New Xenia: How to secure to LR?

ServingAces15 · 02/04/2017, 07:42 PM

Hey guys, I'm new to ReefCentral but part of other forums. I recently started my first reef tank a few months ago and just bought my first 2 corals. One was a green star polyp which has acclimated very well to my tank. The other was a steal. At $10 I got a bunch of pulsing xenia and a few button polyps that were a stowaway on the frag. My LFS frags their corals onto eggcrate instead of plugs, which brings my question. What is the best was to sanction this off and attach it to my rock? I've attached a picture to put a visual to my words. Thanks.

themagicman · 02/05/2017, 11:25 AM

Your best bet IMO is to cut off a stalk and put it in a small glass bown full of rubble. Place this somewhere in the tank where it won't get blown away and wait for it to attach. Once it's attached to a piece of rubble then you can secure this anywhere you want. Be careful with this stuff though. It has been known to become quite a pest and spread throughout many tanks over the years.

jayball · 02/08/2017, 08:45 AM

X2 on be careful about the spread.

For Xenia I like to snip it off low and run a needle and thread through it. Then you tie the thread around or super glue the thread to rubble. you can then pull the thread out in a few days to a couple weeks after it attaches. Looking at your pictures you may need to wait for it to grow longer stalks for my technique.

crawlerman · 02/08/2017, 02:16 PM

You could just let that piece of egg crate sit there for a month and the rock will be covered in it. The stuff spreads like a weed. So does the green star polyp. It may seem like that's what you want now, but you will regret letting it spread too much. Try to keep them isolated.

Optionman · 02/10/2017, 11:47 AM

the Xenia in this photo is just 70% of what's in my tank after adding a single small frag 7 months ago.

live and learn!

Fizzman · 02/11/2017, 01:22 AM

Lol, they didn't frag it on the egg crate, they left a frag there too long and it got everywhere on the egg crate. It was faster to just make another rack than scrape them off, plus it will still come back.
+1 on leaving the egg crate on a rock u want the xenia to be on and in about 2months they would be all over that rock. Then u can take that rack out and sell it back to the Lfs for store credit, probably 1/3 of what u paid, but hey that's still better than nothing. Trade for water or something

Notquiterite · 02/11/2017, 01:26 AM

I had this overtake my tank as well, to the point that I spent every weekend trying to kill off as much as I could as it was growing onto my other corals. I eventually gave up lol. Now that I have a second chance with the tank, I have absolutely no xenia in there haha.

ServingAces15 · 02/18/2017, 03:01 PM

So the xenia has already doubled in size since I first posted this thread. Thanks everyone for the feedback. My green star polyps have their own rock separate from the others for them to take over. Additionally, I'm very well aware that xenia grows like a weed but since I am very new to corals I wanted something that was hardy and good to learn stuff on like how to frag corals, coral placement, etc. I don't mind it taking over the tank because I don't really have plans to put any other corals in there. Thank you again for the feedback. Since I had a fair amount of it to start with I tried a few different methods. However, what worked best was cutting the eggcrate down and securing it to the rock with thread. It took the rock in no time.

Reefer40b · 02/19/2017, 01:17 AM

I just set frag plug around the xenias and when they spread they attach to it, real simple, no cutting super glue or rubber bands. Keeps them from spreading more on my rocks, every week you will have a frag though...

swiftvision · 02/22/2017, 07:07 PM

Yeah, Xenia and GSP are the devil.

Hope you don't have any other coral in there that you like.

02/05/2017, 11:25 AM	#2
themagicman Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Location: California Posts: 126	Your best bet IMO is to cut off a stalk and put it in a small glass bown full of rubble. Place this somewhere in the tank where it won't get blown away and wait for it to attach. Once it's attached to a piece of rubble then you can secure this anywhere you want. Be careful with this stuff though. It has been known to become quite a pest and spread throughout many tanks over the years. __________________ "Abracadabra Holmes."

02/22/2017, 07:07 PM	#10
swiftvision Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 179	Yeah, Xenia and GSP are the devil. Hope you don't have any other coral in there that you like. __________________ 100 Gal Cube Reef 8 Gal Nano Reef Current Tank Info: 8 Gallon Nano Reef and custom 100G cube reef

02/08/2017, 08:45 AM	#3
jayball Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Maryland Posts: 1,671	X2 on be careful about the spread. For Xenia I like to snip it off low and run a needle and thread through it. Then you tie the thread around or super glue the thread to rubble. you can then pull the thread out in a few days to a couple weeks after it attaches. Looking at your pictures you may need to wait for it to grow longer stalks for my technique.

02/08/2017, 02:16 PM	#4
crawlerman Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 503	You could just let that piece of egg crate sit there for a month and the rock will be covered in it. The stuff spreads like a weed. So does the green star polyp. It may seem like that's what you want now, but you will regret letting it spread too much. Try to keep them isolated.

02/11/2017, 01:22 AM	#6
Fizzman Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Anaheim, CA Posts: 183	Lol, they didn't frag it on the egg crate, they left a frag there too long and it got everywhere on the egg crate. It was faster to just make another rack than scrape them off, plus it will still come back. +1 on leaving the egg crate on a rock u want the xenia to be on and in about 2months they would be all over that rock. Then u can take that rack out and sell it back to the Lfs for store credit, probably 1/3 of what u paid, but hey that's still better than nothing. Trade for water or something

02/11/2017, 01:26 AM	#7
Notquiterite Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Burbank, CA Posts: 317	I had this overtake my tank as well, to the point that I spent every weekend trying to kill off as much as I could as it was growing onto my other corals. I eventually gave up lol. Now that I have a second chance with the tank, I have absolutely no xenia in there haha.

02/18/2017, 03:01 PM	#8
ServingAces15 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2017 Posts: 2	So the xenia has already doubled in size since I first posted this thread. Thanks everyone for the feedback. My green star polyps have their own rock separate from the others for them to take over. Additionally, I'm very well aware that xenia grows like a weed but since I am very new to corals I wanted something that was hardy and good to learn stuff on like how to frag corals, coral placement, etc. I don't mind it taking over the tank because I don't really have plans to put any other corals in there. Thank you again for the feedback. Since I had a fair amount of it to start with I tried a few different methods. However, what worked best was cutting the eggcrate down and securing it to the rock with thread. It took the rock in no time.

02/19/2017, 01:17 AM	#9
Reefer40b Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 248	I just set frag plug around the xenias and when they spread they attach to it, real simple, no cutting super glue or rubber bands. Keeps them from spreading more on my rocks, every week you will have a frag though...