Is this what you mean by splitting?

[mrg02d]

Galaxia packs a mean punch too.

My acan is like mike tyson tho. I could prolly rent him to you

Murder for hire.

One of my random acroporas fell on my montipora and stung the you know what out of it. Poor montipora has several bleached areas now.

Corals are mean!
Matt

 

[austinsdad]

My "farm" was actually my main tank. It was heavy. First, I had the elongata variety - very brownish and grew VERY fast. I didn't keep up with the harvesting like I should, it got too thick and crashed my 75g tank years ago. Took out every piece of coral and all inverts.

Then in my 155g, I tried the pom pom variety. More silvery looking and a lot prettier IMO. Grew slower too, which was a nice break.

But yes, if your LFS doesn't want it, gotta keep it thin and not too dense. That's where I got in trouble the first time. Toss it if you have to IMO.

 

[fshfrk58]

I agree just throw it away!

 

[cmor1701d]

I was pruning off the rocks at least once a month. If you don't get ALL of it, it will just grow back. I used a scapel to cut it at the base and then scrape the remnants off the rock. There's only so much you can give away and I don't know of any lfs that will take it. It's the weed of the aquarium world.

 

[capj64]

That's what I have, pom pom. It was pure white in the LFS, but under my lights it's pink. I direct fed it the other day and it stopped clapping, holding it's petals out as far as it could for a few seconds. It was so pretty. I'll just make sure that I keep it to a 3x3 section. I'll have to think about if I'll transfer it to my 150g.

How tall does the "stalk" get? Right now, when fully extended, it's about 1 1/2".

 

[pat8you]

My pom pom stayed relativly short. Maybe 2" or so.

 

[Jimbo7]

It should stay around that height if it gets adequate light, otherwise it will probably start stretching further out.

 

[mrg02d]

Some of mine got to over 3in long. Ugly tan color. They pull completely off the rocks if you pull with a sustained force rather than a jerk. I use stainless steel tweezers to grip the stalk near the base really good and then, pull. They pop off and sometimes come off in clumps (if your lucky). They smell terrible, so watch out.

They also release junk into the water, so just prune a little at a time and run carbon. When I first started the war against them, I was messy and careless. The tank got a bit cloudy and then things started going nuts. My corals closed up, fish were breathing heavy, and hermits stopped moving.

I had to quickly do an emergency PWC (thatll teach you to have water ready!) and go buy carbon. (Yepp, I was really unprepared) Later that night everything calmed down. Corals were open and fish were acting normal.

They wont spread if you banish them to the sand bed. Mine started there on a tiny piece of rock. I then thought it would be good to put this rock on the rest of the rocks. WOOPS!

I wouldnt consider having these unless they were an outstanding looking kind and had a large sandbed. (Which I dont).

Matt

 

[austinsdad]

Very good point about not pruning too much at a time. And the carbon filter. Excellent post Matt!

 

[mrg02d]

Very good point about not pruning too much at a time. And the carbon filter. Excellent post Matt!

 

[capj64]

So carbon, pull not jerk...should probably do right before a PWC...Got it

I love how it looks and would like it to be a little fuller, but I'll keep a good eye on it now that y'all have giving me all this info.

The tank I have it in is my 29g and it has crushed coral. It's the smaller of the crushed coral but it's not sand. Wonder if it would contain it like the sand did for you?

 

[capj64]

Ok, the split was a false alarm. My Pom Pom has completely moved up onto the rock's ledge. It was only tied to it's original rock by only a sliver and this morning it finally made it.

I think is still wants to split though because of the little nubs that it's forming on it's side.

These pics were taken a few days ago...

 

[lbannie]

Very cool pic! I have pulsing xenia too, Mine moved and left sort of a tail on the LR, now about a week later (on the end of the "tail") there are two new shoots popping up! Seems like it's trying to sever the end.....I was so excited that it was growing and that I must be doing this right!! Now it seems I've created more work in my tank!!

 

[capj64]

lbannie: Thanks I took the photo right after I'd fed it and all powerheads were turned off. I love how it opens up like that at feeding time...but I only get to feed twice a week.

Stay excited, I am...we'll just have to stay on top of it like they've said