Xenia sump

Bobber351C · Apr 8, 2020

My tank has been loving the xenia farm! No issues with it getting back to my main either!

GoVols · Apr 8, 2020

Looks great!!

Met an old timer on Reef Central and Xenia was all that he ran in his fuge.

He said that it had been that way for years and was never going back to cheato.

Thanks for taking the time to share!!

Phildago · Apr 8, 2020

I don't understand the xenia though. Isn't the whole idea of a fuge nutrient export? Xenia can't be easy to export. Right?

GoVols · Apr 8, 2020

Phildago said:
I don't understand the xenia though. Isn't the whole idea of a fuge nutrient export? Xenia can't be easy to export. Right?

It sucks up (and holds in) nutrients, big time, and can trim it back like cheato

Phildago · Apr 8, 2020

GoVols said:
It sucks up (and holds in) nutrients, big time, and can trim it back like cheato

But once the sump is full, wouldn't the nutrient consumption drop off?

Seahorse man · Apr 8, 2020

Phildago said:
But once the sump is full, wouldn't the nutrient consumption drop off?

I would just assume you could just remove about half the xenia and give it room to grow. You might even be able to sell the xenia if you really wanted to.

Phildago · Apr 8, 2020

Seahorse man said:
I would just assume you could just remove about half the xenia and give it room to grow. You might even be able to sell the xenia if you really wanted to.

That's actually where my mind went. It'd be very practical if you could sell it. But I wouldn't want to make a mes cutting it up and then it getting sucked into the display.. I would simply want to remove the rock, but rocks cost money and it makes it less practical, unless you can sell it.

But, is it ethical to sell xenia? I had it as a beginner reefer and my relationship went from loving it to it being a nightmare to get rid of pretty quick

Seahorse man · Apr 8, 2020

Bobber351C said:
My tank has been loving the xenia farm! No issues with it getting back to my main either!

Just curious, it looks like you have several other types of coral in your xenia garden, how well has that been working?

Seahorse man · Apr 8, 2020

Phildago said:
That's actually where my mind went. It'd be very practical if you could sell it. But I wouldn't want to make a mes cutting it up and then it getting sucked into the display.. I would simply want to remove the rock, but rocks cost money and it makes it less practical, unless you can sell it.

But, is it ethical to sell xenia? I had it as a beginner reefer and my relationship went from loving it to it being a nightmare to get rid of pretty quick

I'm not sure if you could sell it, xenia is extremely rare to find in my area, and is actually really hard for me to find online, I'd be extremely excited if I had the opportunity to buy some for a reasonable price, so my opinion on it is fairly skewed.

Phildago · Apr 8, 2020

Seahorse man said:
I'm not sure if you could sell it, xenia is extremely rare to find in my area, and is actually really hard for me to find online, I'd be extremely excited if I had the opportunity to buy some for a reasonable price, so my opinion on it is fairly skewed.

Its so beautiful...but it's so aggressive that it's almost like having aptasia in your tank. If there's a market for it, I might be setting up a frag tank soon and would consider growing some and selling for cheap. As long as people understand how aggressive it is... Because when I first had it, they sold it to me like it was just like any other piece

Bobber351C · Apr 8, 2020

Seahorse man said:
Just curious, it looks like you have several other types of coral in your xenia garden, how well has that been working?

Green plays have been holding there own any acros I put in there will get over taken but it's mainly a farm for my clowns and nutrient export. Also I've always loved xenia even after I had to tear down 2 tanks that got completely over run with it lol . However I couldn't bear to get rid of it completely so if ended up in the pond lol. It does drink down the nitrates almost too much. There pretty much flat lined at zero so I have to feed pretty heavy or stop running the skimmer for weeks at a time.

DangerDave · Apr 8, 2020

do they take up phosphates on a measurable scale?

Bobber351C · Apr 9, 2020

0 phosphates as well

Victor_C3 · Apr 9, 2020

I’ve seen the same idea, but with aptasia serving as the filter feeder. That’s kind of what I hope will happen in part of my sump.

I really would love to keep a CBB and I figure he’d help the display free of aptasia.

I’m going to rethink things and maybe go with Xenia.

Bobber351C · Apr 9, 2020

Xenia is great u just have to pay attention what else u put in there not that your trying to keep multiple things with it. Once it starts growing it spreads like wildfire lol. Its nice too if there is something major going on in the tank the xenia will shrivel up and let u know something isn't right.