ZOO EXPLOSION

[erikharrison]

I have often pondered about why these little uber nanos crank out zoos like there's no tomorrow. slmpknz shed what may be the only light that I haven't thought about on this subject. He runs without a skimmer. I ran without one for about 4 days now, and had to turn my skimmer back on to make me feel better. It skimmed like mad last night to say the least. What in the water would cause them to grow at such an explosive rate? I have 4 SUPER GREEN palys that have never really split or grown since I have gotten them. Since saturday I have noticed 2 new areas of substantial growth, which will be forming polyps probably in a week. Being I have a softie tank, running skimmerless doesn't really hurt any of my corals. Any ideas on this?

[cpreefguy]

I took my skimmer off and my tank looks better than ever. My SPS are brighter and more colorful, and my zoos/palys look better as well. Im not sure that it has effected the growth though

[junkstang]

It seems like you all didn't have all that high of a bio load. I run my 29g tank with an eclipse hood and filter pad thats it and my growth is pretty good.

[villjr]

erik you have a lot of fish though, correct. running skimmerless may not work. I have quite a few fish now and my skimmer was dirty and not operating correctly and I could see the effects of the skimmer not running properly. Once I cleaned the skimmer the change was noticeable in a couple hours.

[Ping]

I found your poll very funny.

I have read alot about skimmeless systems and the positive effects many have experienced. My "personal" worry is an increase of phosphates and other long term ramifications.

[Ping]

Oh, and Zoa's are a U.S. staple.

[erikharrison]

I found your poll very funny.

I have read alot about skimmeless systems and the positive effects many have experienced. My "personal" worry is an increase of phosphates and other long term ramifications.

That's why I turned my skimmer back on last night!

And like CPR said, all of my colors came on strong, other than the kenyas
Side note on this is that I noticed LATE last night that my anemone spilt! Now I have two "aNANOmones"

Ernest (villjr)
Yeah I have a pretty hefty bioload, and I feed alot because of F@7@55 and his eating habits (2 cubes per day).
I noticed alot of algae growth quickly on my glass (no cyano or anything) and I noticed that my kenya trees were lacking in some color, so I turned it back on.

[brewercm]

Sorry Erick. Had to do it even though I love zoos. ;)

[erikharrison]

LOL! you're funny Cliff! :P

[Texreefer]

i am the one dissenting vote. but before you pull out your pitchforks let me say that i agree to a point. zoos like more nutrient rich water and sps will color up more to an extent. but by no means in every case can you just remove or go skimmerless..good skimming and a more robust feeding schedule will accomplish the same thing IMO

[Texreefer]

"I have read alot about skimmeless systems and the positive effects many have experienced. My "personal" worry is an increase of phosphates and other long term ramifications."

not to mention PH problems..

[erikharrison]

well i was thinking about going 4 days per week w/out a skimmer, then 3 days on. The new cycle will start with a good carbon run for a day.

Josh you voted that I am dumb! you #$%#$%#% :P

[cpreefguy]

Good points. Im thinking about a Deltec for my tank now since I waaay overfeed to try and fatten the mandarin up (since I can not catch the little bugger!)
I have a feeling my water quality will go downhill if I dont do a waterchange soon and start skimming

[erikharrison]

I have gotten both of my mandarins to eat frozen, I have been uber fortunate!

[DaBird47]

good observations, keep us informed

[erikharrison]

I still can't believe my anemone split so quickly... They look rill nice

[DaBird47]

congrats Pappa...Here's a cigar...~

[Thunderkat]

I had some zoos that refused to grow, one night I came in and turned the lights on and found a sundial snail. I took it out and the zoos exploded with growth after that. Check your zoos for some badness, the pests are very very good at hiding.

[erikharrison]

::lights cigar:: what did you put in here! :P

[Ram_Puppy]

feeding zoas? last i heard there was no evidence that zoas ate (solids anyhow). palythoa yes... zoas no.

I have a skimmerless system and none of mine have taken off.. but i think that may be because the hiatt is TOO powerfull.

[slimpknz]

I'll explain what I told Erik and where I heard it from.

First off, my tank is not even a year old yet, so I am not an expert by any means.

I been doing alot of reading on nano reef and reef central (as well as MAAST) for a couple years, and that's where the info came from. Some of the people that are running the large prop systems are doing cycles with and without skimmers (and lighting changes for that matter). If I understand it correctly, the theory is that the stress caused by the changes in water and lighting is stimulating the growth.

I've also been following some threads where people are slicing and sticking PPEs with needles to stimulate growth.

I don't think anyone will have "THE" answer any time soon, it's all pretty much trial and error and a reactionary approach.

I have a 12 gallon tank that has no skimmer. I get decent to good growth on some Zoas / Palys, and I've had a couple small colonies that just disolved over time. So going skimmerless definitely doesn't solve all issues with growth (if it solves anything at all).

Anyway, glad something I said created the discussion. Lots of good information.

[erikharrison]

yep, it's been great talking to the nano guys, they seem to have great luck with zoo prop.

[BioCube14]

my zoos are doing great in my cube good... flow is all i need and my zoos multiply pretty regularly.

[erikharrison]

I am doing my second cycle of no skimmer. I ran my skimmer and carbon all weekend, and am going skimmerless for the week (hopefully!) I have seen three new heads growing from a zoa rock, I am doing 10 hour light cycles with my mh.

[Thunderkat]

One thing I noticed with my tank was that I had to empty the skimmer tray once a week, when I put xenia in there they grew like crazy. Week after week the skimmer produced less and and less until at one point the xenia had taken over almost half my tank and the skimmer stopped producing anything.

[erikharrison]

wow, lol d@mn xenia ;)

[villjr]

I've heard of people using xenia fuges. I'm going to experiment with it on my dad's tank. ;)

[erikharrison]

I've heard of people using xenia fuges. I'm going to experiment with it on my dad's tank. ;)

lol, poor dad :P

[erikharrison]

OK, well, what I have determined, in my extremely unofficial experimenting is that I am getting better results WITH a skimmer than without. I believe that my bioload is WAY too big to ever go skimmerless again. I have some green stardust palys that were doing horrible, and after a significant water change from a skimmerless cycle, they have started to open and color up again. I remembered this post, and figured that I would update....

[Bill S]

Xenia scares the heck out of me... When it dies off, it releases all of those toxins back into the water - and BOY does it tend to do a die-off.