How to make zoa's brighter

[Nu2SW]

I was wondering is there any way to make zoa's gain more color.

I have a 150w HQI MH and my zoa's dont look to have much color.



ANy tips would be great?

[edsimmons]

What color temp is your bulb?

Try a 20,000K

[Nu2SW]

Its a 14k, Its not the bulb

When you look at the patterns on the zoa's they dont fill out and they look faded.


Thats kinda what I mean.

Like I have some gorrila nipples that do not look like the ones that are for sale currently on the forum.


Thats why I asked.

[bluenassarius]

are you running actinic?

[edsimmons]

Well if you’re so sure it’s not the light .

Maybe try Elos Omega Amino acids I’ve had crazy color enhancements!

I believe others in the MARS group have also.

[Justin74]

Sounds like they could need a more intense light. Raising a Kelvin usually means lowering the PAR, although the flouresce might be better initially due to the pigments reaction to the spectrum, but eventually the pigmentation will fade.

150 HQI sounds like it should be doing the trick especially for a smaller shallower tank. Unless the bulb has reached it's benchmark and needs replacing. Spectrum shifts with aging bulbs, trying to tell is like trying to watch your hair get longer...Theres always a lemon nothing is indefinate although this might not be the case I would get suspicious about any MH after the 6mo mark. Happens all the time some get lucky and get there full 9mo-12mo life, some dont luck out.

Ive seen pristine tanks with the same coloration as dirtier tanks, but IME the only time I see them look dull is when there not getting enough light.

-Justin

[JeffReef]

Edwin,
Your lighting may be too strong for that 12g. 150w HQI is perfect for the 24g Aquapod and may just be a little too much for a 12g nano.

Try placing some zoas in a little shade for a couple of weeks and see if there is an improvement on the coloration. Your Zoas may bleach if you have too much lighting.

FWIW, I used a 150w, 14k Sunpod on one end of a 55g temporarily and the lighting was more than enough for my Zoos.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t35/JeffReef/20g%20Nano%20Reef/IMG_8271.jpg

[Nuuze]

Did you get the zoos recently? If so what tank lighting did they come from?

I notice this in my tank with 2 250w MH. If I get them from someone that was using less light I have to place them in the sand next to rocks for shade and slowly acclimate them to the new lighting. Or else they will fade a bit and sometimes shrivel up.

[Justin74]

Not to be argumenative, but the zoos in that picture are only a couple inches from the surface on a rack. 65w PC would be enough for that shallow of water let alone 150.

Highly doubt 150 is too much. FWIW, I have difficulty keeping colorfull zoos alive under my 175w MH and they just dont grow like the ones in my sps tank that are getting more light.

-Justin

[JeffReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10516448#post10516448 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justin74
Not to be argumenative, but the zoos in that picture are only a couple inches from the surface on a rack. 65w PC would be enough for that shallow of water let alone 150.

Highly doubt 150 is too much. FWIW, I have difficulty keeping colorfull zoos alive under my 175w MH and they just dont grow like the ones in my sps tank that are getting more light.

-Justin

Yeah, Justin. From the picture it looks as though the Zoas were only a couple of inches from the top. But in reality, they were about 5 inches from the water column as the rack was only 10 inches tall. The rack was roughly 10 inches from the light fixture.

I can't comment on your 175w mogul MH as I have never used them. But from what I've read in the past, the HQI bulbs puts out more PAR than mogul based bulbs. So, Edwin's 150w HQI's may put out more PAR than your 175w MH - I don't know.

Edwin never mentioned that his Zoas were browning out. If he said or meant that his Zoas were, in fact, browning out, then I would suggest that he move the Zoas closer to the light. But it would be very hard for me to suggest adding more lighting to a 12g tank that already has a 150w HQI MH on.

[Justin74]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10516981#post10516981 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JeffReef
Yeah, Justin. From the picture it looks as though the Zoas were only a couple of inches from the top. But in reality, they were about 5 inches from the water column as the rack was only 10 inches tall. The rack was roughly 10 inches from the light fixture.

I can't comment on your 175w mogul MH as I have never used them. But from what I've read in the past, the HQI bulbs puts out more PAR than mogul based bulbs. So, Edwin's 150w HQI's may put out more PAR than your 175w MH - I don't know.

