Xenia Backgroud?

[adwilk420]

I was at an Lfs the other day and saw a tank with a back wall covered completely in xenia. It was pretty cool. Was wondering if anyone has had sucsess doing this and how they did it.

Thanks in advance,
Alex

 

[oranje]

Was wondering if anyone has had sucsess doing this and how they did it.

Time, and caring for your tank. My LFS has one tank's back wall completely covered in star polyps, and another completely covered in button polyps. If a tank is kept in good health and stocked with things that spread readily, the only thing you need is time.

 

[Anonymous]

xenia will climb quite readily if placed near back glass where currnt pushes it against it.

 

[Anonymous]

Correct, I covered one wall of a tank in about 3 months by just placing the xenia colony on the bottom next to the glass. Xenia will naturally grow up to the light.

GSP can be done similarly

 

[Palmetto]

Here is a pic of some Xenia going wild in a tank at some friends' house:
(Richard, Jake, and Nathan's)

 

[SteveP]

I'm doing that in my tank, and this is what I've learned.

1. Looks very cool. Gives the tank visual depth.

2. Start them at the bottom, they eventually grow upward.

3. When there are too many thye make for a great nutrient export system

4. Keep an eye on them! Every once in a while a piece will either bud off or fall off and you risk having it attach to your rock work. Then you're stuck with it forever!

5. 'Pods love to hide among them.

Steve
8{I

 

[Minh Nguyen]

It is great with only one draw back. Sometime Xenia crashed without reason. I never have this happen but I have know grate tanks crashed completly when their huge colony of Xenia crashed. Because of this reason, you should not have a huge Xenial population in your tank. They can crash overnight. Also Xenia tend to migrate up and will not cover the whole back of the tank, rather, just the top.
Green star polyps is a much beter choice, IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

What would eventually happen if two corals were started at the bottom? Let's say two clusters of encrusting georgonias and GSP were to start spreading up the back wall of my tank. Would one kill the other, or could I look forward to an organic pattern?

What do ya'll think?
po

 

[danmhippo]

Po, I would assume whichever that packs a more potent sting would eventually takes over the whole territory, if you have the patience.

 

[danmhippo]

Not xenia per se, but I used to have grape caulerpa back wall and pods loved it, so does fishes hunting for them.

 

[Anonymous]

Po, I would assume whichever that packs a more potent sting would eventually takes over the whole territory, if you have the patience.

Hmmm, maybe this is something I could attempt along with documented photos. After I finally get around to converting my CC to a DSB, I'm looking forward to my experiment.

Thanks for responding Dan,
po

 

[Anonymous]

Sometime Xenia crashed without reason. I never have this happen but I have know grate tanks crashed completly when their huge colony of Xenia crashed. Because of this reason, you should not have a huge Xenial population in your tank. They can crash overnight.

i've never heard of this, please delve deeper.

Every once in a while a piece will either bud off or fall off and you risk having it attach to your rock work. Then you're stuck with it forever!

just pull it off.

 

[danmhippo]

Sometime Xenia crashed without reason. I never have this happen but I have know grate tanks crashed completly when their huge colony of Xenia crashed. Because of this reason, you should not have a huge Xenial population in your tank. They can crash overnight.

i've never heard of this, please delve deeper.

I think he meant large xenia population led to ionic imbalance or nutrient deficiency, if you want to call that, crashed the entire crop.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Podman,
Sometime the entire Xenia population just crash overnight/or day. Why we don't really know, but it is a well know fact for most reefer.

 

[Anonymous]

hmmm. never heard it. never had the problem either. i did a search on it and the info i found persuades me to agree with danmhippo, likely a lack of nutrient to support the needs of the xenia.

but it is a well know fact for most reefer.

:? fact? the amount of previuos discussion on this board hardly points to it being well known either.

there has to be a reason this "crashing" happens.

thanks for the info

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Certainly it is well know to me and to many advance reefers. I have seen it happened twice to friend's tank. I certainly have heard of many small colonies of Xenia doing well then just melted to nothing. Is it lack of nutrients or accumulation of toxic material? I have not read any convincing evidence either way.

