Anyone here with a xenia garden?

[Horsey_Cat]

I have a 3 gallon pico, right now I have 

 

 - 3 species of xenia

 - Torch coral

 - Long tentacle plate coral

 - GSP

 

 

I am completely entranced by the xenia, and really wouldn't mind if it just took over. If need be if wouldn't be hard for me to cut some back. Since Ive got my xenia is has grown substantially, but in the past few weeks Im not sure I notice any more growth. When reading about xenia you always hear they like "dirty" high nutrient water. So what exactly are these so called "nutrients"?

 

I understand if I do an 80% water change weekly Im removing a lot of nutrients by doing so. But what are they, its not referring to nitrates is it?

 

 

Anyways, I was just hoping anyone who might have a tank dedicated to xenia if you can tell me if you do anything special to make it grow, and if you dose anything. I heard xenia reacts positively to dosing iodine

 

 

Thanks

[vlangel]

2 minutes ago, Horsey_Cat said:

I have a 3 gallon pico, right now I have 

 

 - 3 species of xenia

 - Torch coral

 - Long tentacle plate coral

 - GSP

 

 

I am completely entranced by the xenia, and really wouldn't mind if it just took over. If need be if wouldn't be hard for me to cut some back. Since Ive got my xenia is has grown substantially, but in the past few weeks Im not sure I notice any more growth. When reading about xenia you always hear they like "dirty" high nutrient water. So what exactly are these so called "nutrients"?

 

I understand if I do an 80% water change weekly Im removing a lot of nutrients by doing so. But what are they, its not referring to nitrates is it?

 

 

Anyways, I was just hoping anyone who might have a tank dedicated to xenia if you can tell me if you do anything special to make it grow, and if you dose anything. I heard xenia reacts positively to dosing iodine

 

 

Thanks

Hi horsey_cat!  I do not have a xenia garden but I also like them a lot.  Unfortunately I never had very much luck with them in the past.  I decided that perhaps my tanks were too low nutrient for their liking.

 

Then about a year ago RIP sebastion gave me some of his.  I had my doubts about how they would do since I always killed them before but to my amazement they still look good.  They have not spread like crazy but they definitely have not melted away like previous xenias.  What I have decided is that they like the oil residue that comes off the mysis when I feed my seahorses.  My gorgs and sponges are also doing well.  My nitrates are 0 because I do 21 - 25 gallon a week WC on my 56 gallon seahorse tank.  Seahorses need very high water quality to thrive.  I suspect even with the oversized skimmer and macro algaes that my coral get a good feeding while the ponies are eating.  I may even try some more zoas which was another coral that I had trouble with in the past but now the few I have are doing well.

 

All that to say maybe feed them more.  Your water changes may be starving them a bit.

[Horsey_Cat]

2 minutes ago, vlangel said:

Hi horsey_cat!  I do not have a xenia garden but I also like them a lot.  Unfortunately I never had very much luck with them in the past.  I decided that perhaps my tanks were too low nutrient for their liking.

 

Then about a year ago RIP sebastion gave me some of his.  I had my doubts about how they would do since I always killed them before but to my amazement they still look good.  They have not spread like crazy but they definitely have not melted away like previous xenias.  What I have decided is that they like the oil residue that comes off the mysis when I feed my seahorses.  My gorgs and sponges are also doing well.  My nitrates are 0 because I do 21 - 25 gallon a week WC on my 56 gallon seahorse tank.  Seahorses need very high water quality to thrive.  I suspect even with the oversized skimmer and macro algaes that my coral get a good feeding while the ponies are eating.  I may even try some more zoas which was another coral that I had trouble with in the past but now the few I have are doing well.

 

All that to say maybe feed them more.  Your water changes may be starving them a bit.

Thanks for the advice. Before doing those big water changes I feed mysis shrimp along with coral frenzy and reef roids. I will say yesterday I did a big feeding ( a bit more coral frenzy and a bit more reef roids than usual) and I let it sit in the tank for about an hour with my filter turned off. Today my xenia is looking very nice.

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, Horsey_Cat said:

Thanks for the advice. Before doing those big water changes I feed mysis shrimp along with coral frenzy and reef roids. I will say yesterday I did a big feeding ( a bit more coral frenzy and a bit more reef roids than usual) and I let it sit in the tank for about an hour with my filter turned off. Today my xenia is looking very nice.

Well, if that seemed to have a positive effect, maybe do that a couple Xs a week and see if they don't start growing again.

