Pulsing xenia not doing well

[jgordie]

I have a silver pulsing xenia that has closed up and just doesn't look good. I am having some low pH problems (7.8), I have ordered 2 more powerheads to get more flow circulating in hopes of bringing up the pH. My lighting are 2 96w PC..is this enough lighting for these? water parameters look good other than the pH. My calcium is testing at 450. i have it up high on a rock.

[betamed]

Xexia are pretty hardy corals. Do you have other corals in the tank that are doing well. Lighting is prolly OK depending on the size of the tank and depth of the coral. Where do you get your water from? how often do you change the water? Could there be another animal in the tank bothering the coral(look with a flashlight with the light off).

[jgordie]

my mushroom, kenya tree, and green star polyps are all doing well. My toadstool is doing ok..its still recovering from being moved...the xenia is closed up and my anthelia didn't make it. The water I get from the tap but I have a trash can just for water set up that I have aerating all the time to add top off. I dechlorinate using Amquel

[MoJoVac]

You need to test your tap water! I recommend using only RO/DI water to mix salt with because tap water even with chlorine removed may still contain metals and other nasties (Iron, phospates, Nirates, Etc.) Ocean water is actually very complex with "varying concentrations of every naturally occuring element known". There is even trace amounts of arsenic in sea water (over 1.5ppm)! These elements often have properties that effect one another. Just like in the relation of PH/Alkalinty and temperature. You have to remember that tap water is flowing from the treatment facility through copper, steel, and or even types of plastic piping and it sits in those pipes (especially under/in front of your house) desolving metal and or plastics in it before it comes out of your tap.

Xenia typically does well with even moderate amounts of phosphates. It has been theorized that because they are fast growing corals (as are many softies) that they utilize Phosphate. Phosphate is needed for cellular growth... Xenia also has been observed utilizing small traces of Idoine. There has been a lot of discussion about this. Many people have added small amounts of iodine (there is approx. .05ppm in sea water) to thier closed xenia only to find them open and pulsing by the next light cycle. your motile inverts need it to to molt properly... Other than that xenia need moderate water curent (they pule to make thier own current) and strong light. My only other thought would be that something else in your tank is effecting them, maybe your decaying corals?

Hope that helps.

[depitch]

Hi jgordie,

I agree w/MoJoVac that dechlorinated tap water is bad especially for xenia. They are sensitive to water pollutants from tap water.

If you can't afford an RO unit a cheap alternative is a tap water deionizer unit. You can find them at most big box pet stores for under $50. and it will make purifed water suitible for mixing with marine salt. For top-off water you can add SeaChem Bicarb to DI water to keep pH at 8.3

HTH

Doug

[jgordie]

Thanks Doug. I had thought about getting one of those tap water units. I will pick one up this week. Thanks everyone for the help.

[ChilisREasy]

never use tap water unless its ran through a R/O machine...use Distilled bottle water or R/O bottle water

[scootman]

I new to the forum, so forgive me if I say something dumb. I lost my Xenias last week which I found out was due to an electric current from a VHO light. When my Xenias were alive, I noticed that they would stop pulsing when the Ph dipped below 8.2. Personally, I've had great results with PH and DKH buffers. I've also noticed that my 2 part calcium buffers would raise my PH as well. Perhaps something simple like a buffer would raise your PH and the Xenias should improve.

I also agree with the others about using RO water. I buy mine from a nearby petstore pre-mixed with Instant Ocean. It certainly makes water changes easier and it will eliminate any "cooties" in the water.

Good Luck

[Reefyone]

Mmmm, I'm keeping only white xenia and it's relative anthelia in the tank with IO salt mix, mixed with tap water, here they are:

pH is on the low side: 7.8 to rarely 8.2, still xenia pulses very well. Not much light and gentle flow around the colony, have phosphates and nitrates, this is a well fed tank (trice daily).

Started to grow fast after addition of RowaPhos instead of usual PhosGuard and Phosphate Sponge (both aluminum-based). Could be coincidence, could be not: in the online article about Atlantis World public aquarium was mentioned, that ferrous phosphate media may remove something else, that inhibits coral growth. Sorry, don't have a link at hand right now.
The tank is grounded.
Could be that your tank is very clean and xenia doesn't have enought food? Or hammer or yellow polyps, that are burning it. Guessing here.