New Reefer

RayReefer

RayReefer

New Member
Hi there I am a new reefer and have had my tank set up for a little over a month. I have an Organ Pipe, Purple Cespitularia, Grooved Brain, Sea Whip, Nuclear and Superman Zooanthids, Pink-tip Anemone, Hammer Coral, Green-star Polyp and just added a waving hands xenia. I also have an Spiny-Star Astria, 2 Sexy Anemone Shrimp, and a Peppermint Shrimp. All seem to be doing well except the Waving hands, we just added him 3 days ago. He still has his color but just sits there sorta limp and not pulsing.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
welcomefish.gif

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics :dance:

I had to google "waving hand coral" (Anthelia sp.)

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+599+694&pcatid=694

I do see them listed as difficult... hopefully others can advise

Care Level: Difficult
 
Big Pete

Big Pete

Active Member
Hi RayReefer

welcome along, don't be afraid to ask all sorts of dumb ass questions, there is a wealth of information here from reefers that have been doing it for years, if fact 40 yrs + in the case of PaulB, believe me if someone on this forum does not have the answer I will pay you 100 bucks.

how's that for confidence!!!

seriously though there is a wealth of knowledge here so please do not be afraid to use it.

right then its back to you.

cheers

Big Pete
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Xenia is a funny coral, often failing or doing well for reasons that can be hard to determine. They do seem to like flow. They also tend to loose the "chemical warfare" battle corals wage with each other.

Your coral is still too new to worry about, give it a chance. They are also very sensitive to being moved and the acclimation for them should be especially slow. If your not doing it now, you might want to use some carbon filtration in the system.

Soon enough it will either grow all over the place like a weed, or shrivel up and die. There usually isn't much "just doing ok" with xenia.
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Hello there RayReefer. Welcome. Just so you know I have a bunch of xenia that were doing great for a year, now just today they look like glue and are sticking to the rock. Sometimes these things happen. The only bit of advice I would give you at this time is to pump your brakes a little. Your new tank is no where near cycled no matter what your test kit reads and we don't want you to lose a lot of money in livestock all at once. But things happen fast in a new tank and those things are not usually good things. But it will all work out
 
Blue Space

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
How are things looking today Ray? If I notice that a coral is not looking its best the first thing I do is run the usual battery of tests...

Salinity - Test Weekly... Should be 27 to 35 ppt. or a specific gravity of 1.020 - 1.026. I maintain my reef tank at a salinity of 33-34 ppt. I recommend getting a refractometer to measure salinity instead of using a cheap hydrometer to measure specific gravity.

PH - Test weekly (or daily if having issues)... Shoot for a stable PH between 8.1 - 8.4.

Ammonia or NH3 - Test monthly... or if you notice something wrong. Should be zero.

Nitrites or NO2 - Test monthly... or if you notice something wrong. Should be zero.

Nitrates or NO3 - Test weekly... Should be less than (<) .2 ppm (parts per million). Basically, when this starts to rise it's time to do a water change.

Alkalinity or dKH - Test weekly... your alkalinity will determine the ability to maintain a stable PH. The lower your alkalinity the less stable your PH will be. It also helps keep your Ca levels stable. Shoot for 7-11 dKH.

Ca or Calcium - Test daily if you've just added corals to the system. Then weekly once you determine how much to dose to keep the value between 420-450 you can then test weekly to monitor depletion.

Mg or Magnesium - Test weekly... Mg is depleted by every living thing in your aquarium. It also has a direct correlation to keeping your Ca and dKH stable. Should be 1200-1400 ppm.

PO4 or Phosphates - Shoot for <0.05 ppm.You need "some" PO4 or your corals would starve. Any PO4 above that will degrade the coral's ability to utilize calcium and fuel nuisance algae.

If you think I came up with all of this after years of testing and experimentation you'd be mistaken.... This was my "go to" site when I first started in the reef hobby. Hope this helps.
 
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RayReefer

RayReefer

New Member
hey there guys I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get backto you but I have lost several corals recently, among those included were the waving hands Xenia, and the torch coral
 
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