Trying Gorgs
 

I want to try gorgs again at some point. I have already tried a few types of photosynthetic gorgonians but they didnt like my tank. After more research I found a few threads (not many) stating that they like light similar to sps. And reading about other peoples threads who are keeping gorgs successfully they all have theirs under MH lighting.

I only have 2x39watt T5HO. I know i cant keep photosynthetic gorgs even when they are only 4" away from the light. They need it brighter.
Does anyone have suggestions for lower light photosynthetic gorgs? Or should I try non photosynthetic (I feed my corals twice to three times a week because of my feather dusters. Reefroids, coral frenzy, and coral snow.)

Suggestions please or should I just give up on them?

When you upgrade your light fixture to 4x39w T5HO, most types of photosynthesis gorgs should be fine with that. Give up with the non-photosynthesis species for they are more difficult to take care of even when compare with the sps. HTH

When I upgrade my light fixture it will be LED. Im saving up for the vertex 36" LED fixture. It will take me a few years to get that.

I keep them under both MH and T5HO and they are doing very well. You have to keep in mind that even photosynthetic gorgonians do need some amount of food in the water and they cannot live only from the light.

Just by looking at the polyps you will realize that these are made to catch food, and for good reason.

People think that because it's photosynthetic it does not need to eat but SPS are photosynthetic and they do need zooplankton to live well and be healthy. If you feed enough to keep feather dusters alive it's probably enough for a gorgonian.

Here are a few photosynthetic gorgonians available at that site and they should do well in an aquarium:

http://www.thereefshoppe.ca/index.ph...ex&cPath=66_95

Pterogorgia citrina does very well in my tank under T5HO

4 x 39 watt wich are:
1 x 14k UVL
1 x fiji purple
2 x actinic

Muricea alongata and gorgonia ventalina are both in my tank with metal halide and both are doing well right under the 250 watts 14k.

You will never ever be able to keep a non-photosynthetic gorgonian alive with only 3 feeding per week. They need at least 3 feeding per day and that's often not even enough.

I have a yellow whip, corky finger, and a black gorgonian, I swear those things would grow under a flashlight! I had a tank crash last year and they were among the few that survived. The yellow is about 18" tall and is the coolest of the three I have. J&L has them quite often, I've always had good luck with the stuff from Kelly at the Reef Shoppe as well.

I have both Rumphelia & corky finger in my display. They grow like weeds.:biggrin:
Frags of both are available.
Here's what the top half of the corky looks like.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...1088corky1.jpg

daniella3d: I did feed and quite often. I also spot fed. When I had photosynthetic gorgs I fed them daily. The polyps were out for only a day and then they reduced and then the flesh started to fall off. Thats why I thought my light isint sufficient. All my params were in check I had them in turbulent areas of the tank as well; so i couldnt see any other reason for them to do so poorly.

medhatreefguy: Yes I see that JL has a bunch on sale right now. Makes my mouth water but I dont want to buy them just to have them all die again. They arent cheap.

Snappy: Yup, I saw your post earlier and it made my mind wander to a dream reef. lol.
Your gorgs are under pretty bright light though which again is my problem. I only have 2x39 T5HO which doesnt seem to be enough for them. Ive tried 3 different photosynthetic gorgs.

Question for those of you with gorgonians........low/med/high flow rate requirements? Can you just stick them in the sand or what are you attaching them to? Rock rubble like we do with other frags?

Thanks in advance.

Brad

With something like a corky finger you can attach a frag to rubble but will soon need to epoxy the rubble piece to a bigger rock because it will get too top heavy as it starts to grow up. IME they do well under most med-high flow & med light conditions.

Do you have picture? My yellow is growing many new branches and it's starting to look like a nice little tree :)

I would love to see yours at 18".

I don't think they would die from the lack of light unless you keep them only under actinic or something with a very low par because you said you had them very close to the light. Probably something else was killing them. They are quite tough.

Most of them like linear flow rather then turbulent.

In my case since I have 4 T5HO but 2 of them are actinic, I would say it's pretty much like a 2 bulb setup that would have a good PAR.

Thanks for the info Snappy. They sure look nice......I will have to find a spot to put one!!

i have 1 k1 and a k2 as my flow. i had them in front of each and only inches from the light. i wonder if it was something in my water but i have no idea what.

Maybe too much flow. Mine are doing very well in low to moderate flow, but nothing strong. what type of T5 do you have? actinic? 10k? what else?

ati blue plus and ati aquablue special hagen glo

I think that should be enough. If you think about it, I have about the same as you since my other 2 tubes are just actinic. I think the aquablue special is 12k if I remember well and that's what I have with a fiji purple.

My guess is that something else is going on in your tank, maybe too high temperature? Gorgonians usualy don't like too hot temperature. Do you have a refractometer to mesure your salinity or do you use a plastic tingy hydrometer? Do you have an automatic top off or do you top off manualy once in a while?

Temp is 77-79 because i have macro algae. During the summer heat I put ice water bottles in the tank to help cool it down. It really works. I have a refractometer. Salinity stays steady at 1.024 (yes the refractometer has been calibrated). I top off manually every 3 days, sometimes i dont have to do it for a week because there is very little evaporation. Since putting on a screen over my tank evaporation has cut down considerably so top off isint very much at all.

why is that? I have macro algae as well and the temp is 75F in one tank and 76F in the other.

That temperature should not kill gorgonians though but if it rise too much it could. Topping off every 3 days might make things fluctuate. I am more thinking now about your parameters being responsible rather than the light.

I was doing a lot of research for macro algae tanks and all the research I did had tanks at on or around 77.
I test my tank water frequently and params are allways the same... except a while ago when people told me to add prazi pro to my system. The bottle and everything said is was ok so i did it and it killed off my pod population, I had an ammonia spike, etc..... ANYWAY that was long after my gorgs died.
All my other corals are doing fine. My candycane is splitting like crazy.

Interesting. I used prazipro recently for my copperband and did 2 treatments. Nothing was killed. I soooo wish it would have killed those amphipods in my tank but nope...all the pods survived like champion. Nothing was affected except my xenias shriveled a bit but they survived.

all my snails, shrimps, feather dusters, bristle worms, bristle stars and even my flame scallop were 100% fine.

If you had ammonia skipe, then it was probably caused by something else because from my experience prazipro does not kill invertebrates, nor coral, and definitly not the nitrifying bacterias. It did cut down my copperband appetite for a while, but that returned to normal after the medication was removed.

I am pretty sure there was something else very wrong with your tank than prazipro. I would not hesitate to use it again in my reef.