I have a pulsing xenia thats been in my tank for a week. Its seems to be doing really well for the most part. it pulses a lot all day. My question is ... is it normal for it to close up in the evening? every night at 6:30 it has closed up until I turn off the bright lights. then after about a half hour under the actinics it opens up and pulses again. Is this normal or a cause for concern? Should I just adjust my lights to turn off at 6:30?

The tank is a 29g biocube. the xenia is located at the highest point in the tank. There are pics on my build thread (link in my siggy).

Toss it on the bottom and let it crawl up to the light, as long as you don't mind having it everywhere. It really doesn't need alot of light but for some reason it grows toward it most of the time.

It closes at night. Pulsing is mildly random in most varieties (some have obverses a connection to ph- i haven't).

It pulses where there's a lack of aeration. It shouldn't be pumping like crazy because it's an indication that your corals aren't getting sufficient gas exchange either.

Just turn all your water circulation off and watch the xenia start pumping like crazy.

I disagree that it pulses because of lack of aeration. It may be more noticeable when there's little to no flow, but I've had mine for a little over a week and I've seen it pulse when I've got my Vortech down to 50% and all the way up to 90%. Nobody seems to really know why it pulses, although there has been some anecdotal correlation made with ph, etc.

But it's a softie and many softies close up in the evening for a bit. Mine does the same every so often esp after lights off, but I'll check back 20 minutes to an hour later and it's open again. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

totaly normal yes. Mine do it from time to time even during the middle of the day and it is perfectly healthy and even splitting now in 2 heads.

Pumping has NOTHING to do with lack of oxygen! not one bit. I have both pumping and non pumping xenia in my tank and both are doing great and growing like weeds. My water is very well oxygenated.

Some xenia pump and some not. All have the potential to pump but some specie do it all the time and really strong.