question about zoas

[untoldlegacy]

i was wondering , seeing as zoathids are photosynthetic do they use nitrates? i was wondering because i know plants use nitrates in photosynthesis

[jojo22]

Zooanthids them selfs are not photosynthetic, it's the zooanthellia (sp) algae in them that uses light. I do not believe that they use trates but could very well be wrong on this one.

[clown-lover]

Zooanthids them selfs are not photosynthetic, it's the zooanthellia (sp) algae in them that uses light. I do not believe that they use trates but could very well be wrong on this one.

Ok so it is Zooanthid or Zoanthid? Or are they both species?

[Fishieness]

it is spelled zoanthid, but what people call them range from zoos to zoas to zoes to button polyps. lol

yes, the zooxanthellae in the corals will use nitrates, however, you arent going to be able to detect ANY lowering of nitrates by adding corals. some people have claimed that some large tridanca could in a small tank because they average about 10X more zooxanthellae than most corals per square inch. however, it really ISNT something you shoudl bet on, nor should you do to try to lower them. haha


so the awnser (cliff notes): do they used them? YES!
do they use enough to lower them or where you should always have some detected for healthy corals? NO!

[untoldlegacy]

thanks for your replies everyone :D i guess ill be doing more water changes to keep my trats down, i was hoping the zoa would do some work for me ;)

[Subliminal]

Get some macro algae growing in that sump of yours...it'll use up some of that nitrate in your tank!