Photosynthetic Gorgonains

[nemmy]

Here's 2 of my gorgonians.
This one is photosynthetic but it also feeds on live phytoplankton.When i first got it some of the branches were bare but they have regrown with purple.The polyps are open by day and closed up by night.Fairly quick growing in gorgonian terms.Notice the baby one at the base.
Grows well under T5 lighting but can bleach and die off under lighting that's too bright.


This one isn't photosynthetic and needs constant feeding.Most people fail with these because they don't feed often enough and with food of the right size.Grows very slowly and does good in dim light when the polyps will be open by day.

[ChilisREasy]

very nice, im glad to see interest in these corals, i love that blue non-photo gorg, can you post on exaclty how long you have had it, what your feeding, & how often, along with flow & anything else is good

[ChilisREasy]

a friend of mine is currently cultering several filter-feeding colonies, beautiful ones, if he can aquaculter me some frags, i will join in on the mission, hopefully my experiance with dendronepthya, nepthyigorgia,goniopora & sponges pays off even further

[nemmy]

Yep,the blue is abit of an eye catcher.A visitor couldn't believe it was real the colour is so bright.It has over the last 4-5 months formed a small baby gorg where the reddish brown base has grown over the liverock.Although only a few centimeters high it already has 5 blue polyps on it.
For success you need to feed 3-4 times a day with various small food items.You'll get to judge the size.It must be small enough for the polyp to completely close around it.I use the water from defrosted food which is full of particles, squirted with a baster all over it.I also feed frozen cyclopeeze,the type in the squirty dispenser kept in the freezer.Live phyto is added daily and this in time produces an abundance of tiny lifeforms feeding on it and being caught by the gorgonian.
Feeding is only part of keeping these.They won't tolerate un-reef conditions and go downhill fast in poor water especially continual high nitrates.
Mine is in low flow and i bought it sometime last year.

[ChilisREasy]

how do you control excess nutirents & cyano ?

[nemmy]

No dead spots,skim but not overskim.Encourage macro algae.
Use live phyto which will not polute the water and will actually use up nitrate,phosphate.

[ChilisREasy]

Originally Posted by nemmy

No dead spots,skim but not overskim.Encourage macro algae.
Use live phyto which will not polute the water and will actually use up nitrate,phosphate.

wait....! your saying that adding live phytoplankton does NOT encourage cyano or bad bacteria anyone else know about this ?!!? i certainly never have