Xenia Garden

[Narzyzz_12]

 

 

Display: 20 Gallon Long 30.3" x 12.5" x 12.8"
Lighting: Aruba Sun Dual 39W T5s 

Filtration: AquaClear 30
Filter Media: Seachem Matrix 
Heater: Cobalt Aquatics Neotherm 100w
Circulation: Jeboa PP-4
ATO: Manual Top off

GFO Reactor: Innovative Marine AquaGadget Minimax All-In-One Media Reactor

Maintenance Routine

I'm doing about a 5g water change over the span of a month and replace the GFO as needed

Feeding Schedule

On a typical day the aquarium gets feed 2-3 times per day depending on the my availability, I will drop a pinch of New Life Spectrum pellets or thaw out some frozen treats.Also sometimes I broadcast feed a couple mL of live phytoplankton,oysterfeast,rotifers and ReefRoids.

Fish

2 Green Chromis, 3Pj Cardinals,Pygmy Angel(he doesn't nip on any coral),Raniford Goby, and last but not least a tiny Scooter Blenny.

SPS Coral

There's a couple frags of green,purple,and orange plating montipora caps.

LPS Coral

I have a single Torch head and a small Kryptonite Candycanes.

Soft Coral

A ton of pulsating xenia,assorted mushrooms and a zoa collection.Last time I counted how the different varieties of zoas were in the tank I stopped at 6 unknown and 12 named polyps( Purple People Eater,Blue Hornets,Gatorades,Eagle Eyes,Scrambbled Eggs,Solar Flare,Gorilla Nips,Blue Eyed B*^%,Devils Armor,WWC Mumbo Jumbo's,LA Lakers and WWC Green Apple Something.In addition to those theres a health amount of GSP growing in the back wall and on of the rocks.

Invertebrates

Lettuce nudibranch,an Arrow crab,10 red leg hermits and 6 assorted snails

History & Goals

In its past life this 20L was originally a freshwater tank,but due to an ick outbreak i decided to start from scratch and repurpose it as a Xenia Specific system, but as you've read I couldn't resist and added frags from my other tanks as well as a couple zoanthids.The idea behind this tank was to create an aquarium that was both visually aesthetic but easy to maintain.I let the Xenia do its thing and I have almost no nutrient control issues, I've actually started dosing KNO3 to get it readable levels since some Zoas have lost a bit of color.

Future Plans

Just to let all the corals grow to the point where every open surface is covered.

 

[HIppieRose]

I may of missed it somewhere but how long has this tank been up?

[Narzyzz_12]

46 minutes ago, HIppieRose said:

I may of missed it somewhere but how long has this tank been up?

It has been wet since late October 2016.

[Narzyzz_12]

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[Narzyzz_12]

Can't remember if this are the Devil Armor or something similar 

Gatorade Zoas are soon going to the backwall

Some of my all-time favs the one and only Blue Hornets

Let's not forget about the WWC Mumbo Jumbo these polyps are hot too!

And here's a old snap of the elusive Randiford Goby

[Figster]

Xenia garden or it just took over lol. I love pulsing xenia, mine just pulse like mad during the day, but in like 3 months I have to trim about 1/2 of it out because it grows so much. 

[Narzyzz_12]

Haha nah I actually transfer a couple stocks per week from my other tank(xenia control) to this one.That's what I love about it, how easily it grows and the constant hypnotic pulsing.

[Figster]

Guess you can view it as nutrient export in way, who needs cheato when you have pulsing xenia lol. I can't find enough ppl to give it away, and I gave so much to the lfs that they didn't want anymore.

[Narzyzz_12]

On March 16, 2017 at 10:41 PM, Figster said:

Guess you can view it as nutrient export in way, who needs cheato when you have pulsing xenia lol. I can't find enough ppl to give it away, and I gave so much to the lfs that they didn't want anymore.

True lol, as of now my NO3 and PO4 are untraceable even though the system gets feed heavily.Before this tank was set up I would just dump it since it was begining to spread in my biocube.I read somewhere that back in the day some peeps keep refugiums full of xenia.

[Narzyzz_12]

Does anyone else think their crabs are super Kawaii? Or is it just me lol. Anyways heres a quick photo update on the Xenia Garden and some zoas.

[Narzyzz_12]

[cnseekatz]

Love the idea of a xenia system. Reef keepers usually shy away from the stuff because it tends to go nuts. I originally had a refugium with xenia, and I loved it as much as my display! Good luck keeping other stuff in there!

