Pulsating Xenia Owners?

[SeeDemTails]

I just put my first peice of coral in my tank, a small clump of three heads of pulsating xenia. They are doing great, and they are open and pulsating at most times......

My first question is it normal for it to open and close sporadically throughout the day, and night? I can see it pulsating under my moon lights, all night long.

Sometimes it two of the heads will be open and one will be closed, then it will open and another one will close, they are only closed for about 20 minutes at a time.

A couple more questions: How long does it take it to grow? And how ofter should I feed it and what should I feed it?

I want it to do well and grow as fast as possible.

It is under a 96 watt CF in my 10 gal, which gives it 9.6 watts per gallon. I have it high right under the lights too! Is this too much light?

TIA!

Billy

 

[Hara]

all that is normal. Do not worry about feeding it. It will feed from what is in the water column. Mine sits at the water line too...in fact, you might enjoy the two pictures here..
http://www.fantasyreef.com/showthread.php?t=921

 

[SeeDemTails]

Very impressive!

How long did it take to grow that much?

Also, when it gets that close to the water level....how do you do water changes?....does it hurt the xenia?....or can it be exposed for a second?

 

[Hara]

it gets whacked back monthly, but it has been growing for 3 years up there. They are totally out of the water about 20 minutes when I do a water change. They dont suffer for it apparently.

 

[MarineFlake]

If your tank is in decent shape, the stuff will become a weed..I think its really hair algea in sheeps clothing : ) That is to say, if the tanks in good shape, you'll be trimming it regularly in a couple months time.

Peace.

 

[Scoot]

I just picked up a tiny cluster of them too - 5 or 6 stalks I think (a couple bucks at the LFS). They seem to close up every few hours, for a bit, then open up again. I think my current in the fuge where they're at is too strong to really see them pulse though... working on that.

 

[Tex]

For what it's worth......I got a few very small stalks on some live rock a few months ago. It's growing prolifically and spreading to other rocks. It seems quite happy. Towards the end of the day and the end of the light cycle it seems to close up as if to say "I've had enough sunshine, going to bed, see ya in the morning".

 

[SeeDemTails]

Yeah, I moved mine away from the current and they open much wider, and pulse much faster....

I love to watch these corals.....IMO they are the coolest I have seen.

 

[abnmojo]

these things are strange. They can grow like weeds for months and then die back all of a sudden, when everything else in the tank is doing just fine. I got ONE frag about a year ago, and they grew until there were almost a dozen of them. I had to move some rock arround the tank, and shortly there after they died back and I only had 6. Over the next several months, I was back up to a dozen again, but as of last week they seem to be in 'die back' mode, and it looks like I lost a few.

I like them, but I still have not figured them out.