Pulsing Xenia not opening

[Saratj1]

Got a few coral frags the other day and most are doing ok, but the pulsing Xenia has not been open since after the first day.
My water parameters are good, sg 1.024 , temp 78.3 , ammo 0, nitrite 0 nitrate <10 , dkh 8, cal. 400.

I did glue the Xenia to a rock with super glue gel. And it is kinda close to a birds nest which seems to be doing great.
My zoas are not opening up very often either, but bubble coral, birds nest, moni, acro, mushrooms, and button polyps all seem to be doing well, I have 4x t5ho's 24w each 2x420nm, 2x460nm , and a 250w metal halide with a 15k Phoenix bulb.


View attachment 88110

 

[Mrc8858]

Did you put the glue directly on the polyp itself or was it on a frag plug..also your salinity could be raised slightly along with you calcium and 10 ppm nitrates is starting to get high for a reef tank

 

[AquaRick]

How high up the tank is your Xenia and Zoas? What kind of light were they under at the LFS?

 

[Saratj1]

I glued the polyps themselves. They were not attached to anything. I've been raising my salinity ever so slightly by adding a little salt to my top off water. The nitrates when I test it I get an ever so slight reaction, and I meant less than 5, I thought 10 was the first mark on the test kit, So I'd say between 0-5 for the nitrates.

 

[Saratj1]

They were under a custom led fixture at the lfs. I have them A little less than half way up the tank, I moved them up from the bottom to see if that would help. I have a 30'' deep tank.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Some tanks grow Xenia like weeds, some don't. They are very conscious of the flow patterns in your tank. Mine like turbulent flow and only grows in my algae turf scrubber. It won't grow in the display tank well. It may still grow even if it doesn't pulse. I think they will accept a broad range of lighting, but flow seems to be the big thing with them.

 

[Mrc8858]

You shouldn't glue them use a rubberband or something to hold them in place and they will attach themselves in just a couple days..most xenias won't do well in a tank suitable for sps corals due to low nutrients so that may be a cause for no pulsing but id bet its your flow...put them in a medium to high light area with high flow and give them a day or 2... On a side note how did you recieve them because my understanding is they are very difficult to transport compared to most corals which will effect there pulsing which is why they sometimes don't have arrive alive guarantee on a lot of sites

 

[Gregcoyote]

Xenias are famous for crashing suddenly. They can be growing huge and one day they are gone. They are sensitive to salinity changes and many other factors. As I said earlier, they are either a weed or something that will not grow. The pulsing is a direct result of flow IMO. I can make mine pulse by just placing it under the dump bucket in my scrubber. I harvest about half a square foot of it a month and sell it at the LFS. It would not grow at all in the display tank with the same exact water conditions.

 

[Saratj1]

Thanks for the replies, I will try and adjust the flow, they may not be getting much where they are now. I transported them, from the lfs in the cab of my truck, in a bag of water like fish it may have been under slight pressure, in a styrofoam cooler, for about a 45-60min ride. I dipped them and put them directly at the bottom of the tank on the sand, but they were being blown around by the flow, so I found a good rock and glued them on, I thought about the rubber band but I thought the glue may be better b/c the rubber band I thought may hurt the plant due to it going across many of the middle of the polyps. I thought with glue any damage would be to a few polyps around the outside because that's where I applied the glue.