Drooping Xenia

[matthew_k]

I purchased a xenia about a week ago, and it looked ok for a while. After realizing that my flame angel was eating the xenia, i traded the flame angel for a coral beauty (which i later realizied might be just as bad, keepiong fingers crossed), and some polip frags. Question though, the flame angel did some damage to the xenia. Now that he is gone will my xenia stop drooping? It has it's arms out, just not pulsating too much. The xenia has been droopy though. He is placed at the top of the tank, and i have compact flourescent (4X65) lighting it. Is that too much light for it? What could the drooping mean, and what can i do to improve it?

 

[Aquascaper]

What is the flow like where the Xenia is?
What are your tank parameters?

They prefer moderate to good flow to pulse properly and are generally pretty hardy (more like a weed than a coral) so I doubt the Flame did too much damage.

 

[matthew_k]

There is enough of a flow to blow the arms around abit. The specs are as follows: sal:1.025,ph:8.1, nitrates:0, Nitrites:0. Should the proper flow for the xenia blow the xenia around? Also, could too much light cause the xenia to not pulse and droop? All other corals fine, and i feed them all phytoplankton.

 

[Chac]

Persoanlly I would have kept the Flame over the Xenia

'orrible stuff

 

[matthew_k]

Nitrates:0
Nitrites:0
pH: 8.1
Salinity: 1.025

Feed the xenia along with other corals phytoplankton every day. The xenia gets enough flow to blow arms around a bit. Xenia is barely pulsing and is very droopy. Could it be too close to the light? How much flow it too much, because i know they can be blow around easily. THe Xenia is located at the top of the rocks, next to the flow coming from the protein skimmer. What should i do?

 

[matthew_k]

When the white lights are turned off and just the blue are on, the xenia seems to perk up more and pulse a little more. Is this a sure sign that it's too high up on the tank now, and the light is overkill?

And about the keeping the flame angel, i am trying to slowly turn the tank into a reef tank, where that flame angel was out of the question. It was a very agressive one

 

[crazyelece]

From my research xenia loves as much light as it can get so I wouldn't worry about that. When I first got my xenia it all but shriveled up and died. Now (over a month later) it is thriving. Pulsing and everything. Most people in our local club keep xenia as a warning coral. Similar to miners keeping butterflies, the xenia will tell you when the tank conditions are turning south but early enough to fix any problem before its out of control. Keep watching your params and if they all check out it should come back fine.

 

[matthew_k]

From my research xenia loves as much light as it can get so I wouldn't worry about that.

What type of lighting schedule if one at all for keeping corals do you suggest? I normally leave the blue lights on for 30 min to 1hour before turning the white lights as well. They are all on for about 11hours, then white lights are on for anothe 2hours before just havin moon lights on. THe xenia always seems to perk up and pulse a little more once the white lights are turned off for the night. That is why i though it might be a little close to the lights. By the way, i have an Orbit USA Compact Flourscent lighting system (4X65) for 120 gallon tank.

 

[Aquascaper]

I had a 400w halide, 72w T8 Marine White & 72w T8 Actinic Blue over my 120g and the Xenia went mental, as Crazyelece says, light is not the issue here but maybe water quality.

One of the most important things to learn when keeping a reef is how to 'read' your corals. They are very sensitive and can tell you a lot about your water conditions just from sight. Once you learn that skill you can know by looking at your tank what's going on in there, I know one person who has been reefkeeping for over 20 years and he never uses test kits as he has a vast knowledge of his corals and can tell if somethings wrong just by watching their behaviour.

All corals react to different water conditions in different ways so it is very important to research the corals you have thoroughly so that you can learn to read them.

 

[Chac]

One of the most important things to learn when keeping a reef is how to 'read' your corals.

All corals react to different water conditions in different ways so it is very important to research the corals you have thoroughly so that you can learn to read them.

This is something I am guilty of, not testing my tank parameters very often, but as A says you get to know your Livestock and how they react to there enviroment and you can spot any problems throught them

I wouldnt advice this for a newbie, saying that when I first started I used to test my tank all the time - think I got a bit paranoid about it

 

[crazyelece]

light schedule should be:
moon lights on 24/7
acitinics on before daylight by at least 30 mins
daylights on somewhere between 8-12 hours (your preferance)
daylights off
acitinics off at least 30 mins after daylight

My nano's schedule is moon on 24/7, acitinics and daylights are together due to 50/50 bulbs and come on at 1:00pm and turn off at 11:00pm

My 120 gal FOWLR schedule is moon on 24/7, acitinics come on at 8:00am off at 11:00pm, daylights come at 10:am off at 9:00pm