Xenia-dominated tanks.. Let's see em!

[t11t5]

This may be a dumb question, but. When you say Nutrient rich water. What are the Nutrients?

[Emoezekielsr5]

fish crap.

[t11t5]

Oh. I though it was phytoplankton, and small food like that.

[yardboy]

There's an often repeated story of a hotel in Hawaii who discharged their sewage near a coral reef. The Xenia covered everything around the discharge pipe. When the state environmental agency forced the hotel to quit discharging sewage into the ocean, the Xenia died out.

[xtm]

^ That's an interesting story. A few years back, somebody conducted an experiment here in RC about overskimming. He ran multiple skimmers on a low-bioload tank and at the same time he also tried to grow Xenia. After like 2 months, and ULTRA CLEAN water, the Xenia is still alive and doing well.

[t11t5]

My Xenia grows new stalks, but they only add to its gurth. It just wont get taller. Any ideas?

[danch]

Originally posted by Mariner
If I remember correctly, Xenia has significant amounts of iodine in its tissues, and so some have assumed that dosing large quantities of it will help. IMHO, that makes about as much sense as dosing humans with large amounts of carbon. [/B]

Hmm, I dose myself with large amounts of carbon several times a day!


Maybe Iron would be a better analogy - we definitely need it, but many/most of use do fine without supplementation.

(yes, I'm aware that many women are encouraged to supplement Fe, and that it can be necessary for some forms of anemia)

[danch]

Originally posted by t11t5
My Xenia grows new stalks, but they only add to its gurth. It just wont get taller. Any ideas?

What kind of lighting is it under? I've noticed mine are shorter since I got them home under more intense light than at the store. I've also read something to that effect (more light-> shorter xenia polyps). Just anecdotal, mind you, but wondering if there's something to it.

[t11t5]

danch, I did have MH lighting. The fixture did not go all the way across the tank. I changed to a T5 72" light. Thats why my xenia are short, its getting more light. Will it be ok? The xenia polyps are pulsing like crazy, and the growth is good.

[prncalbrt]

the lower the amount of light the taller and thinner the stalks will be and just the reverse for strong light the stalks become short and fat. I have a couple rocks covered in pulsing xenia and they are under dual 400w metal halides at the top of my 90g and they do great. Mine do not spread to other rocks but they grow thicker on the rocks they are already on (thank god lol....)

[prncalbrt]

lildraken -- I am one of the few people that are xenia challenged. both my pom pom xenia and elongatas have perished. What alkalinity reading do ya'll have that are successful with xenias? thanks

My alkalinity has been as high as 24 and now is at 18 i never saw a difference in the xenia at any point.

[Flint&Eric]

ime, xenia can live in low nutriet it just doesnt grow or does so very slowly. in super low nutrient systems i've had it just slowly shrinks.