What's the secret to Xenia?

[aschroeder]

I want to put some Xenia in my Nano but I want to be sure I get some advice first. I put frag of Xenia in my larger reef tank a few years ago and watched it slowly melt away over time. I've seen several tanks with it growing like a weed and others like mine that can't keep it alive. What's the secret to success with Xenia?

[squeezix]

Iodine. Unless it's a more exotic variety, stay away from it. It's just like shrooms, you'll regret your success. It's ugly and grows like a weed. IMHO

[SDguy]

Just like any coral, yes, it can grow out of control under extremely favorable conditions. Isolating it on a rock "island" works well. I certainly wouldn't call it ugly though And you can't beat that cool pulsing thing...

[Louie3]

Does the same thing goe for zoas????
never added any other supplement except for Nano part A & B

dont wanna steal your thread

[joedebholtzman]

I agree with you, I have tried to grow Xenia a few times and have had it melt. I'd like to know the secert too.

[SDguy]

Get a frag from a local reefer. Xenia ship poorly, so the stuff in the LFS may not be so hot. Xenia, like shrooms and other soft corals, like higher nutrient content in the water.

[Vitaly]

There are theories abound (dirty vs clean tank, low vs high flow/light, iodine vs no iodine).

Speaking for myself, I received a nice frag from a local guy...and it just grows very well in my tank. I use absolutely no supplements (iodine, vitamins, etc). I hardly consider it a weed...and think it is a beautiful coral. And as SDguy said...watching the pulsing (it does so off and on) is mesmorizing. Get a fra and give it a try. Keep it in a low-to-medium flow part of your tank.

[rkcca]

I put mine in good flow and direct light and it did ok.

I got a new SPS frag that needed that spot so I moved it to the top corner to get it out of the way.

Now it's 6 to 8 inches long and loving it.

If you love something too much it never grows. Neglect (a little) and it grows like a weed.

[drummereef]

I do nothing but dose Randy's 2-part to keep up with alkalinity demands and do weekly water changes. Give it light and it will grow imo. My xenia grows like a weed. Since we are posting pics.....................

[GoblinFish]

I love mine!

[Joe LoPresti]

I have to agree with SDguy (us San Diego people gotta stick together, LOL). I love my Xenia, it can be totally mesmerizing to watch and I really like giving people frags of it, makes me feel like I'm giving something back, you know??

I found mine did it's best when my tank was, shall I say, not as well-maintained. I thought I was gonna lose it all, it's now making a hearty comeback.

[waverider17]

for what its worth my experience with xenia is that you should not try to mix different species/types they just melt away. Go with a local frag to start with and frag from that frag. my nano is skimmerless but gets a 30-40% w.change weekly. No fish, no feeds & no supplements, some may cringe but it lloks great and has done so for over a year. Xenia pulsing and fragging nicely. Just my 0.2 c.

[crrichey]

This is what I tell people that come to my store.

Start with a small piece so that if it does melt its not a whole colony wasting away in ur tank. Xenia love light but don't appriciate extreme current. Pretend that you don't want it, then it will really go on ya@!

[pinniger]

I can't get it to grow worth a crap in my tank either...

[DaveG99]

I bought 4 little frags about 6 weeks ago. Now I have 12. This stuff grows like crazy. I am skimmerless also and I do a 10% water change every 7-10 days. As long as the water conditions are right it will grow like crazy. In abotu a month I am goign to start fragging soem of mine out. The going rate around here is $5 a frag.

[SDguy]

Mine grows best at the top of my overflow, where all that nutrient rich water collects. I doubt that's coincidence

[cristhiam]

No secrets here this is my 125, pretty much xenia is all over the place, also a few weeks ago died about 90% of it it was due to a couple of 5G overflows and a denitrator leaking water slowly and my salinity went down to 1.021 now it's back to 1.026 and the few pieces that survived are bouncing back, this time I'm trying to keep them in place

[lotsofgallons]

i grew large colonies of xenia successfully in a tank that was only a month old starting with just a single stalk frag...during a recent tank changeover the xenia had to sit in a plastic tub overnight in my house where the water temp reached 72f...the next day when i got the new tank in the house and set everything up ALL of my large colonies of xenia had wilted adn were not pulsing, just slouching over. after a week of this with no improvement i came to grips that i had lost it all..still kept it in the tank though and to my surprise the following week 90% of it just "revived" itself! no dosing or anything! now its healthy as ever and growing more!

[aschroeder]

Originally posted by SDguy
Get a frag from a local reefer. Xenia ship poorly, so the stuff in the LFS may not be so hot. Xenia, like shrooms and other soft corals, like higher nutrient content in the water.

I'm going to give it a shot. I just contacted a local reefer that is selling me a frag of his Xenia along with a few other frags. I run a 150w halide on my 20 gallon nano, so it should have plenty of light.

[hilgert]

My Xenia grows like mad, and it's a great way to export nutrients. When it gets to places I don't want it (like the glass) I take it out and either give it away or toss it (a waste, but it has to go somewhere). For my next batch of "export Xenia" I'll try giving it to the LHS near my work to get some credit or something.

-Hilgert

[old95er]

I had it basically tak over my 50 gallon. I did nothing to the tank, not even water changes, and it went from a 1"x1" rock to covering almost everything. They LOVE light, so under the 250MH, they grew crazy.

I now have them in a spare 29 with 48watts of light, and they just keep going. . .I am afraid to put them in my 120, I do not want a Xenia tank again!!

[blu iz]

I love my Xenia, just to sit there and watch it pulse. It makes you sleepy

I should bring some in for my 12 gal on my desk zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
sorry boss

[capn_hylinur]

I did read somewhere that Xenia are great for reducing nitrates. Knowing this I assume that a highly populated tank would probably experience the greatest growth of Xenia

What I like about xenia is that it can talk to you through its polyps---if it doesn't like the conditions they retract until you change them for what it wants.

[hilgert]

The pulsing is interesting. Mine sometimes stop pulsing for a week or two with zero changes in my feeding or additive habits, and then all of a sudden start back up and pulse for month and months (again with no changes). At other times I have made significant changes (new food batch, water change, etc.) with no effect on their pulsing (or not).

-Hilgert

[chujai]

my xenia seem to double in size every 2 weeks or so, i heard they take in phosphate and i use tap water, maybe thats why?