 

 

[jiff312]

I love pulsing Xenia 

[Narzyzz_12]

9 hours ago, cnseekatz said:

Love the idea of a xenia system. Reef keepers usually shy away from the stuff because it tends to go nuts. I originally had a refugium with xenia, and I loved it as much as my display! Good luck keeping other stuff in there!

 

 

Thanks Chris,true Xenia has earned a bad rep nowadays.Oh how the times have changed, who would've thought that a prized coral from the early days would become a pest to most.How did the xenia huge work for you?

9 hours ago, jiff312 said:

I love pulsing Xenia 

Same here bro, looking at it from the up top is just mind blowing

[cnseekatz]

12 hours ago, Narzyzz_12 said:

Thanks Chris,true Xenia has earned a bad rep nowadays.Oh how the times have changed, who would've thought that a prized coral from the early days would become a pest to most.How did the xenia huge work for you?

 

It's really tough to gauge the effectiveness of a nutrient export media (in my opinion). I know it was sucking stuff out of the water because it was growing like crazy. When you reach a certain mass, it's really quite beautiful. 

 

One word of warning though. If something kills it, it does release toxins into the water. The stuff is practically bullet-proof, but not entirely. I had my MP10 controller unseat itself from the wall and into my sump. Surprisingly, the electricity didn't kill everything in my tank... but it did kill my xenia garden... which pretty much nuked everything else over then next 24 hours. So while we create fail-safe after fail-safe, just remember that if something catastrophic does happen, like electrocution (as a totally random example), and xenia starts dying, I would be prepared to remove as much of it from the tank as possible ASAP. Though if it's primarily xenia in the tank, then I guess it probably wouldn't matter much at that point anyway!

[Narzyzz_12]

9 hours ago, cnseekatz said:

 

It's really tough to gauge the effectiveness of a nutrient export media (in my opinion). I know it was sucking stuff out of the water because it was growing like crazy. When you reach a certain mass, it's really quite beautiful. 

 

One word of warning though. If something kills it, it does release toxins into the water. The stuff is practically bullet-proof, but not entirely. I had my MP10 controller unseat itself from the wall and into my sump. Surprisingly, the electricity didn't kill everything in my tank... but it did kill my xenia garden... which pretty much nuked everything else over then next 24 hours. So while we create fail-safe after fail-safe, just remember that if something catastrophic does happen, like electrocution (as a totally random example), and xenia starts dying, I would be prepared to remove as much of it from the tank as possible ASAP. Though if it's primarily xenia in the tank, then I guess it probably wouldn't matter much at that point anyway!

Oh man that's a scary thought, having to deal with an electrocution event.Were the fish unaffected?Thanks for the tip if anything like that ever happened I'll be sure to run Carbon as well as doing  a couple massive WC.

 

[yungKitten]

Ever since I first encountered Pulsing Xenia I've wanted to set up a system like this. I'm in the process of setting up a mixed reef at the moment but I'm fairly certain this will be my next endeavor. Glad to see I'm not the only one with mentality. Post more pictures! and a video if you can. :] 

Also the Cowboy Bebop sig is hella tight.

[Narzyzz_12]

On March 24, 2017 at 8:07 PM, yungKitten said:

Ever since I first encountered Pulsing Xenia I've wanted to set up a system like this. I'm in the process of setting up a mixed reef at the moment but I'm fairly certain this will be my next endeavor. Glad to see I'm not the only one with mentality. Post more pictures! and a video if you can. :] 

Also the Cowboy Bebop sig is hella tight.

Thanks for the kind words, xenia rocks that's for sure.It's just one of those corals that captures everyones attention, even the layman can appreciate their beauty and elegance.I'll be looking forward to your xenia forest.Cowboy Bebop is one of my favs too,gotta rematch the series again someday.

 

 

[Narzyzz_12]

Click play and be swept away by the rhythmic pulse.

 

[Narzyzz_12]

Where are the zoa freaks at?

[Narzyzz_12]

Well it been a while since the last update on thread so what better way to kick it off than with a brand spanking new FTS and a couple zoas close ups.

[cnseekatz]

Wow! Cool!

 

Those zoas are like, "Help me!"

[Narzyzz_12]

lol they're screaming for there lives 

[Lula_Mae]

Nice! Love pulsing xenia.  My little frag melted when I moved.

[cnseekatz]

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

Nice! Love pulsing xenia.  My little frag melted when I moved.

 

I've always had some in my display or refugium, but the stuff DOES NOT travel well. I tried to ship some once and it melted overnight. I think they release toxins when they're stressed, and if they're in a little baggie, they just rot in it.