[Subsea]

At some point, I would consider a display refugium with xenia and gsp.  Happy reefing.

[Clown79]

I have xenia.

 

In my 10g I prune them every few weeks. They grow very fast.

In my 15g they have grown at a slower pace.

 

I have noticed that they grow and then slow down, then spread again.

 

They don't like dirty water. Some nutrients in the tank is beneficial but you don't need high nitrates for xenia.

 

They like flow and light.

 

If the torch is close to them, it make be stinging them.

[Lugmos12]

I have two batches of xenia. The one in the picture below has really grown over the past 1.5 months. I don’t diss anything; just do weekly 3 gallon water changes. 

 

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

So does pruning it keep it at bay?  

[Lugmos12]

Just now, TILTON said:

So does pruning it keep it at bay?  

I don’t prune it because it want it to take cover the entire rock. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

1 minute ago, Lugmos12 said:

I don’t prune it because it want it to take cover the entire rock. 

I set up a 5 gallon softy tank.  I want some Xenia but not like this.  ?

 

[Clown79]

18 minutes ago, TILTON said:

I set up a 5 gallon softy tank.  I want some Xenia but not like this.  ?

 

Ya it's easy. You can use a straight razor or scissors to remove it.

 

[Horsey_Cat]

21 minutes ago, TILTON said:

I set up a 5 gallon softy tank.  I want some Xenia but not like this.  ?

 

Wow, that would be amazing

[Thrassian Atoll]

21 minutes ago, Horsey_Cat said:

Wow, that would be amazing

 

It's pretty cool, but if you don't want anything else...I actually think there are other photos out there where it's filled the entire tank completely.  

24 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Ya it's easy. You can use a straight razor or scissors to remove it.

 

 

Thanks!  Do you just cut the stalks or pick it off of the rocks?

[Subsea]

6 hours ago, Lugmos12 said:

I have two batches of xenia. The one in the picture below has really grown over the past 1.5 months. I don’t diss anything; just do weekly 3 gallon water changes. 

 

 

What a gorgeous picture!  In my early days, I had a 5' wide tank with the back wall completely covered with Red Sea Silver Xenia.  I have not found any since the mid 80''s.  Looks like you have that same Xenia.  Very nice. 

[Lugmos12]

5 hours ago, TILTON said:

I set up a 5 gallon softy tank.  I want some Xenia but not like this.  ?

 

that is beautiful! wow

[Clown79]

7 hours ago, TILTON said:

 

It's pretty cool, but if you don't want anything else...I actually think there are other photos out there where it's filled the entire tank completely.  

 

Thanks!  Do you just cut the stalks or pick it off of the rocks?

I've done both.

I've pulled pieces right off with my tweezers or I  trim back the ones I want to keep but  are spreading too far.

 

I like xenia on the back glass. It look pretty and it's really easy to remove from glass.

[Thrassian Atoll]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

I've done both.

I've pulled pieces right off with my tweezers or I  trim back the ones I want to keep but  are spreading too far.

 

I like xenia on the back glass. It look pretty and it's really easy to remove from glass.

 

Might do gsp on the back wall.  I like the way that looks too.

[Clown79]

16 minutes ago, TILTON said:

 

Might do gsp on the back wall.  I like the way that looks too.

I have that on my 10g back wall. It's pretty.

[Thrassian Atoll]

2 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I have that on my 10g back wall. It's pretty.

Nice!

[Lugmos12]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

I have that on my 10g back wall. It's pretty.

the asterina!!! 

 

i almost added a red star to my tank today 

[Clown79]

57 minutes ago, Lugmos12 said:

the asterina!!! 

 

i almost added a red star to my tank today 

I have a ton of asterisk. I have to get rid of them or they will take over.lol

[Lula_Mae]

There is a tank on here that is predominantly xenia but I can't remember who it belongs to lol.

[Lugmos12]

18 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I have a ton of asterisk. I have to get rid of them or they will take over.lol

do you ship them? I love them. I saw one in my tank like 2 months ago and haven’t seen it since

[Clown79]

I'm in cda so shipping to US would require special licenses. 

 

Once you have a few, they multiply - a lot.

[ChristiansNano]

Mine is growing good.. 

 

I dont do anything but clean the glass and the skimmer.. 

 

My last water change was a year ago.

Did weekly when the tank was young, but after å year i started just testing monthly... and as long ås it's all good i dont do anything.

 

I feed two times å day with artemia and mysis.