xenia problem

[budhorse775]

I have had this Xenia in my tank for over a month now and this seems to be how it looks most of the time. My params are
PH 8.2
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 10-20ppm (a little high but just installed a fuge to help)
phosphate 0
kh 11dkh
lighting 2 65w actinic pc 12hrs
2 65w 10000k pc 10hrs
1 96w 50/50 pc 10hrs
IMG]
Any suggestions?

[budhorse775]

[Ti]

that's no xenia

[bertoni]

I don't see any Xenia, either. A clearer shot might help.

Your water parameters sound fine for Xenia, as far as they go. The nitrate won't bother them at all.

[budhorse775]

this is it this morning

[budhorse775]

[sinder255248]

They only look small if they are xenia. It's hard to tell from the photo. Are you feeding anything to the tank, ie phyto etc? Try moving them a little higher in the tank, mine tends to grow in the middle portion of the tank (they get everywhere) and I've got 2 x 150w 10k halides.

Also what do they look like in the middle of the day after the lights have been on for a few hours? Mine tend to be shrivelled up in the early morning and after the main lights go out and actinics come on, but during the middle portion they're out in full glory.

[johngeb]

Hi,

Mine seem to go very well with what I'm adding to, and doing regular maintance.

Here is a before (when I just got them):



Miday



And now:



I would be glad to help out if you would like.

John

[thorsen]

That is definetly xenia, but it looks like what my xenia looks like a week after I mow it all down to take into the LFS for credit. Maybe it is still just growing into stalks. I know xenia loves light. I have to large colonies in my tank. You can almost watch the colony under my 400w bulb grow, but the colony in a darker corner grows slow. I'd guess yours is just in poor light and hasn't had a chance to grow large enough to look like you expect yet.

[hitsek2004]

HEY JOHNGEB
i have a colony like yours (a little bigger) but two days ago few tentacles are extend but closed and like bleached (white).
I had a temperature raise and i just made it to controll it.
are gonna recover these tips of my lovely xenia guys??
please give me advices
TIA

[johngeb]

Hi,

Mine seem to go very well with what I'm adding to, and doing regular maintance.

Here is a before (when I just got them):



Miday



And now:



I would be glad to help out if you would like.

John

[dstalfire]

Here is what my colony looks like. Scroll down once you click to see the video.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rapidly-Pulsing-...QQcmdZViewItem

[johngeb]

Hi hitsek2004,

I keep my water perimeters in sink:

Calcium - 425 -475
Alk 7.84 dKH (140ppm)
Salinity - 1.026
Nitrites - 0
Phosphates - 0
Nitrates - 0.2 0.5 but has rose to almost 10 because of a death. Did a water change and brought it down to 3. Still working on 0.2
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0

I feed my corals DT's from DT's Plankton Farm in IL, (www.dtplankton.com), Kent Coral Accel, Marine snow from Little fishes, and for my bubbles, I feed Silversides twice a week.

I dose with ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer and ESV Calcium Hydroxide.

I do 15 gallon water change once every 2 weeks (I have a 75 gallon tank) I use a Reverse Osmosis system giving me a TDS reading of 12.

I clean my AquaC EV-120 Protein Skimmer with a Rio 2100 Pump once every 2 days.

I also use ROWAphos Phosphate Remover/Absorbent.

for heating I use Pro-Heat LCD Digital 250 W Titanium Heater.

For dosing SpectraPure Liter Meter III (which I just had upgraded. (Nice !)

I only use a sump with HDL's Activated Tri Base Pelletized Carbon. and my Skimmer & a catch cloth at 100mm

for testing I use American Marine Pinpoint PH, Temp, & Salinity. For a backup I use a Refractometer & LaMotte Water Test Kits.

My lights are a LUNAR Aqualight Deluxe Series
2x Actinic and 2x 10,000K, 4x 3/4W Blue LEDs -Straight Pin & a 48" Acrolight 50/50.

That's about it I think. But what I'm trying to say is it's not just one or 2 things that make it right. It's everything all put together as one to make your tank look good and have your corals grow and stay that way. I have had my error's and deaths. Trial & error seems to be the only way to get it right but with that I did not let anyone of my animals die due to trial and error. I waited till I had a science to all this and know what to feed and not to feed. What to add and not to add and the right amounts.

The readings that I have are 99% constant week after week. I spend about 1.5 hours a week to keep the water perfect to my standards which I keep high. I read allot here and books, and have a maintance program on my pc that I keep tabs on everything I do and readings.

