Zenia and water quality

[zman1]

I just wanted to see what others feel about xenias and water quality. I had a 75 gal SWFO for many years. Then in 2002 I switched it over to a reef, added LR and bought some softies. They've always done decent. The xenias would grow like crazy, then I added a Rubber Maid AG tank and started propagating the xenias. I felt like they were indestructible. You could do just about anything to them and they would bounce back. My NO3 Levels would run between 20 and 40.
Last June/July I got a 120 gal tank and I wanted to try my hand at SPS. I got the system set up, cycled and it's been doing fairly well. I've successfully fragged intentionally and unintentionally about 18 frags from four parent corals with only one loss. I have maintained this system between 0 and 2 N03. I decided to move my 75 gal and the AG tank over next to it and plumb it in the system. For the last 3 months the xenia population has gone down (crash) and the survivors haven't grown at anywhere near the rate they were, and the conclusion I'm making with this, since I watch my levels super close now and do a weekly 10 percent system water change, the xenias are the only things that don't like that. Everything else, mushrooms, zoos, have done extremely well in the 75 and they're diffusing all over.
I just kind of wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience with xenias.

 

[sufunk2]

I agree. My nitrates were very high but my xenia did well and were splitting. I started doing lots of water changes, cleaned , got rid of some fish and my filter media and got the nitrates to zero. After a few weeks at zero, 4 stalks of my xenia withered and died( 1st i ever lost) and the rest looked wilty. Ive gotten a little lazy and let the nitrates slip up to 10-20 for the last few weeks. The xenia are now bigger than ever and splitting again.
Definitely seemed like they were the least happy when my levels were better.

 

[chipmaker]

From what I have experienced, is xenia growth and life is a sure fire indicator or any problem with water parameters......Poor or off means dead xenia........good water means thriving growing xenia.....They do like nitrates, and are good ar exporting nitrate, and from what I understand they actually require some nitrate, and a stable ph of 8.2 or higher. .....

 

[mrsdorothy]

If you ever get too many, pick some out and send them to me.

 

[mudplayerx]

Xenia also do not like any large variety in alkalinity or ph...try to keep these at a constant. High alkalinity tends to kill them.

 

[shnabbles]

xenia live on nitrates... keeping healthy xenia and healthy sps in the same tank or in the same water would be very difficult.
iv bought a frag of xenia and put it in my tank, nitrate are constantly at zero... my monto cap is growing noticably almost daily, xenia though look good, they arent spreading... didnt spread for 8+ months.
xenia like kinda dirty water

 

[zman1]

This explains it
Albert Thiel
Nutrient Control and Algae Control in the Marine Aquarium
August 9th, 1998
Could you be more specific as to which corals one should look to for nutrient export?
Xenia uptakes organic material (DOC). Nephteid corals uptake green floating algae such as the real real small one that we find in tanks. Gorgonians uptake particulate matter and small detritus. Soft stony, corallimorphs and Zoanthis uptake just about all forms of nutrients
When all of these do not grow well in your tank it may very well be that the nutrient levels are too low and that they do not get enough food, in which case you need to increase feeding and add specific foods for the types of corals you keep
In all cases adding such corals to the aquarium will help keep the water purer and less charged with nutrients thus reducing the potential for undesirable algae growth.

 

[bonebrake]

What Zman said.
Xenia prefer tanks that run a little on the "dirty" side.
In my nano, I had a massive colony of xenia and fragged every last one of them and cleared it out of my tank except for the xenia gunk on the rock they were on. My nitrates had always been zero, but after doing this, my nitrates steadily climbed until the xenia grew back and started assimilating the nitrates again. They are now zero once again. I would venture to say that xenia in a tank can almost double as a refugium for nutrient export. Because if they assimilate nitrate, they have to be assimilating protein and other things out of the water in order to make more in their own likeness.
:joy:

 

[murph]

I kind of doubt its the nitrates alone that the Xenia's are thriving on. I have zero nitrates in my tank for months with no decline of my Xenia stocks whatsoever. In fact they are growing quite nicely
Its likely more of a balancing act than having a "dirty" tank or a detectable nitrate level. Sufficient nutrients can be produced in the tank at a proper rate to both keep the Xenia happy and have no detectable nitrates with the common aquarium test kit (that does not mean there are not some there) which is going to keep your LPS happy also.
I would suspect Xenia decline is more associated with some sort of upset of that nutrient balance which can happen when moving a tank, cleaning a tank, large water changes etc.
I also drip kalk which we all know can be somewhat of a balancing act in itself. Every once in a while I will miss judge the amount or get lazy and drip a little faster than usual which will throw off my alk and PH values slightly. This also has never been a problem for my Xenia's.

 

[mrdc]

I have to believe that they do like "dirty" water to some extent. My neighbor has to clean his tank every two weeks or you wouldn't be able to see anything. Right now, I am supplying the rocks and he provided the xenia and I take them to the LFS for credit. The LFS can't beleive how fast and big he is able to grow them. Anyway, I say dirty water because my neighbor never adds anything to his tank and hasn't done a water change in at least a year. His tank even looks dirty to me but everything is thriving...zoas, xenia, frogspawn and even his bubble tip anemone under CFs. His anemone has already split twice and he has fragged his frogspawn several times including the 7 heads he gave me. The xenia he gave me is doing well but isn't growing (and I don't want it to) like his. Mine is just moving higher and higher in the tank.