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Rijinals
05/17/2007, 11:57 AM
I purchased a good piece of Xenia about a month ago. Its is pinky silvery. I put it high up in the tank. I looked cool for about a week but lately it is really small and does not come out! Water parameters are all a ok. I need help so:-

1) How much current should be on it? Loads, Medium, Low.

2) How do I keep it flourishing?

3) Any other tips?

Kaiser Tang
05/17/2007, 12:09 PM
Xenia likes lots of light. It will do best directly under halides. Also, Xenia likes very nutrient rich water. What kind of lighting do you have?

Rijinals
05/17/2007, 12:10 PM
I have T8's

seapug
05/17/2007, 12:10 PM
They typically either do "too well" or horrible in a tank. "Ok" water parameters might not be good enough. Give it good strong light and moderate current and make sure a bristleworm isn't chewing on it at night (seen that before). Once it gets established it will survive a nuclear explosion.

Rijinals
05/17/2007, 12:18 PM
well its really doing my head in now! it looked ace in the shop and now it looks pants!

Kaiser Tang
05/17/2007, 12:40 PM
I doubt T8s are going to cut it. Try to put it as high in the tank as possible. The closer you can get it to those T8s the better! Mine does really well, but its at the water's surface and right under a MH that is 10' above the water. I have other Xenia that is at the bottom of the tank and does not do near as well.

conorwynne
05/17/2007, 01:03 PM
I can vouch for high nutient levels causing xenia sp. to grow mental.
But this also aids nuisance algae.

Once I sorted out my water params (more frequent water changes), the xenia explosion receeded.

I actually threw out buckets of the stuff, and lots more to the shops.
I still have lots of it growing up the left side glass - on coraline, but at least it has stopped reaching out and attaching nearby LR.

I removed tons of xenia "infested" LR to the hospital tank, which has no lighting other than that coming through the window, yet it's growing anyway, albeit more slowly. I think target feeding yours might help - oh and what does "water params are ok" actually mean?

Later
Conor.

Kaiser Tang
05/17/2007, 01:13 PM
You do have to find the right balance of having nutrient rich water but not too rich.

cowboyswife
05/17/2007, 01:22 PM
I have T5 lights, and my xenia are growing like weeds. Mine is down at the bottom of the tank, in medium flow, and I feed DTs phytoplankton every few days. People say that xenia behavior can kind of show you what your parameters are. Exact numbers for your parameters would help us help you. How often are you doing water changes?

Rijinals
05/18/2007, 12:34 AM
Just checked my ph! It is at 7.8! I reckon thats stunting the growth abit!
Would you concur?

chris4869
05/19/2007, 12:03 AM
I've had a really bad infestation of xenia before. They took over half of my tank. I couldn't give/sell them fast enough.

My water parameter was pretty bad then, and the zenia loves it. I find that it likes high lighting and grows either in low or high PH but prefers lower PH. It dissolves when my dKH was really high (overdose with Kent Pro-Buffer dKH).

I feed Kent PhytoPlex once a week and dose with Iodine when I had the outbreak of zenia.

It's under control now with better skimming and virtually no feeding of Phyto or dosing with Iodine.

Maybe you should start dosing with Iodine and feed it Phyto. =)