Need help with some pulsing xenia

[mane3215]

I ordered the ipsf.com 9 for 9 package, and ran out of things to get. I figured I would go ahead and add some anthelia polyps (could use help with these too). Well I received my order yesterday AM, and am very pleased with everything. I put the anthelia in my tank and noticed that I had a frag of pulsing xenia attached to it. I love this stuff, its so neat watching it pulse.

 

 

Anyway, I did some searching and cant find any real info on it. What do I do to make this guy happy. I need to buy some gel super glue to get the frags attatched but for now I have them just sitting in my tank. I want happy little polyps and xenia, so please give me some pointers.

 

 

Thanks.

[SaltyDawg]

1st: DO NOT SUPER GLUE THE XENIA

use a ruber band and wrap it to a rock. It will atatch in like less then two days. If you use super glue it would be like trying to super glue a shroom. It would die rot away.

Anthelia and xenia are the same as far as care. medium-high lighting and medium current with phyto plankton feedings and iodine supplements.

[surfy]

Keep xenia in low to med. flow and brighter the light the better.

They also need a good amount of iodine in the water so do weekly water changes with a good salt or you can use an iodine supplement.

I do weekly small water changes and add an iodine supplement once a week to my larger aquarium that has the xenia in it.

DON'T put the xenia on your main rockwork unless you want a tank full of it, they grow really fast under the right conditions. I have mine on two small rocks so I can move them if they start branching. When they start to split I put a small rock right next to it so that it touches the xenia and the new split will move to that rock. After about a week I usually have to cut between the middle of the two with a razorblade to completely seperate them.

I have read that xenia will crash if you don't frag them and if iodine gets too low.

I have had good results with xenia so I would have to say that they are a pretty hardy coral to keep.

Hope this helps any.

[caja]

Anthelia is like a weed too, and will attach to the rocks. I suggest keeping the anthelia confined to the sand bed. It's easy to pick up the mat and chop off frags. It likes a gentle current and moderate light. Awesome coral by the way!

[mane3215]

Thanks a lot guys, you save me again. Ok, no super glue =). This is my prob, the little frag came on a tiny rock, probably too small for me to get a rubber band around.

 

Problem two, I only have my main rock, and no small pieces. Should I go to the lfs today and grab a couple small pieces? I really would love to setup a refugium to put this stuff and extra stuff. I have 12 pounds of lr int he 7 now, so I think I am coming close to pushing the limits. I dont want to adda piece of lr everytime I add coral I think it will begin to look overcrowded. Any ideas?

 

The sand bed is a cool idea, can I just place it in the sand bed?

 

Also I do weekly 1 gallon water changes with instant ocean salt, is that a good enough slat or should I change?

 

Salty dog:

 

You refer to phyto plankton, do I buy this stuff? How often to I feed if so? Do you guys think iodine supplement should be purchased, or the weekly instant ocean 1g water changes are enough?

 

 

Sorry for all the questions, this is an awesome coral just dont want to kill it.

 

Here are some pics:

 

 

[zizmans]

Do what surfy said.

[surfy]

For now you can get away with the weekly water changes and no iodine supplement since you don't have alot of corals. The more corals you get the more iodine, vitamins and other minerals they consume.

That small rock the xenia is on will be fine for awhile. I had a piece of xenia on my sand bed in my 7g for a while until I gave it away.

If you do that don't let it touch the other rocks for too long, it will attach itself in a few hours to whatever it comes into contact with.

Since it is such a small tank I really don't think you will need any supplements for your corals as long as you change a gallon of saltwater each week.

[mane3215]

OK, I just got back from the lfs and picked up 1lb of little pieces of lr for coral frags for a while. I came home and rubberbanded the frag to the rock, is there a way to know when I can take that nasty looking rubberband off the frag?

 

 

Also you guys rec. phytoplankton, I picked up some MarineSnow, is that what you were talking about? Thats what the lfs dude said I should get.

 

 

Thanks a lot.

[caja]

As surfy said, xenia attaches pretty quickly. Leave the band on for a day or two then check it.

[Crakeur]

if you put anthelia on the sand bed, remember to remove the new growth regularly. You don't want the mat covering the whole bed. I would imagine it wouldn't be good for the critters in the sand to be covered by a huge mat of anthelia. Another nice place for the anthelia or the xenia is the glass. If you place the xenia near the glass and it grows up the glass, it is easy to remove (razor blade). Then you can slice off colonies and trade them into the lfs or swap them with other reefers. Same with the anthelia

 

 

Plus, a flowing wall of xenia, anthelia (or gsp) looks awesome.

[mane3215]

Thanks guys, Crakeur, thats an awesome idea, I am going to put the rock as close to the glass as possible I would love to have the xenia grow up the glass!