Edwin never mentioned that his Zoas were browning out. If he said or meant that his Zoas were, in fact, browning out, then I would suggest that he move the Zoas closer to the light. But it would be very hard for me to suggest adding more lighting to a 12g tank that already has a 150w HQI MH on.

Your right, the SE 150 HQI is higher in PAR than a 175, but not much as Im using a magnetic ballast which overdrives them as well. So I get slightly higher values than an electronic ballast paird with this bulb. I agree, with not being able to recommend more as well, but it does sound like an issue with PAR, that's why I suggested his bulb may have reached it's apex and is on the down swing, which is not all that uncommon ESPECIALLY since he is using the HQI ballast and overdriving the bulb= shorter bulb life.

Would be nice to not speculate though, Edwin how old is the bulb your using?


-Justin

[xia]

I think your corals are too high up. They're bleaching, put them on the bottom of the tank and they should be okay. I've found that adding iodine, a few drops a day, should help with gaining color back.

[Nu2SW]

The bulb is probably near its peak, I got it in May and it was 6 months used. So about 9 months now.

XIA- they arn't bleaching out, they arnt colorful. But it may depend on the zoa's also.

For an example, I have some orange ones that look nice and bright.

I got some other zoo's that had green skirts, Some are brown. They had yellow centers but the yellow has changed to a lighter yellow. Like fading I guess would be the best term to use.

I dont have a camera to take really good pictures with.

Xia, if you want. You dont live to far. If you got a Digital Camera, you could take some pictures to show the others. Or just come by and tell me what you think.... LMK

[xia]

It does depend on the zoos, but gorilla nipples aren't all that colorful to begin with, to me they're just kind of brown with pinkish-orange eyes. Mark's pictures has a blue sheen on them, but I think that's just the actinics. Go see his zoos in person and then you'll probably see that there may be some camera play at work or just the difference in lighting. No offense to Mark. I'm sure he's not trying to misrepresent his corals.

If you compare the way your zoos look in your tank to someone else's they'll probably look different. If you're saying they don't look like they use to, then that's something else.

[Justin74]

If you consider ever supplementing your tank with iodine, you may be greatly served by this:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm

later in articles he eventually flat out recommends it not to be used for the common hobbyist and there corals and the harm greatly exceed the benefits of supplementation, if any which if there are have yet to be scientifically documented other than on algae. There are a wide array of creatures that do use it, xenia, sponges, tunicates, shrimp etc. but these elements are being found within the food it eats in the tank and the food we supply, and to attempt to monitor with the test kits available only test for variable components of iodine while some it cannot making monitoring just short of impossible.

-Justin

[reef2]

sometimes when zoos r collected from the wild they will lose some color also zoos looks better in pics than in real life.my 0.02

[robertloop]

I think Xia hit it right on the head... IME zoas arent really light picky. Ive seen them do great in some dimly lit tanks. Get an iodine/amino acid suppliment. Ever since I started using that stuff the softies and sps have outstanding color. It's cheap and well worth a shot. Alot of folks using aminos for color reasons....

[hiepatitis]

I have noticed better color with dosing iodine. I have mine under 250w MH and they're fine. In fact I had better color on those under high lighting.

Here are my reverse gorilla nipples
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb234/reeffragz/Zoanthids%20and%20Palythoas/revrsegorilla.jpg

More under MH
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb234/reeffragz/Zoanthids%20and%20Palythoas/BlueOrgasim.jpg

[Nuuze]

Here are mine under 250w 10k DE MH, but I had to acclimate them slow to the light...no iodine.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/Nuze_2007/DSC_6273.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/Nuze_2007/DSC_6275.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/Nuze_2007/DSC_6276.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/Nuze_2007/DSC_6281.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/Nuze_2007/DSC_6282.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/Nuze_2007/DSC_6283.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/Nuze_2007/DSC_6285.jpg

[hiepatitis]

Very nice zoos Mike. I don't remember seeing those in your tank. I was too distracted by all the nice SPS

[Nuuze]

I just got them a few weeks ago. :)

All I have were blue zoo's, then my wife discovered how "pretty" they were.

[robertloop]

Very nice pics

[Nu2SW]

HEY, SHOW OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHA lol

Gotta rub them in huh?

I think for my torture and pain you have to share some of those zoas

:-D

[Justin74]

Heres some interesting articles discussing morphology and reasons why which affect some of the coloration as well:
http://www.zoaid.com/articles001.php
http://www.zoaid.com/articles002.php

-Justin