pulsating xenia

[michealprater]

i put my xenia in the calmest spot in my tank (with adequate lighting) and it hasnt pulsed a lick. any suggestions. how hardy are these corals?

 

[Alf]

Xenia wants some good current, it will help spead up pulsing. What kind of Xenia do you have? there are types that do not pulse.
Some very important factors with xenia Is: alk she like a higher alk level, SG she likes an SG around 1.024 to 1.025, . The more intence the lighting is, the fast she will pulse.

How long have you had this? they take a few days to acclimate to a new enviroment.

 

[Alf]

I pulled this from a thread a few months back on some test I did with Xenia maybe this will help.

I grow Xenia In many different conditions. As to test what she does and does not like and how she reacts.

salinity swings: Xenia hates this, in low salinity[1.017] I have found her to slow or stop pulsing all together, also the xenis tends to look real skinny, in higher salinity[1.025] I observed a faster pulse, and a more robust look.

PH: I have found very little difference in the xenia from 8.0 to 8.4.

Iodine: I don't dose this stuff at all any more but I did try it for a while to see what a difference it would make because I have seen many people ref. to this as a need for her. After 4 months of this test I found no change.

Alk: at a low alk[6dkh] I found the xenia to also slow in pulse and skinny up after several weeks of at this level after raising up to 8dkh I found it would fatten up some and pulse would increase. and even better results at 10.5 dkh.

Lighting: this must be one of the major factors I have wittiness in xenia's behavior other than Alk and SG. Under 84 watts of pc as close to the light as she can get it would skinny up and pulse would be very minimal if any at all. with all other parameters at there peak. Under 110 watts of PC at the same depth as the first set of lights I would fine a little more robust but not much and pulse would increase somewhat. Under 300 w of PC at same level xenia would seem to really pick up the pace and fatten up. But still a little off from what I think is her best look. Placed the same colony under 400MH with 110 PC supplementation and this thing is gourgous. Nice fat& happy, pulse was a rate of 90MPH.
Growth was mush slower at lower light levels then in Higher light levels.

Current: I find that the overall look of health was no different from slow current to heavy current, but the pulsing would slow some in slower current and speed up in faster current.

These are test that I ran just to see what she would do under different conditions.

So in summary I would say that SG, Alk, and Lighting have a lot to do with health and growth and pulsing action and that current only effected pulsing action. HTH JMO and JME