Something that's been irking me for a real long time ...

.. the left side of my tank isn't adequately lit! In effect, I can't keep anything light-demanding in that area. Even leather corals don't do very well there - I'm going to try a colony of zoanthids there, just for one last time. The solution's not cheap. I'll have to make a new lighting hood with a pair of commercially-bought parabolic reflectors. Right now I'm using a pair of DIY parabolic reflectors, with loads of help on light reflection calculations from the resident Engineer. But due to the size of the reflectors, most of the light is concentrated in the middle 4/5 of the tank instead of on the sides. We'll see about the lights I guess .. if it ain't spoilt, don't tinker around with it!

Next up on livestock list - I'm actively looking for xeniids! Yep, change in concept. I want the whole tank to be filled wih xeniidae corals, with small bursts of colour from other corals in-between. Right now my count for Xeniidae is:

1) Huge Xenia sp.

First collected this one as a single 1-inch long frag from Dewei. In a matter of months, it's grown to be some sort of monster standing at more than 8 inches in height and it has turned into a small colony of 6 large stalks. It looks to be X.umbrellata, but I'm not sure - it's all brown, and hardly ever pulses. Could be a X.elongata, but the polyp stalks are way too short and the stem way too robust to be X.elongata.

2) Xenia umbrellata, Red Sea

Most-recent piece from a fellow reefer's tank. It's an actively-pulsing variety, but somehow, not as pink as other red sea Xenia I've seen. The stem is whitish-pink while the polyps are brown.

3) Xenia sp.

This one, bought from CoralFarm, isn't doing well. It's starting to melt away after 3 days, and I have no idea why. Perhaps it's the poor handling at the farm anyway. Hopefully, just 1 frag of it will survive! It's pearly white, with short polyps and no stem.

My most wanted list right now:
1) Xenia sp. that comes with the Phillipines blue tunicates that Henry brings in
2) Anthelia sp.
3) The true red sea X.umbrellata that's totally white
4) The true X.elongata - yes, it's a horrid brown, but I intend to have it take up the left portion of the tank that's under-lit.

Some pics of other people's xenia:

Red sea "pompom" xenia


Cespitularia - the elusive "African blue xenia"


Red sea xenia on top, X.elongata at bottom (the longish ones)