jjharrisx4 Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Hey all....I've got a 15g tall tank with about 25lbs Lr, 1 1/2" sand bed, 2x36w PC and 1x15w NO lights. I've got about 200 g/h circulation on multiple vectors. The problem is I can't seem to keep xenia in this tank. I've tried several types, and it seems to do good for a while and then it just lets go of the rock it's on and floats around, or melts down. My h2o params are pretty good: no2 = 0 no3 = 0 ph = 8.4 alk = 14 dKh CA = 400 +/- sg = 1.024 temp = 80 My other tank is similar in water quality, but xenia seems to do ok there. What gives? Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 not that my experience with xenia is much better (far worse actually) but lately since i've started to use lugol's iodine my xenia are recovering body mass. i've traumatized them quite a bit tho. X) just curious, does your other tank hold significantly more LR/LS and/or fish? is the lighting the same (equivalent)? Link to comment
jjharrisx4 Posted January 15, 2003 Author Share Posted January 15, 2003 My other tank is a 50 gal so it does have a lot more LR (about 75 lbs) and more lighting (5x55w PC). I have not been adding any iodine (except from salt mix) so maybe I'm low. One thing I've noticed is that the pulsing xenia that I had doesn't really pulse any more. Where does it end????? Link to comment
HuBu Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 lugol's solution is good for xenia, but use it in moderation since it messes with your shrimps molting cycle and overdosing iodine is the last thing you would want to do. i have lost 2 cleaners to lugols solution. from experience, i have great result with xenias. they grew like weed in my 10 gal nano with 36W PCs. the person that sold me the frag of xenia had told me that xenias tend to do great in some tanks and die in others, even when they have basically the same parameters and stock. i had given someone ont his forum a frag of my xenia, i dont remember who. i think it was satmacho, whom i gave it to. try putting the xenia in a stronger current. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 get a small frag from satchmo, his xenia is not only the hardiest strain I have ever seen ( I say strain because it spreads like a frickin virus) but it grows and pulses like crazy. Link to comment
JPF Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 I have creeping pink xenia from GARF. I use Reef Complete & Reef Plus 2X a week with a 25% water change every other week. My xenia spreads quite well. If it sticks to something it will spread. My lighting is 2 32 w pc smartlights on a 20L and a pair of 65w PC w a 32w PC on a 28 bowfront. Both tanks managed identically. My capnella spreads even faster than the xenia. Stuff self frags, drifts around and shoots up like bamboo. I will have to start trading it to the LFS soon. The Iodine in reef plus seems to be vital to xenia according to GARF. In a year of "capful" dosing all has been well. Knock on wood. Hope you can figure it out. Xenia is way too cool. Back in the 70's when I was in grade school trying to keep just fish alive things like xenia were unheard of. My son's present simple tank is better than anything that anyone in the world was maintaining back then. What a great hobby! Link to comment
smfyr241 Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 Since you are on the topic of Xen. I would like to start adding corals in my 12 gal. I have 3 fish 1 emerald crab 1 shrimp 1 feather duster. I purchased a electric eye scallop but it died 4 days after i bought it. I am very religious about water changes! 2 gal. every Sat. I dont know why it died. I would like some educated opinions on harty corals. I am not a chemist so I shy away from water testing. The water I use for my changes comes from my LFS. They test it in front of me so I know its ok. I have heard numerous ideas about different corals. Bottom Line: I want the hardiest of corals only! I have 25 lbs. live rock, stock wet dry (bio wheel / eclipse) for filtration. I also run a zoo med powerhead without the sponge fiter attachment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment
Spencerx Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 what kind of lighting?? IME you cant kill mushrooms and they spread like crazy. Also gsp and button polyps. it all depends on ur lighting though.... Link to comment
smfyr241 Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 Sorry forgot to mention that. I replaced the stock light with a 32 watt smart light 50/50.(10,000 day/ actenic) Link to comment
Inpha Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 I dunno, i have had bad luck with green striped mushrooms... but thats another story. My xenia is doing great in my 10 with 2x36... are you running a protein skimmer... xenia is known for doing good in nutrient rich waters...mine seem to like lower current... ie. no direct current. Do some research before you use iodine... iodine seems to be a controvercial subject. Link to comment
jjharrisx4 Posted January 17, 2003 Author Share Posted January 17, 2003 Hey all...thanks for all the input. It's funny...one of my pieces of pulsing xenia fell into a powerhead and got chopped all to heck. Now I'm seeing pieces popping up all over my sandbed. The funny thing is that this is the tank that the xenia isn't doing too well in. I'm seeing little clusters of 1-2-3 xenia stalks shooting up. I guess my PH fragged it for me. Hopefully it'll take off and be a tolerant colony. In the meantime, the xenia in the larger tank looks pretty good. For what it's worth, I have a CPR bak-pak on the larger tank and no skimmer on the 15g nano. Link to comment
smfyr241 Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 No skimmer.....feed back says I should go with mushrooms and polyps. They say xenia is questionable.........hmmm Link to comment
JPF Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 I just went into the LFS in Augusta GA and almost choked when I saw they had tiny pieces of xenia for $44.95 per frag! I need to get down there and start selling my xenia and capnella frags and retire to the Keys. Link to comment
jjharrisx4 Posted January 18, 2003 Author Share Posted January 18, 2003 In contrast, I get my xenia frags for trades or free! Link to comment
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