Xenia as temp. nutrient export

[Logzor]

Is this viable if one is out of town, does not have a sump, and can not run a skimmer?

I have people to maintain the tank but not to keep track of the HOB skimmer if it malfunctions. Therefore I have deal with nutrients in some way.

I have large amount of chaeto in my tank as well as several types of xenia and anthellia on my back glass (and only the back glass). It is spreading like wild-fire.

Does it do much as far as nutrient removal or should I just scrape them off on the weekend when I go home to do tank maintenance?

 

[oceanparadise1]

i would frag them they are very hardy and awsome additions to any tank, so i would keep them up take them off the glass and attach them to rock or plugs

 

[Logzor]

Yep, any extra I throw down in my 5 gal bucket.

I keep them and chaeto alive with a HD light and reflector along with a 402 powerhead.

Xenia does not seem to thrive in those conditions but it keeps them healthy looking.

This system is independent.

 

[demonsp]

Its mixed on how xenia export nutrients.Light or from feeding or exporting from water volume.If you have any fish then theres nothing that compares to a skimmer or water changes. Reduce lighting time and food will help as with a HOB media filter with carbon and current tank condition.If water quality is high then little increases may not be seen.If water quality is borderline then this could cause trouble.

 

[Jenisiz]

Honestly when nitrates are a bit in the high zone I notice xenia seems to sprout much quicker. If say it does a fairly decent job in that category. But it can't do it all on its own. I have a lot of ornamental algea that does a great job. Could try that.

 

[Logzor]

What types of algae do you keep?

I tried dragons tongue, but my tang ate it.

 

[LJA]

WOW, please disregard my ignorant newb mentality regarding Xenia... But I can't help but be amazed that Xenia can aid in Nitrate export.

Approximately how much would be required to make a noticeable difference in a 29G tank moderately stocked that currently only utilizes natural filtration?

Are there any other corals either soft or LPS/SPS that can reduce nutrients and wont be harmed by slight Nitrate levels such as 5-10 PPM?

Thanks!

 

[Logzor]

Well I figure that corals have to eat too. In essence they filter the water. Most are not large enough to make an impact.

Since I was out of town and could not run my skimmer I let my xenia explode onto my back glass.

Now it is covering about 1/2 of the area of my back pane in my 55g tank. Only with this large mass of xenia am I noticing a possible difference.

So, it probably takes a ton of it to actually make a difference.

 

[ReefWreak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12795447#post12795447 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LJA

Are there any other corals either soft or LPS/SPS that can reduce nutrients and wont be harmed by slight Nitrate levels such as 5-10 PPM?

Thanks!

All corals utilize a small quantity of nitrate and phosphate, both nutrients that you do not want too much of in your tank. The only question is whether any coral absorbs a measurable or appreciable quantity of those nutrients from the water column. I can say with relative certainty that the answer to that is no. You cannot grow enough Xenia to noticeably reduce your nitrates.

That being said, I do know that you can absolutely ruin your tank by letting your xenia grow out, and then if they die. I know because it happened to me. I had a 24g nanocube filled with xenia, then added a chemical that killed them all within one week. I pulled out about half of them before they liquidated. From then on the tank always had high nitrates and phosphates, and I couldn't grow enough macroalgae, run enough phosban, or do enough water changes to keep the green hair algae from growing all over everything. All of my other corals got covered in GHA and most of them didn't survive, even with manual removal, biological removal (crabs, snails, etc), phosban, waterchanges, etc etc etc.

You can use a photosynthetic refugium to remove lower quantities of nitrate and phosphate. If either of those are too high (50+ for nitrate, don't know what's high for phosphate) then even algaes will have a hard time growing.

If you have higher levels of those things, you've got to first figure out what is causing them (usually over feeding, overstocking, or an immature tank), then reduce them with water changes or chemically over time, and make sure that you fix the condition that caused the higher nutrient levels in the first place. Growing xenia off of every surface isn't a good answer, at least not when you want something in your tank other than xenia, since the xenia will cover and choke and crawl over and on top of every other coral in your tank.

Hope that helps.

 

[LJA]

That did help ReefWreak, I wasn't planning on supporting mass quantities of Xenia in my tank although I would like a decent portion of it that I could routinly frag pieces from and sell to my LFS.

Currently I run a 29G with a 10G fuge and also have a 30G rubbermaid sump connected to the system. I have Cheatomorpha and Ulva macros in my fuge but have seen little grown in the past 2 weeks. I do have a new tank <3 months old, and my nitrates have remained around the 5ppm count for quite some time now. I would eventually like to run a skimmer but for now I will be using natural filtration. I just thought that there might be a way to attach a frag tank to not only reduce pollutants but also make money . Thanks for the advice!

 

[o.c.d.]

Anthony Calfo wrote about an aiptasia scrubber to help filter particulate laden and nutrient rich water, more for overfed or well fed fish systems. But how far off would xenia's uptake of nutrients be from an aptasia? There must be something to it, Calfo even used a full page for the diagram drawing on how to. I know aptasia scary very scary

 

[TulsaReefer]

Possibly better than aptasia are majano anemones. I had then spread pretty heavily over a long period of time, and during this time my nitrates were always relatively low even for a tank that is fed pretty heavy. Finally I decided to get rid of them, so I began a campaign to remove them all. They are pretty easy to pry off rocks with a big needle, and a little kalk injection gets them off otherwise. Well, I learned really quickly that taking a couple quarts (yes, couple quarts) of them out of my 110G tank really threw it off on nutrient export. Within a couple months my nitrates were heading up higher and higher. Finally got it all under control, but it still amazes me how efficient these little anemones were at both consuming excess food, and potentially processing excess nitrate. And if I were to do a filter like this, I might try them, they are much less scary if they do get lose in the tank, as they are much easier to control and get rid of. They also tend to fluoresce a little under actinics, so they are easy to find on rocks and can't hide as easily as aptasia.

I also grow pom pom xenia in my 29G that has a 10G sump, and while the tank hasn't had detectable nitrates (it's been set up about 6 months now) I do export them by taking them down to a local dealer and trading them in. One thing about xenia, it doesn't ship well, so many times stores are happy to buy it locally as it's a lot easier and cheaper on them than trying to ship it in. And it's really easy to get to stick on small rocks, cut it from where it is, then use some fine mesh net (bridal veil material, etc.) to hold it down next to the rock. Will usually attach to the rock in a couple days, gently remove the netting, give it a couple days to get nice and happy again, and off to the store to trade in. So if it does consume nitrate, it's fun to think that I'm trading my nitrates with my local store for credit...

 

[drstupid]

i thought xenia were almost completely autotrophic and lived mostly off of the by-products of photosynthesis.

 

[TulsaReefer]

Even if xenia was completely autotrophic and only needed light for energy, it would still need other materials to build tissue to allow it to grow. I'm guessing that it would need at least some nitrate and phosphate, though it may be debatable as to how much of these are really needed for growth.

 

[Logzor]

Well, if Xenia were auto trophic then it would not have those grabby hands. So it must be grabbing something from the water.

We could smash one up and test it in a gallon of fresh salt water. I am not sure if this would actually prove anything though.