please help! lighting and zoas

jamescyr · #1 02-21-2013, 01:02 AM

i have a newer reef, of about 6 months now.

ive been running 4 39w t5's over a 33 gallon tank. things have been great. 2 10k bubls and 2 430nm actinics.

ive been toying with the idea of upgrading some bulbs, not sure what to upgrade to and open to ideas.

however, the point of this thread is that i have recently bought a 24" strip of royal blue leds. and have been running them a bit below 12 volts. my red zoas right up near the top of the tank dont mind it and seem to be a little brighter.

my green and black zoas a little farther down are much brighter in color, but now arent all opened and some only partially open..
up until the leds were on they all stayed open but the outer ring ( fingers) were brown/ black. now they are vibrant green.

it is quite possible that one of the fish bothered them today and closed them up, but just curious if anyone has encountered this before.

thanks.

The Grizz · #2 02-21-2013, 01:08 AM

Zoas can be very sensitive to fish movement especially if they rub up against them, same with hermit crabs & snail. I have a bunch of Zoas in my nano & some days things are open some days not. Blue LEDs really make the colors pop, just like a black light & fluorescent paint.

jamescyr · #3 02-21-2013, 01:28 AM

ok im hoping thats the case. just seems a little odd that i added lights and next day they arent open. up until now they have been fully open everyday... guess ill keep watching and wait a bit

intarsiabox · #4 02-21-2013, 02:46 AM

A change in lighting can cause the zoas to close up for awhile. Give it sometime and I'm sure they will open back up. I had some frags that came from another tank and they didn't open up for a week.

The Grizz · #5 02-21-2013, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

A change in lighting can cause the zoas to close up for awhile. Give it sometime and I'm sure they will open back up. I had some frags that came from another tank and they didn't open up for a week.

+1 all coral needs time to acclimate to different lighting strengths.

jamescyr · #6 02-21-2013, 07:47 PM

I decided to turn the blue LEDs off a couple hours after the t5s turn off and come back on in the morning before I go to work. Goin to try that for a week or so and see how things go. Thank you both for the input.

Anyone have ideas for t5 combos?