Adding pulsing xenia to my new tank

[Richard1999]

Get a sand-sifting conch. It'll take care of your sand bed for you.

Don't be disheartened if your xenia doesn't respond well in your Evo without a little fiddling and adjusting. Xenia loves to be blown around, and the Evo stock equipment doesn't give the tank a lot of flow. I'd get a small powerhead if you find flow to be insufficient.

I'm having some difficulty in keeping this coral myself in my Evo with stock lighting. I think it's just too bright, or perhaps has the wrong spectrum for it. I have an out-of-control Xenia problem in one tank with broken lighting, and it's doing well (maybe a little too well) in another tank with cheap lighting off of Amazon, so it may just prefer lower PAR.

ah yes! And yah I don't use the white lights on my Evo tank i find that algae grows super fast if they are on. I just leave the blue lights on and one day ill hopefully buy one of those custom lids for the tank and buy new lighting but I don't wanna start experimenting until I have the basics of coral care down...Just gluing the frags to the rocks was extremely hard for me XD

 

[davidcalgary29]

Just gluing the frags to the rocks was extremely hard for me XD

Just remember: gel cyanoacrylate "superglue" combined with coral putty make things much easier. You can also mount encrusting frags on the glass itself if you want a cool backdrop.

 

[Richard1999]

Just remember: gel cyanoacrylate "superglue" and coral putty make things much easier. You can also mount encrusting frags on the glass itself if you want a cool backdrop.

yah i used the brs blue kit with their glue and apparently everyone says how horrible the glue is. I learned the hard way since i got glue all over my fingers, towels, my shirt, my floor, and i had so much problems trying to glue them down (didn't help I was scared of handling these corals since they are very toxic). I had to take rocks out of the tank just to get them to glue down. I am such a noob. But hopefully these corals will thrive and really explode. I might invest in a wave maker since I want to get pulsing xenias to, and i heard they like some flow.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Corals appear different under different lightings. The lfs has lighting meant to bring out the best possible colors - don’t be surprised if you don’t get the same results in your tank.

 

[davidcalgary29]

yah i used the brs blue kit with their glue and apparently everyone says how horrible the glue is. I learned the hard way since i got glue all over my fingers, towels, my shirt, my floor, and i had so much problems trying to glue them down (didn't help I was scared of handling these corals since they are very toxic). I had to take rocks out of the tank just to get them to glue down. I am such a noob. But hopefully these corals will thrive and really explode. I might invest in a wave maker since I want to get pulsing xenias to, and i heard they like some flow.

They like a lot of flow. Like "almost blown off the rock" flow. You won't see the pulsing that much with that type of flow, but the polyps love it.

And I can't over-recommend gloves. They really do make reefing tasks that much easier.

 

[Unitylover]

ah yes! Just wondering should I still vacuum sand each time I do a water change if I have snails which will eat all the poop and left over food in the sand? Sorry for all the noob questions. Just really wanna take care of these amazing creatures!

you still have to vacuum, as that much of a CUC wont clean the sandbed perfectly.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I recommend getting a really good cuc.
Pistol shrimp and nassarius snails kept my sand spotless and I never had to vacuum.

 

[Richard1999]

I recommend getting a really good cuc.
Pistol shrimp and nassarius snails kept my sand spotless and I never had to vacuum.

Yah I currently have a few snails but I think one of them may be dead since it’s shell just sits in 1 spot. It’s the one on the left in the sand. I have found a bristle worm and some weird slug like creature crawling around (which could be the snail). I am really stressed with how maybe creatures got in the tank without me knowing. There’s even some weird plant like creature growing on the rock that the micro algae came with….I am extremely stressed and I have no clue what to do

 

[Sharkbait19]

Hitchhikers will come in on all sorts of rock, frags, or algae. Most are harmless - best thing to do is ride it out and research the different types of marine invertebrates. There is a good hitchhiker guide on here. The ones you can’t ID, post and we can try to figure it out. Definitely send pics of what you see so we can confirm. Some slugs can be dangerous. The worm I see is a regular old bristleworm - harmless and you probably have a lot more.
The other plant like thing is likely just another algae that came with it, probably nothing to worry about unless it gets out of control.
I’ve had turbo snails do that a lot, bury. They always come out eventually but do frequently die.

 

[Richard1999]

Hitchhikers will come in on all sorts of rock, frags, or algae. Most are harmless - best thing to do is ride it out and research the different types of marine invertebrates. There is a good hitchhiker guide on here. The ones you can’t ID, post and we can try to figure it out. Definitely send pics of what you see so we can confirm. Some slugs can be dangerous. The worm I see is a regular old bristleworm - harmless and you probably have a lot more.
The other plant like thing is likely just another algae that came with it, probably nothing to worry about unless it gets out of control.
I’ve had turbo snails do that a lot, bury. They always come out eventually but do frequently die.

Ok thanks for you help, I just really don’t want this tank to fail I invested nearly 1500 dollars. And truly i love all the creatures in it and I really don’t want this to blow up in my face

 

[Unitylover]

yeah snails are cool, but a few die in the first day

 

[Richard1999]

yeah snails are cool, but a few die in the first day

should I remove them or keep them in the tank if they die? I do have like 4 other snails, and a bristle worm thingy in there

 

[Sharkbait19]

should I remove them or keep them in the tank if they die? I do have like 4 other snails, and a bristle worm thingy in there

If you spot them dead, remove. Usually cuc gets to them before you do though. Hermit crabs are good for a reason.
Snails tend to acclimate poorly so there is some die off early on. Turbos actually come from cooler water than we keep them in so that contributes to dying early.

 

[Richard1999]

If you spot them dead, remove. Usually cuc gets to them before you do though. Hermit crabs are good for a reason.
Snails tend to acclimate poorly so there is some die off early on. Turbos actually come from cooler water than we keep them in so that contributes to dying early.

Yah all the other snails are moving around and fine even that one was happy as a bee untill yesterday I haven’t seen it move since

 

[dvgyfresh]

Yah I currently have a few snails but I think one of them may be dead since it’s shell just sits in 1 spot. It’s the one on the left in the sand. I have found a bristle worm and some weird slug like creature crawling around (which could be the snail). I am really stressed with how maybe creatures got in the tank without me knowing. There’s even some weird plant like creature growing on the rock that the micro algae came with….I am extremely stressed and I have no clue what to do

Good luck on the tank! Great way to track progress and have a place for people to tag along is a build thread, love the macro algae also just kno the snails are most likely going to eat it , I had turbos eat dragons breath overnight

 

[Unitylover]

should I remove them or keep them in the tank if they die? I do have like 4 other snails, and a bristle worm thingy in there

remove any if they die, since they give off ammonia

 

[Richard1999]

remove any if they die, since they give off ammonia

Yah so none died from what I seen they just are really enjoying the food but my corals aren’t looking so well. When I saw them like this when I got home I did a 1.5 gallon water change and replaced the bag of carbon with a fresh one. Should I just start doing 2 water changes a week with al these snails pooping. Every time I do a water change I add a capful of this bottle. Is there anything I can give the corals to make them happier? I sm extremely stressed after seeing 1 coral not open and thr 2nd coral with that melting look

 

[Unitylover]

I don't really know much about corals, so take this with a grain of salt, but I don't think it's melting

 

[Richard1999]

I don't really know much about corals, so take this with a grain of salt, but I don't think it's melting

yah it’s ok whenever in doubt do a water change! I believe that’s ok for a tank like this, the corals are really responding well to the water change the closed buds opened up

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’d leave the corals be for now. They are adjusting, some polyps may not make it but the majority will. Zoas are hardy.