose Salifert Amino Acids, every few weeks. That's about it.

Btw Mucho, I had a gorgeous blue centered ricordia that is now bleached and shriveling up. If you have a suggestion how I can save the little guy, I'd appreciate it. I don't know when it started to decline, but now it is 25% of what it was and I'd hate to lose it.

[edwing206]

Awseome zoas Marc. I love those mean greens.

[MUCHO REEF]

Marc and anyone else who has had a ricordea to bleach. There are numerous reasons for bleaching, but the one thing I have experienced for sure, and it may take up to a year, but they can, will and have returned to their original coloration. As long as the polyp is alive and fully attached, you have a great chance. If the flesh is torn or severely damage, it is nearly impossible.

I had a stunning banana yellow, not light orange, it was true banana, and it bleached due to some shading that I wasn't aware of. Once the bleaching began, I couldn't stop it. I placed it on the side of my reef where it only received indirect reflected lighting. I redirected a single return hose to hit that side of the glass. I never moved the polyp unless I had to clean around it. It took close to a year, and yes, the color was fully restored. The problem I see is that many reefers give up on the ugly white/creamy looking colorless ric and trash it. If you simple secure it and leave it, minus a direct spray of lighting, it will fully recover, but it will take many many months of patience. It's no big secret either, just wanted you to know that you do indeed have a chance.

Just noticed that you said it was shriveled. How bad is it?


Mucho

[dc_909]

I love those sparkely PEs in the first pic

[melev]

Mucho, it is quite small compared to before. It is still attached to a small pebble and I'll get it out of the direct light of a 150w DE bulb. I'm just thinking that it might have been stung by something else and/or is hungry for some food. Do you ever target feed one that is declining?

I was counting on this little guy to grow and split, but because it was it my prop section for some time now, I think it got neglected somehow. It shares the same reef parameters of the display because it is in the sump's propagation section. Here are two older pictures of that section.

[melev]

Originally posted by dc_909
I love those sparkely PEs in the first pic

I agree. Those always look killer under actinics only.

[LoudProudNPunk]

are the ones in the first pic that arent sparkely PE's mean greens?

[melev]

Yes, that is correct. The ones on the right are the Mean Greens.

[DEEC77]

Beautiful Marc! Also love the mean greens

~Dee~

[MTB]

Vey nice! I love seeing your tank setups. Some day mine will look that nice. Those actinic shots are sweet.

Is the sump setup in the garage? Also, what camera are you using?

[melev]

What I did was build a room around the back side of the tank, taking away some of the garage area. The room is 7' x 6'.

I use a Fuji S602Z, a camera I bought years ago.

[JGoslee]

Thats a great looking setup. Do you have A FTS?

[MarvinsReef]

Originally posted by JGoslee
Thats a great looking setup. Do you have A FTS?

FTS would be cool...

excellent looking colonies...

[melev]

As requested...

[PaintGuru]

Originally posted by melev
I agree. Those always look killer under actinics only.

Is that what those are? I have a giant rock of something that looks like those, but I'm horrible at IDing. Perhaps I'll post a pic at some point. They do look "peach speckled" under actinics though!