Xenia not sleeping

First I run my 2x24w actinics after two hours my 250w halides come on for five hours, and my actinics turn off two hours after that. The xenia is placed in the bottom of the tank under a slight overhang. I also run my moon lights 24/7.

about 10 minutes after my actinics turn off, my xenia sucks in and "goes to sleep." however about 1 hour later they come back out and stay out all night. Ive only had them for about three days now. Is this normal behavior, are they still adjusting to my tank, am i doing anything wrong?

also, my mh is a 20,000k bulb. if i am not mistaken, that means it is higher on the white spectrum which is not the best spectrum for growing things. will my actinics counterbalance this by adding a blue spectrum? In other words, would a 20,000k bulb with actinics be equivalent to just a 14,000k bulb as far as a desired spectrum for corals go?

 

You're close but not quite there
a 20000K bulb is supposed to be very blue and some people choose not to supply actinic bulbs with this. However there is a big color difference in different manufacturer's bulbs with the same kelvin rating.

Your Xenia is just responding to a change in lighting, no big deal. You aren't doing anything wrong. ;D

Jim

 

14 and 20k are actually in the blue area as opposed to the white area. I would consider 10K more in the white area.

ROYGBIV......red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The higher in K you go, the more you move to the right on the ROYGBIV scale.

Regardless, just like you know to hold your breath while underwater and breathe while at the surface, they also know how and when to respirate.

Hakunna mattata....It means, "No Worries".

 

When I purchased mine they seemed slow to open (about an hour after the lights were on) in the morning and after a week as soon as the lights came on they opened right up. Probably just getting used to your tank.

 

Their will be times when they will close even with your lights on and not all of them will close up either. If something rubs up against them or possibly something in your water annoys them they may close independent of the other polyps.
Their isn't anything wrong with this behavior unless they remain closed for an extended period of time.

 

Mine do the same as your. They know when the lights are going to turn off, and start closing up like 30 mins before. But around and hour or so after the lights go out, they will open back up, and go on with there endless pulsing, hehe. Most of my corals are simi-open at night. The candy cane is the only one that will shrink up all night. I to have moon lights. When I turn the moon lights off they will shrink down more, but most will stay open. Hope this helps.