where do you place your zoa/palys ????

[Greyson]

So im curious as to what people prefer as far as their placement of their zoas/palys. Most of the time we get frags on plugs, so where do you normally put your plugs?? sandbed ?? or do your mount the plugs to your LR. I'm a little unsure about putting zoas/plays on the mainrocks, i feel like if they start growing too much they will take over most of the rock work like gsp. So with that said would it be a better idea to keep them on the plugs and just keep them in your sandbed? would love to see pics of where you guys keep yours.

[james2369]

I start them in sandbed for a week or so then I place them were I like them without gluing them in another week or two if they like it there and are doing good then I glue them there's nothing to back up why I do it besides makeing sure every one plays nice and is happy if they take over to much then I take the rock out and frag them
I my self don't like leaving them on the frags

[Greyson]

Originally Posted by james2369

I start them in sandbed for a week or so then I place them were I like them without gluing them in another week or two if they like it there and are doing good then I glue them there's nothing to back up why I do it besides makeing sure every one plays nice and is happy if they take over to much then I take the rock out and frag them
I my self don't like leaving them on the frags

awesome.

in my case my whole rockwork is one piece, so it may be hard to frag them the way you do.

[james2369]

If you don't mind me asking how big is the rock pice
Mine in my 90gal are made up of 12 and some other fill in pice a total of 190lb of rock
But my 75 im setting up im not going to put any rock in it

[Greyson]

its about a 12 pound piece but, its just a pain in the @ss to pull out the whole piece .

[m0nkie]

I actually keep them on a frag and glue it onto the rock. When they grow into colonies, I cut that frag off. There will be some remaining on the LR to regrow. The frag I get to take out to trade, sell or frag more.

[c.rob]

+1 that mOnkie. I also tend to cut the middle out of large colonies when I need a frag. That way the colony can grow in the middle and not just the edges.

[Ryannn]

Originally Posted by Greyson

its about a 12 pound piece but, its just a pain in the @ss to pull out the whole piece .

Be careful about doing this, make sure you can get your rock out if you need to dip it. I just lost my whole rock from a fungus/bacterial infection I couldn't stop. Had I dipped it sooner, I think I would have been fine, but I thought I just had off parameters.

Just something to keep in mind for those pieces like that.

[Jrhunter0000]

As low as i can go watch polyp extension then raise them.

[650-IS350]

always start at bottom, to gradually move them higher ( to allow corals to acclimate properly to your lighting scheme. )

Good but not direct battering flow.

[reelredfish]

What about bare bottoms?

[650-IS350]

same, put them on bottom first then slowly move them up gradually

[Turbo4toy]

Originally Posted by 650-IS350

same, put them on bottom first then slowly move them up gradually

I keep most of them in my sand bed a a couple in my frag rack up higher. I always start them in the sand bed though.

[mrbnx]

I always end up putting stuff on racks, but my racks don't usually get full blasted with light. If it's something that I know is a lower light/flow specimen, I go sandbed.

[Piper27]

We put ours where we have space next to campitable polyps and let them go, we dont worry about fragging since we dont keep any of the ones that will spread like gsp. I dont keep frag racks unless i am changing something or adding new polyps. A zoa tank isnt a zoa tank if it has polyps on racks Thats a frag tank, seems to be more popular now. I miss seeing real tanks full of polyps

[35galSaltwater]

Originally Posted by Turbo4toy

I keep most of them in my sand bed a a couple in my frag rack up higher. I always start them in the sand bed though.

And what do you do about your hermit crabs messing with plugs?

[35galSaltwater]

May I also ask what fragging them means, do you have to break the life rock underneath the polyps in order to prevent overgrowth?

[ViktorVaughn]

Originally Posted by 35galSaltwater

And what do you do about your hermit crabs messing with plugs?

Just shake your head in frustration, nothing you can do about it. I've learned to accept my hermits antics and now just get amused with them. I have a huge Halloween hermit that will crawl across zoanthids and even use the ones on my rockwork as a grabbing point to continue his climb. The zoanthids look like they might not support him and close up but generally open back up after a minute or two.

[SirReefer]

I am stacking the squared tiles because the zoas are growing too fast. I don't like to put them on rocks because they take over the rock, I want to leave space for Sps and I don't have a sandbox so if I put them down they grow over the bottom glass.. Lol I don't know what else to do

[Mael]

I have had issues with turbo snails going over zoa frags, killed one by dragging it upside down on the rock. My stomatella smails like to climb the zoa stalks too but dont touch the heads.

I know it is wrong but it has seemed like zoa placement was color related, like red/orange/pink like higher light and green/blue lower, but it has gone both ways.

[AdamNC]

Originally Posted by Mael

I know it is wrong but it has seemed like zoa placement was color related, like red/orange/pink like higher light and green/blue lower, but it has gone both ways.

I have a Brown/Orange Zoas that seem to prefer being up at the top. While my Neon Green Zoas and Orange/Silver Zoas prefer to be in the middle.

All iPhone pics

These are the ones up top of the tank


And these are the ones in the middle of the tank


bad pic but you get the idea

[alejandro77]

i place them where they're happy and open up but like others say, start at the bottom then move them around eventually to find the "Magic Spot" for them.

[ReeferDale14]

I got annoyed with the hermits bugging my fresh cut zoa frags in the sand bed, so I got a frag rack and placed it high up the tank. They seem to be doing much better, probably due to better light and less irritation.

[vashawn]

I have them on my sand bed

[sandman4411]

+1 on sand bed or bb