Coral Not Opening Completely

[Jkeating8]

What's up, RC-

I've had a slight problem recently with my Zoas not opening completely when in direct light. They're not losing color or bleaching, but just won't open completely. I thought maybe it was too much flow, so I turned that down. That wasn't it. Maybe a nutrient problem even though I have little to no algae? Nope. Then the other day I saw a frag of Zoas under a rock that were completely open and growing only in partial light. This led me to believe that maybe too much light is causing them to stay closed a little bit. Here's some specs:

Light: Radion
Nutrients/Levels: No3- 1ppm, Po4 .04, Alk- 9.5, Calc 400, Mag 1350.

Even my GSP won't completely open. I should also add all the livestock was fragged from my previous tank. I switched livestock over about a month ago or so. Most of the stuff was fragged. Any thoughts?

[AdamNC]

Certain zoas will like high and some low. I have a brown/orange zoa colony that is sitting up top with some acros and are fully opened. And then I have a green/yellow and an orange/silver colonies sitting about mid level and are fully opened. Doubtful but quite possible they are still aclimating or something is irritating them. Are the chemical levels and lighting the same as they were in the other tank?

[Enseye85]

Are all the zoas closing up rather uniformly, almost like they're squinting? If this is the case, it is very possible that they are seeing too much light. I've had some that are very temperamental about intense lighting. If there are small patches on the colony that are closed, bu others are open, there could be a pest (nudibranchs) present. I'd drop them to the sandbed for a while and see if the condition improves. Your nutrients aren't at a level that would be harmful. Sometimes, GSP will stay closed if there's algae of excess detritus on their stolon mat. They'll close in an effort to let the current clean them off.

[benjho]

Zoas/palys don't work me as well...