 

[Palmetto]

Most of the books on corals refer to Xenia as being prone to crashes. Divers also report of this occurring in large Xenia populations in the wild that can disappear almost overnight, then quickly regrow.

I am surprised you have not heard of this. It is generally believed that a cluster that "crashes" releases chemicals that trigger a chain-reaction among other Xenia. I have also heard of Xenia crashes that polluted a tank. My friend Paul had a piece on Xenia that was in some corals he was shipping when he moved. The Xenia "crashed" and took out many SPS corals.

In Eric Borneman's book: Aquarium Corals, on pg. 152 he states, ""Despite their hardiness in the wild, Xenia species ship poorly and are quite fragile (at least initially) in captivity. They are very prone to "crashes," in which an entire colony will stop pulsing, wilt, deflate, and degenerate rapidly. This crash can occur in colonies that have been dividing and thriving for long periods of time. Without any noticeable change in conditions, the colonies fail rapidly, almost as though they had exhausted some as-yet-undiscovered factor in the water."

It is mentioned in almost every book that goes into detail with the species that I have studied. There is some thought that iodine plays a part, but I think it is nature's way to keep our oceans from being overrun with Xenia. The stuff would take over the world without checks and balances.

I agree with Minh that Xenia populations need to be managed carefully in a captive environment. I would also agree that star polyps would make a better choice for a species to allow to carpet the back wall, as they are pretty much harmless and hardy.

 

[Anonymous]

let me start by saying that i skeptically read any book on reefing, if i were to beleive all i've read i'd be way over due on replacing my live rock, vacuuming my sandbed,and i'd be sweating bullets that my bristleworms were going to devoure every living thing in my tank. yes i read the borneman ...coral husbandry... book. quite good actually. but there are many things in the book i'm not sold on, just as every other manual out there has some opinions in them.
now, i believe there must be an issue here, its just new to me. i know i have read many articles in books past that describe xenia as a very touchy species, i just assumed that this was old info and that the hobby had progressed to a point that xenia became an "easy to keep" coral. i did no research into the theory, just came by it. mostly i guess due to the fact my LFS's rarely buy the stuff, customers bring it in and give it away.
now, i don't harbor any fantasy that i am such a good reefkeeper that i don't have this problem, believe me i have more than my share of headaches, i just saw the post and found it odd to my knowledge. also the statement made that xenia crashes without reason. i now think i was reading more into the post by minh than was intended. i'm very new around here and i am also new to the online thing as well, so i've obviously missed out on a common topic.
but just as i am not sold on every opinion in the reefkeeping manuals i am in disagreement with the beleif that people should shy away from this species, its interesting, common,little impact on nature, and i would love it if my LFS would buy it again. oh, and one more thing, its better to have beginners buying this than alveopora, tubeastrea,goniopora, etc.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

hmmm. never heard it. never had the problem either. i did a search on it and the info i found persuades me to agree with danmhippo, likely a lack of nutrient to support the needs of the xenia.

....
.... :? fact? the amount of previuos discussion on this board hardly points to it being well known either.

there has to be a reason this "crashing" happens.

thanks for the info

Believe what you will. I was just trying to help by pointing what I consider common knowledge for someone who read regarding reefkeeping. I just try to help some new reefers, at least point out potential things that can go wrong. What you type, while does not cause me to be angry, it does cause some minor irritations to me. A smiling face does not change the contents of what you wrote.
There are good reading material in books and online. There are lots of BS also. It is hard to tell for a new reefer, but after a short time, an intelligent person, which most reefers are, can tell one from another just as they can tell some person online can have much more valuable input than the BS spewed out by certain other.

 

[Anonymous]

minh-what did i write that irritated you?

i put the smiley face on my post with the hopes that my attitude would not be misunderstood. upon reading my own post before submitting it i realized it sounded rather defensive so i put the face on to let you know i wasn't fired up.
i'm sure new reefers are quite grateful to have an experienced reef hand like yourself who's willing to spend the time to help, hope that doesn't sound patronizing.