more Xenia mystery

[don-n-sa]

Well lets add this to the mystery of the Pulsing Xenia.

My current 100g tank that hs been set up for about 10 months now has a few different types of Xenia in it...several colonies of elongata and a few of pom-pom. The elongata have been in my tank since the beginning. They pulsed like crazy for about 4-6 months and looked very healthy. Note that I started out skimmerless for the first 3 months. Most of the elongata stopped pulsing about 4 months ago and some of them have died off. The surviving colonies dont really pulse at all they just sway with the current, otherwise they look healthy. The pom-pom that I have I got from captexas I guessing three months ago or so have multiplied rapidly and have pulsed the whole time.

Ok now...I removed my skimmmer from my 100g last week so I could use the pump for large scale water mixing for my 240g. A few days ago it seems that the elongata have perked up considerably and started pulsing like crazy again. To top it off the pom-pom seems to have slowed!

Now I am really confused

I reaaly don't have a question here, just thought that I would share.

[Jenn]

My elongata has done about the same, sway with the current but all shriveled up. Unlike yours, they don't look real good. I have thought about getting them out of the tank, but they get taller when the lights come on so I feel guilty. I have 2 skimmers built in and can't remove them. I don't see how they could be the problem. Gary told me it could be the lighting - did you change any of yours?

[btacker]

My xenia looked really bad when I moved it from my 46 to my 110. I almost got rid of it, too, but I really like the way it moves and pulses.

So I kept it and started adding some Seachem Reef Plus. I don't know what it has, maybe Iodine, but the xenia really perked up after I added it for about 2 weeks. I would say that the xenia almost doubled in size. All the trunks are a lot thicker.

You might give it a try.

Here are some pictures

[DeAngelove]

Xenia is used by some reef keepers as a "natural" skimmer. Which would make sense... especially considering y'alls started to do better after pulling the skimmers off or adding trace elements.
There are several good articles out there on Xenia's use in nutrient export... I'll look for them and post them here if I find them.

Just my $0.02 for the day!
HTH :-D

[GaryP]

Denise hit the nail on the head. Xenia directly absorbs dissolved organics from the water. I've seen huge beds of Xenia near sewage outfalls in Indonesia. The other factor that effects their pulsing rate is pH. The higher the pH, the faster they pulse. My Xenia have been going crazy since I started dripping Kalk. I think the reason a lot of reefers have problems getting Xenia to grow is that they are over skimming or using a lot of carbon. All they need to thrive is dissolved organics and lots of light.

I don't know that much about the Pom Poms. They tend to be a lot more finicky than the common elongata.

Gary