Coralling Xenia

[theplantman]

I am getting ready to start mounting frags to the back wall of our tank and the Mrs. wants me to put som of our Pom Pom Xenia on it. If I fence it in with GSP and Pipe Organ, do you think they will keep the xenia in check?

 

[theplantman]

ares;310126 wrote: lol, and whats going to coral the GSP?

weeds! all of it!

you can keep your mushrooms too.

no better than aptasia.

To quote a wise man, (I have heard there are some that exist)(heading off the wise cracks) a weed is only something growing where it is not desired

The GSP will eventually run out of back wall hopefully. Besides, if there is nothing to prune thats no fun. Just wait until it's done. A magnificent tapestry shall it be.

Or something like that:doh:

 

[soarin']

I think it's a very cool idea.

They're only considered "weeds" because they're

a) cheap
b) very fast growing
c) super easy to keep (for the most part)

I'd rather do a little more pruning than sit there and wonder why my super-expensive LE SPS haven't grown and are turning white / RTN'ing /STN'ing etc. etc.

One of the members here was tearing down an absolutely gorgeous tank (I thought) because he couldn't get his SPS to grow (he had another one that worked) -- he had a super skimmer downstairs (amazing setup) with another column of phosphate remover, fancy sump -- the works.

He had another tank that wasn't as "clean" with a much smaller skimmer where the SPS was growing, so I figured his setup was just too good and the SPS couldn't eat. Everything else in the tank looked great -- brilliant red mushrooms, bright orange zoas covering large rocks, gorgeous fish, etc.

So not all of us want to be testing our parameters every day and spending hours tuning all the various reactors and removers only to go to Alaska for 10 days and have a dead tank or move our box of gorgeous jewels only to find them rapidly turning to white sticks.

Here's to easy, cheap, fast growing corals that look great!

Long live the weeds!

 

[theplantman]

Well said Loren and Barbara, besides, without the weeds, how can you get to this point in only three months?

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[theplantman]

Well said Soarin and Barbara, besides without the "weeds" how else to you get to this point in 3 months?

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[soarin']

Nice tank, Mr. Plantman!

are the clowns hosting the hammer, or did they just happen to be in the middle of the frame?

 

[theplantman]

they just happened to be in the middle of the tank. Kind of a disappointment there. I put the alveopora, frogspawn and hammer in the tank hoping they would host one of them and the only thing they have hosted is the back wall of the tank, I don't know if this is because they are tank bred and not wild or not.

 

[spike]

I love the look of xenia, especially the way it flows in the current. I just hate that it takes over your tank, and it will. Blocks out the light to your other corals, or grows over them. I got rid of mine, every once in awhile I get a little soft spot, and think maybe.......then it goes away.

 

[theplantman]

I have been keeping the xenia in the tank on the lower left hemmed in by removing the spreading branches and only allowing a small strip to stay there and have placed some radioactive cloves below it to fill in some color. My plan is to try some frag mags on the back wall with white pipe organ, metallic gsp and mint green gsp mixed with some more radioactive cloves to create a nice backdrop for the more colorful corals in the foreground. The big daisy polyp in the middle will probably get fragged and sold as it is occupying the space reserved for a maxima clam right now. The trumpet coral is sold and will be replaced with a purple and teal birdsnest. Then comes a touch more of the more expensive but colorful zoas to fill in the blanks. Valentines day massacre, peters sunrise and a good yellow if I can find it.