Whats growing on my Live Rock?

Discussion in 'New To The Hobby' started by jesseeheart, Dec 5, 2008.

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  1. jesseeheart

    jesseeheart Plankton

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    I've just started cycling my new Saltwater aquarium and my first piece of live rock is growing small, what look like, flowerpot coral that are growing slightly bigger everyday. Though looking at photos of the flowerpot coral on the internet i'm not so sure thats what it is?
    Can anyone help me???

    Here are some photos of them, just click the links:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 6, 2008
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  3. jakeh24

    jakeh24 Pajama Cardinal

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    yep thats coral. Not really an expert so i couldn't name it.
     
  4. m_hsiao

    m_hsiao Purple Spiny Lobster

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    wow i am surprised you have that thing living and growing in your cycling aquarium.. that really looks like pulsing xenia to me.. although it is still a bit premature to determine i'm leaning heavily towards pulsing xenia.. did you get the liverock from an LFS? or from someone's tank?
     
  5. REDMANS CUBE

    REDMANS CUBE Fire Shrimp

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    either xenia or Athelia, i am leaning towards the later.
     
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  6. jesseeheart

    jesseeheart Plankton

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    Oh, thankyou for that, thats good news then i guess :)

    I'm buying my live rock from a trusted store in my area. I live by the sea so i've filled my tank with ocean water down from the Jetti and let that filter with my CF-1000 Canister filter for a day or two before putting it in.

    The liverock seems to be thriving slowly.
     
  7. nanoreefer555

    nanoreefer555 Fire Shrimp

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    Wow, great ID. Looks just like this picture of Anthelia I found.
     

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  9. m_hsiao

    m_hsiao Purple Spiny Lobster

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    yeah great id, that sure does look like anthelia with that pic now :p didn't think pulsing xenia would be able to thrive or be under cycling conditions
     
  10. GuitarMan89

    GuitarMan89 Giant Squid

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    You may want to be careful about gathering sea water from close into the shore. It may have some unwanted chemicals and waste in it.
     
  11. coral reefer

    coral reefer Giant Squid

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    On the contrary, Xenia is actually more hardy than anthelia.
    What you have is actually Xenia and not anthelia. Xenia is characteristic of polyps arising from a stalk, similar to brocolli, whereas anthelia is different in that it is characteristic of single polyps protruding from a mat/stolon.
    Xenia will flourish with elevated nutrients and nitrates in the water. Because of this maintaining Xenia and small polypd stonies in the same tank is very difficult to achieve since stony corals thrive under conditions where nutrient levels are minimized for the most part!
     
  12. infamous

    infamous Corkscrew Tentacle Anemone

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    what kinda sand is that? looks awesome