Filtration Via Xenia

[chris818]

just to chime in with what little info I have. I've had a 60 gallon that was running on overskimming and after some elogata decided to take off in the tank and occupied about a quarter to third of the tank the skimmate in the collection cup of my skimmer decreased dramatically daily. It got to a point that I turned off the skimmer to save electricity. I currently run a 12g with a chaeto fuge and a xenia bed filter. I love it. Xenia crashes don't seem to happen as much anymore with the domestication of the species over the last ten years and with constant and regular pruning that I don't think a xenia crash is as much of an issue as it was before. I'm currently planning a 200g tank based around a skimmerless "animal" and "veggie" scrubber refugium with elongata and various macro's including chaeto.

[SPS20]

I've never had an issue with Xenia crashing. Personally, I think the trick is harvesting excess growth regularly, staying up on water changes, and iodine supplementation.

 

Once in my old 120 the giant field of Xenia (1/3 of the tank) suddenly stopped growing and pulsing en masse, so I did a large water change. It bounced back within a few days. That's the closest I have ever come to a crash.

[barrman]

That doesn't necessarily mean xenia removes as much DOM as caulerpa - it doesn't grow as fast, so it wouldn't be harvested as often, so the organic materials stay in the tank. On that note, I wouldn't use caulerpa for nutrient export either, would make me nervous.

 

i'm not sure why... but people seem to get very hung up on this.

 

you don't have to HARVEST xenia/caulerpa/chaeto to "export" the nutrients. as chaeto/caulerpa/xenia/etc grows, it obviously pulls nutrients from the water, but it doesnt pull them out, use them, then release them back into the water. once theyre utilized by the xenia or macroalgae, theyre no longer free-floating nutrients... theyre essentially 'locked' into whatever used them.

 

not only do macroalgae/xenia/etc need nutrients to grow... they also need nutrients just to live and maintain their tissues, so removing large amounts to 'export' nutrients would actually lower the effectiveness of the nutrient export method, as you'd be reducing the amount of xenia/macroalgae thats actually pulling nutrients from the water.

 

the only reason for harvesting the macroalgae/xenia should be freeing up space for more to grow.

 

the only way that the nutrients removed by the above methods could end up leeching back into the tank is if the macroalgae/xenia actually starts dying and rotting in the tank. as it decomposes, dissolved organics would then be released back into the water.

 

basically, as long as your macroalgae/xenia/etc is alive, it's effectively exporting nutrients.

[jeremai]

Nutrients are not removed from the system until the exporter is physically removed. If you leave the caulerpa (or other algae, or xenia) in the tank, the nutrients have not been removed, just bound in a different form. If they are still in the system, there is a chance they can be released, like you said, through decay. So yes, you do have to harvest it in order to export the nutrients. The problem some people have had has been with caulerpa going sexual, and there are fears of xenia crashing unexpectedly. Fortunately, I think both those fears are unfounded now.

[chris818]

for me it seems that the harvesting of chaeto or xenia and the "trapping" of nutrients are almost a non issue. The nutrients are trapped in the scrubber and does not release back into the water column as long as the life is alive. The harvesting does not in itself remove nutrients from teh column but is removed with the animal or algae. The pruning back or harvesting does in my opinion help as it seems to create a growth spurt immediately afterwards and in such also is more aggressive in sucking up a higher rate of nutrients than before the pruning back. But thats just me.

[SPS20]

The reason "harvesting" is so important is twofold:

 

1. Nutrients accumulate in the tissues of the organism (be it Xenia or Caulerpa) and unless you remove some, they are still in the system, no matter how you slice it. There is still a bioload issue to contend with, so you can't just let it accumulate forever. (not to mention a space issue)

 

2. The likelyhood of a crash, in the cases of both Xenia and Caulerpa, is reduced significantly, IME, by thinning and trimming the growth. Both species can and will choke themselves out, if left unchecked.

 

That's just my .02 on the issue of harvesting.

 

- Josh

[Apache]

can you do the same thing with zoos as you can wityh xenia?

[strangelove]

I placed some Pulsing Zenia in a breeder container and placed it in my refugium. They have been in there for a month now and have been growing under Halogen lights fairly well. Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Phosphate 0.5. Zenia is pulsing and spliting and is populating the breeder container. It get 24 hour light in the fuge.

[eklikewhoa]

My tank is full of pulsing and pompom xenia....tank runs great and no detectable NO3 but there's a fuge out back and weekly water changes.

 

 

I have a big patch of blue anthelia, does that do the same thing?

[coolwaters]

lol the only things my xenia removes are calcium and food...

[neanderthalman]

How does xenia remove food? They're one of only a few corals that have absolutely no mechanism for feeding.

 

Dissolved nutrients, yes.

[holdorf333]

I think a similar idea was tried with aiptasia.

 

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