sympodium care/requirements

[FateX8]

For all you sympodium owners, I was wondering if you guys could give me a little insight on what works for you. I'd like to get some but before I do, I just want to make sure I have everything dialed in to some degree. Pretty much, what I'm looking for is where do you have your sympodium and what parameters? Nutrient, flow and lighting conditions are what I'm really curious about on these guys. From what I've read, they're fairly slow growers and I'd like for it to cover the bottom or a wall maybe.
Thanks for any insight!

 

[fsu1dolfan]

From what i understand they are from the xenia family and are pretty easy to care for as long as your water is good. Drs. Foster and Smith Diver's Den - Sympodium sp.

 

[Electrobes]

Wow that is gorgeous.. where can I find one? Looks a lot like clove polyps, but realistically they are pretty similar in terms of care needs.

 

[LILBUDDHA]

They are condirered rare but that does not seem to be the case anymore . I have some . I care for it like xenia . Any LFS should readily be able to aquire them . The price should not be as high as the link posted above . I have one in my bare bottomed 17.5 gallon nano tank . (need to do a build thread on it ) . Skimmer and rock . Lighting is a 250 watt 20 k halide dimmed all the way . It is indeed a slow grower . It encrusts and spreads as it grows . I add vitamin c and lugos .

HTH

 

[ScubaJay]

I've had a few frags of this, some of which didn't fair so well from shipping, yet even for most that did survive shipping they still ended up shriveling away after several weeks. More recently I have had really good luck with a frag I've placed in moderate flow and medium/low light (I run a 4bulb t5 teklight, and run 2 MP40s at 1/3 power for flow - 100gal tank). It's entirely possible sympodium can thrive in other conditions but as it has been in my experience the frag I have now has doubled in size in the last couple months under those conditions, where as the previous frags which didn't melt right away but ultimately withered away were in typically more light and possibly less flow. Hope that helps.

 

[nata]

Mine is thriving under little flow shaded 400 watts..when i had a piece under open 250 watts halides it melted..

 

[FateX8]

so from what im gathering, lower light and moderate flow
ill give it a shot! i saw some at an lfs earlier today and wanted to try it out but wasnt sure on placement.
thanks for all the input!

 

[ladyreefer1983]

heres a short phone video i took of mine..i have both in the sandbed under 2x250w mh...one is receiving moderate flow and more light(smaller colony),and one(bigger colony) is getting low flow shaded by a frag rack....when i first got mine it took almost a week for it to fully open....
VIDEO0016.mp4 video by luisse1407 - Photobucket

 

[CJO]

Thanks for the hints. My LFS has some of these in too, but didn't seem too sure on their care.

CJ

 

[boeingn747]

so from what im gathering, lower light and moderate flow
ill give it a shot! i saw some at an lfs earlier today and wanted to try it out but wasnt sure on placement.
thanks for all the input!

I think you should rethink the lower light. Moderate flow is perfect. I would go with Moderate to high light. Something in the 150-200 par range. I have a nice size colony of blue sympodium growing. It's a few years old. I love that it is friendly and can share space with other friendly coral.