Ok Xenia shriveled help please new to RC please reply Thanks

[Lo Life Fishing]

I have a 29 gal bio So my Nitrites where high so I did a 5 gal chg waited 5 days and tested again they were still high so i dosed prime, the next day my Xenia was shriveled and im freaking. I read Xenia thrive on nitrates is this true im stumped pleasde help

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

I don't know anything useful about xenia but if you dosed something and your corals start dying off, do another water change.

 

[scuba guy ron]

IMO, I'd take it as a sign to not keep Xenia and consider yourself lucky. While they are beautiful, they can and will quickly take over a tank once acclimated. Take it from me, I chose to learn the hard way.

 

[stevie-o]

test calc, and alk. Dose reef trace, and do a 20% water change. also my xenia shrivels at night. they are photosynthetic, and feed off of trace elements.

 

[ir_danno22]

Add some iodine and move them to lower light and flow. It could be a little shock from the waterchange but they should be ok. Watch out for white spots forming in the stalks as they are signs of deterioration. Reefvideos.com has a neat video about Xenia on their site. Use half the recommended dose for trace every 2 weeks. My tank and Xenia looked better the less I used it. They get enough from water changes. This is just what worked for me.

 

[Thepopo]

5 gallons at a time i think is tad much unless your levels were quite high. Check your Iodine and dose it up to NSW parameters. I find when iodine is lacking Xenias have a hard time recovering from stress or injury

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

I actually moved it up in my tank with less flow and did a water change again and it seems ok It was one of my 1st thats why im concerned as I care about this one alot lol thx for all the responses!

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

thepopo u think 5gal wc's is alot? I actually do this twice a month....

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

irdanno which sunbrites are u using in your 28dx?

 

[stevie-o]

you could get away with just 5g a month that's what i do in my biocube, also xenia like a lot of flow mine is right in the way of my power head.

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

Ya I moved it up and added more flow 2 it and it seems happy thanks for the help!

 

[j.p. harrington]

didnt read all the post but im going to say that lack of oxygen when you dosed the prime it possibly took up alot of available oxygen in the tank up xenia is always the first to go when oxygen depletion is present. i had a huge rock about 8x4" die over night when i dosed a nitrate supplement.

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

Really so the prime takes up the oxygen that the xenia thrives off of hmm whats the way around that when dosing to reduce nitrates?

 

[ir_danno22]

Lo Life Fishing: i am running 6 12" sunbrites (3x 20k, 2x 10k, and 1x 14K). i had to gut out the stock canopy to fit everything in. glad to hear your 1st is doing better.

I automated my water changes to about 5 gallons spread throughout the week because it's pretty packed in my tank. even if do a 50% manual water change, everything looks fine in about a half hour.

try out some Prodibio Bio digest or Bio Clean to manage your nitrates. one dosing vial is more than enough for our sized tank. i just read up on the seachem prime, it's just a water conditioner and not a nitrate reducer. what's with the prime? are you using tap water for your tank? sorry, just curious. scale back a bit on your feeding until you get your nitrates in check.

as far as the eventual take over of your tank, they will if you let them do so. it's ones own fault if it gets to this point, which is why lazy people curse them. trim them back or leave them on a big rock centered in your tank. they'll move to the highest point where they get the most light and stay there unless an arm comes off, then it will grow where it settles. mine grow on the glass in which they can be easily managed.

just my 2.25 cents. df

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

Prime detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. Thats why I use it and it drops overnite. As for massive growth of the xenia idc all of my friends have tanks and i love 2 share.Anyone can buy a colony or a frag but maintaining it and producing growth is where its @ at least imo. Your hood sounds redic if you dont mind ne asking how much did u spend to dyi your hood with brites?

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

Us here in FL our water sucks I use r/o only.

 

[stevie-o]

i live in FL, and i only use ro/di run your tank with purigen, and chemi pure that will keep your water in pristine conditions

 

[ir_danno22]

Ha ha, my does technology change rapidly. I've had the sunbrites in for a little over a year since they came out with the gen 1's and have upgraded to the gen 2's a few months after. the gen 2's are about a year old now so i guess you're right, they are ancient and I spent about $130 each so i'll more than likely be using them past their service life or until they die out. at least the corals look great and grow quite well under these lights.
I fully agree with the growth and maintenance of xenia. i liked having and watching a large colony move with the waves. some people are lucky to keep them, I find my LPS close by eating them. literally find an unlucky arm stuck in a brain coral, caulastrea or acan's mouth.
I missed the reading on detox nitrates, but i am skeptical that it is enough to handle the higher nitrates produced in a system. supposedly it binds the nitrates but does not say it removes it. Do checkout the Prodibio-Bio digest if you get a chance. the bacteria in the vials will bring your nitrates down more effectively than the prime. the smaller 12 vial pack should last you at least a year and you won't have to drip prime. but if it works for you, why change.

How old is your system?

 

[Lo Life Fishing]

Well I had it up and running for 5 yrs and i moved 2 years ago so shes been running about a yr and a month. I'm running the factory pcs with a diy led strip for pop with mostly zoas a xenia and a gonapora and 2 montporas also starpolyps.Showing great growth. I dose aquavitro calcification,ions, fuel and phycopure and once a month a special blend I make in the kitchen lol. I'll def ck out the Prodibio. Haha I def didn't refer to your lighting as old I meant rediculous like awesome sick lol the lifespan is supposed 2 b 10 yrs or 50,000 hrs so. If u wanna off them I'll def take them lol. That must b a awesome sight @ c a coral eating a xenia arm thats sick!! Are u getting good growth with only led system? Also what are u using 2 feed?

 

[ir_danno22]

I am getting decent growth with the LED's however my acans and other corals tend to shift in color from when bought them. I bought an acan with a rainbow of colors in the center and 6 months later, more heads emerged and it's orange/red. probably the lighting. the xenia seem to like just about any lighting config i had.
I feed a lot of everything and switch them around through the week. i feed live Phytofeast, spectrum pellets (small+medium), cyclopeese, kent phytoplan, reef chili, flake food, PE mysis, frozen brine shrimp, silversides. i serve up the frozen stuff maybe once a week if not that. i dose and use the Aquavitro fuel when hydrating the reef chili and cyclopeese. been doing some reading on the use of garlic and learned it causes liver failure in fish so i may just result to broadcast dosing 1-2 drops in the tank versus in their food.
my wife is taking care of what she can with the tank since i'm on the road, thus the auto water changer and just about everything else automated or easily managed for normal ops and emergencies. i just hope everyone is getting fed well.