This has worked for me and all my corals are thriveing and starting to grow very fast.


Hope this helps

John

Originally posted by hitsek2004
HEY JOHNGEB
i have a colony like yours (a little bigger) but two days ago few tentacles are extend but closed and like bleached (white).
I had a temperature raise and i just made it to controll it.
are gonna recover these tips of my lovely xenia guys??
please give me advices
TIA

[bertoni]

Okay, now I see the Xenia!

What are the temperature and SG, and how are you measuring them? What kind of water change schedule is used, and is there carbon filtration?

[budhorse775]

this is it after 7 hrs of daylight
Temp 80+/- "coralife digital thermo"
SG 1.024 "instant ocean swing arm"

[budhorse775]

I really need to get better at taking pics

[budhorse775]

water changes 20% every 2 weeks and carbon in the sump

[johngeb]

I forgot to mention that I have a 20 gallon fuge as well

Originally posted by johngeb
Hi hitsek2004,

I keep my water perimeters in sink:

Calcium - 425 -475
Alk 7.84 dKH (140ppm)
Salinity - 1.026
Nitrites - 0
Phosphates - 0
Nitrates - 0.2 0.5 but has rose to almost 10 because of a death. Did a water change and brought it down to 3. Still working on 0.2
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0

I feed my corals DT's from DT's Plankton Farm in IL, (www.dtplankton.com), Kent Coral Accel, Marine snow from Little fishes, and for my bubbles, I feed Silversides twice a week.

I dose with ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer and ESV Calcium Hydroxide.

I do 15 gallon water change once every 2 weeks (I have a 75 gallon tank) I use a Reverse Osmosis system giving me a TDS reading of 12.

I clean my AquaC EV-120 Protein Skimmer with a Rio 2100 Pump once every 2 days.

I also use ROWAphos Phosphate Remover/Absorbent.

for heating I use Pro-Heat LCD Digital 250 W Titanium Heater.

For dosing SpectraPure Liter Meter III (which I just had upgraded. (Nice !)

I only use a sump with HDL's Activated Tri Base Pelletized Carbon. and my Skimmer & a catch cloth at 100mm

for testing I use American Marine Pinpoint PH, Temp, & Salinity. For a backup I use a Refractometer & LaMotte Water Test Kits.

My lights are a LUNAR Aqualight Deluxe Series
2x Actinic and 2x 10,000K, 4x 3/4W Blue LEDs -Straight Pin & a 48" Acrolight 50/50.

That's about it I think. But what I'm trying to say is it's not just one or 2 things that make it right. It's everything all put together as one to make your tank look good and have your corals grow and stay that way. I have had my error's and deaths. Trial & error seems to be the only way to get it right but with that I did not let anyone of my animals die due to trial and error. I waited till I had a science to all this and know what to feed and not to feed. What to add and not to add and the right amounts.

The readings that I have are 99% constant week after week. I spend about 1.5 hours a week to keep the water perfect to my standards which I keep high. I read allot here and books, and have a maintance program on my pc that I keep tabs on everything I do and readings.

This has worked for me and all my corals are thriveing and starting to grow very fast.


Hope this helps

John

[bertoni]

If you've had it for only about a month, it might still be acclimating, although I'm a bit skeptical there. Perhaps the light is much brighter than in its former home. There might be some chemical warfare going on, though. The water change schedule sounds fine to me.

Do the polyps at the bottom get as much light as those at the top? Are they extending more?

[hitsek2004]

Hey john, thanks a lot for your time and advices.
I spend many more hours to keep up the tank ,although sometimes i get bored with the cleaning of some equipment.
i noticed that my xenia has started to spread everywere around that is in contact with. The new polyps are still small but they are EVERYWHERE ...
It started to spread in acouple of rocks with other softies like GSP.
Which one is gonna to win??

[budhorse775]

they do extend a little more on the bottom. After the lights have been on all day the ones that are higher in the tank look like wads of chewed gum.

[budhorse775]

2 days later no change they all still look like poop

[budhorse775]

These are pics i just took. They look better but they still do not extend as well as they did when I bought it any thoughts?

[bertoni]

If they're looking better, that's a good sign. My Xenia expands a lot more under lower light. How big is your tank? Maybe they're just adapting to brighter lighting.

[budhorse775]

55 gal. And since I have added my fuge my levels are dead on.