How to care for Blue Pulsing Xenia?

[scungili]

My water parameters are

Sg 1.025
Alk 9-10dkh
Mag 1350
Cal 500
Temp 77-80

180 gal tank with two 250w 20k Pheonix pendants.

Nitrates are usually below 1ppm

First off, I know what some of you are going to say, that Xenias like nutrient rich water. Well, it's not happening with my tank if I can help it at all. I'm mostly interested in keeping SPS and very little algae if any.

Having said that, are there any techniques I could use to please the xenia and still keep my tank clean?

One thought I had...

I heard from my LFS that one customer had a Sun Coral and they would place it once in a while in a container of tank water and food slurry. Then they would place it back in the tank after several minutes (don't know actual exposure time) and dump out the food slurry so as not to foul the tank. Might this be used for a Xenia?

At this moment the Xenia is extending itself during the day, but the tentacles are not plump as they could be, and it's not pulsing. This is how I purchased it, and I took the gamble hoping I could get it happy again.

So far I've been feeding a Coral food mix of Rotti, Cyclops, Phyto, etc. It comes in frozen cubes. I shut down all filters and let the food suspend engulfing all corals for several minutes.

However, if I keep this up, I will find a build up of Cyano, so I intend to only "feed" my corals sparingly.

How am I doing so far?

Can you offer experienced suggestions with xenia care?

Thanks.

BTW, I'm not crazy about xenia, but this blue xenia is an awsome deep electric blue. It was too hard to resist!

[Fat Tony]

You could.... (goes against all my normal recommendations) run some bioballs to elevate the nitrate levels in the tank. The Xenia could be placed in sump just downstream of the bioballs. Xenia loves a nitrate rich environment. and with decent lighting and medium flow in the sump, it could be very achievable as a filter for the trates.

[three90s&125sump]

Tony is right... Xenia can suck nitrates through 50 foot of garden hose. :Zoinks:


Get a(lot) bigger skimmer (is your tank BB?) and add more flow. Double or triple your feeding of phyto/zoo plankton.

Just a suggestion.

[Jadinop]

Do you have a pic? What is commonly sold as blue xenia is usually Anthelia. Anthelia doesn't pulse and has long, thin stalks.

What is refered to as true blue xenia is Cespitularia. Again, thin stalks and doesn't pulse.

I have propagated multiple types of xenia in tanks full of healthy sps and do not subscribe to the "dirty" water theory when it comes to keeping xenia healthy. There are some other unknown factors when it comes to keeping xenia that make it thrive in one tank and dissintegrate in another. I wouldn't bother with the phyto or zooplankton as xenia is not know to be a direct filter feeder, it is primarily photosynthetic. It is also belived to consume dissolved organics but it's dietary intake is not entirely known.

Xenia does better under good lighting with strong enough flow to keep the stalks waving around.

[scungili]

Originally Posted by Jadinop

Do you have a pic? What is commonly sold as blue xenia is usually Anthelia. Anthelia doesn't pulse and has long, thin stalks.

What is refered to as true blue xenia is Cespitularia. Again, thin stalks and doesn't pulse.

I have propagated multiple types of xenia in tanks full of healthy sps and do not subscribe to the "dirty" water theory when it comes to keeping xenia healthy. There are some other unknown factors when it comes to keeping xenia that make it thrive in one tank and dissintegrate in another. I wouldn't bother with the phyto or zooplankton as xenia is not know to be a direct filter feeder, it is primarily photosynthetic. It is also belived to consume dissolved organics but it's dietary intake is not entirely known.

Xenia does better under good lighting with strong enough flow to keep the stalks waving around.

It is Anthelia! Looks just like the pic you posted here. Thanks, now how do I treat these?

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DX%26um%3D1

[scungili]

I'll get a pic of mine later.

[Jadinop]

Originally Posted by scungili

It is Anthelia! Looks just like the pic you posted here. Thanks, now how do I treat these?

Not suprised. It's the most common "blue xenia" that you see. Anthelia is just as easy to care for. Since it doesn't pulse, it will need a little more flow to keep the polyps moving. I kept mine closer to the top and had some intermittent flow passing through it to make it wave around. The length of the stalks will change depending on it's location. They will stay short in higher lighting and will elongate under lower lighting.

Here is a pic from my old 75g tank with some blue Anthelia. It's to the left of the hammer and slightly back. Certainly, no problem growing side by side with SPS in my experience.

[scungili]

ok thanks, would you say they do better in higher lighting. I've got mine slightly off center from directly under a 250 MH on the botom in about 24" of water. I could move it up, and into slightly more flow as well, but right now I'd say it has mild flow.

[Jadinop]

I would move it up at least halfway. It will do better under the increased light and flow. Mine was under 150w MH's and grew from the spot on the rock onto the back glass spreading towards the light.