Xenia in the refugium?
So, I picked up a 75 gallon tank, completely set up, as a mixed reef. There's tons of Xenia in it, most attached to rubble rock. There's also lots of room in the sump. My plan is to turn this tank into more of an SPS tank, though it'll still have some LPS. I'm considering placing all of the rubble rocked Xenia in the sump, to act as filtration. However, I figured I'd come here first, for advice!
Good idea? Bad idea? |
Bad idea IMHO. Allelopathy would be a concern, and it wouldn't act as a "filter" unless you harvested a portion periodically.
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B) To the OP, As much as we may think of xenia as a 'weed' it is a coral and an animal not a plant. It will process food and give off waste which is NOT what you are looking for. If you don't want it, sell it off to newbie reefers on CraigsList. |
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Not a crazy idea, it's actually been tried before:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php Xenia isn't the best for nutrient export, but if your nutrients are too low to support macro, I don't see why it couldn't be used for this purpose. Yes, you would have to harvest/ remove xenia for this to work. One caveat: Xenia consumes trace elements like iodine & mg, so you would want to watch out for that. Maybe have to dose these every once on awhile. Lots of people keep xenia & sps in the same tank, so I think it'd be feasible. |
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There are people who run xenia or aptasia filters and as with anything if done correctly would be of little concern. |
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http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...YRDb6F5oMMP-cw Science is still learning about the substances produced by soft corals, and like the link above, many of these substances don't have names yet. Many have yet to be isolated. It is common in soft corals to produce allelopathic substances. If you would like to learn more about this, simply google "soft coral toxin", and you will find plenty of reading. This should also make it clear that having "tons of Xenia" in a system dedicated to stony corals would be a concern. |
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All interesting feedback. To be honest, I'm familiar with Allelopathy, among many soft corals, but was unaware that Xenia was one of the soft corals to be concerned about. I guess I should have worded my initial post a bit better, as well. I'd NOT be putting "a ton" of Xenia in my fuge. Also, if I were to do this, I'd "harvest" Xenia, from the fuge, as it grows.
Still haven't decided if I'm going to try this or not, but it is still something I'm contemplating. |
do you need to supplment with Iodine?
is that for all Xenia or just the pulsating kind.....
thanks, ~Y |
I was told that if you have the pulsing xenia you will have to make sure that you are dosing with iodine. I have also heard the there is really no such thing as pulsing and nonpulsing they are the same just based on the elements they will act different! this is just what I have heard!
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I have a fair bit of Xenia in my fuge. I also have far more than I'd like to in the DT. I've been running this way for a year and a half or so with no ill effects.
FWIW, my routine is to pull Xenia from the DT and dump it in the fuge. When I feel like there's too much in the fuge, I pull it and then trade/sell/give it away. I don't know whether it's doing any good, but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything. |
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