Took Skimmer offline.

#1
I turned my Huge Vertex Omega 130 in a ADHI 25 gallon sump. My DT is a 25 cube... Getting crazy Red and green Macro growth. I use a Filter sock. My PO4 and Nitrates are incredibly low to non existent. No carbon or any kind of media. So long story short. Zoas are beautiful, been dipped in both Coral RX and an iodine dip to eliminate that angle. Small, what Id consider insignificant pests fell off. Small bristles and such. Zoas not "melting" as others have described, but just partial to not opening as once before. Params as of 2pm today are as follows.
1.025 sg
0 PO4
0 nitrates
Ca.495
Alk. 10 dkh
Mag 1490

Am i on the right path?. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes and as mentioned before getting good skim mate and really clean water. So, with the Chaeto, red dragon's tounge and culerpa in the sump that alone is sufficient for nutrient control and skimmer... Overkill. Needing some trace of nitrates and PO4 I have read is better for a predominantly softie tank with an elegance coral, acans, and Duncans doing extremely well but zoas not opening. Keep in mind, they did fully for over a month after getting them. I only have 3 fish, a breeding pink skunk clowns and a type of long, eel like goby. I do feed 2 times a day, only the best assorted foods which they all eat voraciously, mixed with assorted micro foods like Coral Frenzy and reef roids. I have vacummed around the zoa colonies and removed a few Spagehtti worms but thats it.
Keep in mind I do have a 6 year old 29 gallon softie tank that is incredible and a Bare bottom. The 25 cube is 1 year this week.


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zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
Another option is to make the skimmer run super dry and/or reduce the frequency and amount of water changes. You want both PO4 and nitrate to be detectable but you need a good test kit like red sea, salifert, etc. I have personally found the best balance of limited algae in the display and best growth when nitrates are 1-2 ppm and PO4 is 0.04-0.08 ppm.

Your water params probably have nothing to do with zoas not opening. That is almost always due to flow they don't like, incorrect lighting, pests (make sure you don't have spiders. Dips don't always catch those since they go inside and are "protected" by the zoa), or fish picking on or around them (I have had it happen when my clowns thought zoas made good anemones).

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