Reef Discussion
These zoas are kept under LED light. I have an Illumagic Blaze series M-90S on this tank. The fixture has 16 pcs CREE XP-G white, 8 pcs XP-G neutral white, 6 pcs XP-E blue 6 pcs XP-E royal blue and 8 pcs 1W Edison UV. I personally believe that the UV light is a key factor for LED lighting since there are almost no UV spectrum in blue and white LEDs. UV is essential to certain corals, especially for those shallow water species. I think most zoas and SPS in the wild grow in shallow water region and are directly exposed to intense sunlight. The UV light within can activates the biological mechnism in the corals to protect the corals from being "burned" by the intense sunlight. The most well-know mechanism is the reproduction of fluorescent proteins. The fluorescent proteins is the main origin of the colorful appearance of the corals. For example, for those growing SPS, one can often see purple or blue or green colors on the branch tips. They are believed to be the presentation of high intensity fluorescent proteins. These fluorescent proteins function as UV absorber to corals which can absorb UV light and transform the UV light into visible light. Therefore, some literature mentioned that corals, especially SPS, loss tip colors when they were kept under some lighting condition, and it was believed that the main cause if the lack of UV spectrum which might be resulted from light source or the light decay. Hence, I choose a LED light fixture with addition of UV LEDs and my corals seem to grow well under the light I choose.
I have solid blue zoas, they are not happy atm if i can get them going again, you are first in line for some.
The blues with flouro skirts are prolific growers, I will try to get them onto some frag plugs after they are settled in my new tank. I had a helicus variegatus snail decimate my zoa collection. I have a zoa colony that has been closed for 4 weeks. Its my favorite colony!!!!! arggghhhh Took me 3 months to find out what was going on.
If you ever want to kill zoas introduce one of these snails, don't ask me fo any ,they have no place in my tank.
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