Sea Fans & Gorgonians

[ChilisREasy]

anyone keeping these coral's lately.?.last time i tried one they were as hard as carnations are today. & is the rumor of them killing your tank with toxins when they die truth or myth?

[tims]

i have a Grog.
piosion the tank? that is a 1st for me.
there are a lot of differnt types as you know. one of the problems keeping them. you have two variations. they ones that need the light to feed the Zoox. and the ones that dont like the light and need a good amont of flow. the ones that like the shade area are the hardest to care for. the feeding is always the question. some say disturbing the sand is the best way to have it eat. others say using a phytoplankton feeding mix is better.
also, you must be very careful in handleing them. any exposed core of it can cause problems if it does nto grow back.
when you go looking at them, or trade for one. the type that required the Zooxanthellae will usally have the brownish /plae looking polyp to it.
ow sea fans do fall in this too, but thay are a bit better to have/ care for over all i belive.
when looking you might see names like ,
sea fan, gorgonian , encrusted gorg. or sea rod.

as far as the piosioning of the tank. i think what some are talking about now that i am thinking about it.. a few type will relaease phenol. this can happen when exposed to air ( out of water) if you are running carbon this is not a big deal.. BTW dont handle them with out gloves. you really do not want your skin adorbing the phenol. oh yeah, phenols will give a very bad odor. once you smell it youwill NEVER forget it

[ReefChris]

So a yellow gorgonian is a soft coral?

I have a dilemma then because I have my YG up near the water inlet so that there is good flow, but it doesn't need/like the light?

I do have to keep an eye on the red/brown film of (algae) that can coat it (I use a turkey baster to clean it off now and again which results in all the polyps coming out to feed)

Would I be better off keeping it low in the tank with the water flow directed down from the inlet?

[tims]

some like the higher flow some dont. some like the light but others will die off if they get too much.
can you post a picture of your guy?

[ReefChris]

The Yellow gorgonian pics are at the end of this album:

http://homepage.mac.com/cwserver/PhotoAlbum16.html


Thanks for checking!

[tims]

from the picture of it , i would also want to call it a Diodogoria nodulifera
if it is one of those , it deos not really need light ( no Zoo's) and needs feeding.

[ReefChris]

I agree that's the correct ID.

No photosynthesis ... and would probably prefer lower light levels at bottom of tank to minimise unwanted coats of algae and cyano ... however, it is much easier to keep clean near the top of the tank. Also I can have it close to the power head that way which means less chance for the crud to attach itself.

I am putting chilled rotifeast into the tank regularly which ought to be sufficient nutrient source for the YG...

[kyrie_eleison]

reefchris,

That nano is most impressive. Very beautiful.

[jenajet]

Mine is growing but I rarely see polyps thanks to a damsel from you know where! My predator tank has high nutrients tho and so I have never fed it.

[YLChik]

reef chris,
what kind of macro is that in your display? I really like the way it looks - got a name?

[ChilisREasy]

what is the lisiting of photosythetic gorgs & fans ? & how much current should be provided, & will other soft corals touching them like xenias,mushrooms, anthellias, be a problem ?

[Reefyone]

This yellow gorgonian looks loke non-photosynthetic Diodogorgia nodulifera to me too. I have the red kind in Nano-Cube 6 since August, should be the same care. Light is not necessary - mine was most of the time under 18W.

I'm not familiar with flow in NC24, but in NC6 the pump's nozzle is at the top at right, outflow grid - at the top at left. I kept mine at the left and in the center, the first location was better:

The flow is strong - polyps are slightly bend by flow. The pump is 150 gph, flow is reflected from the front glass.

A lot of feeding makes it fluffy:

Eating:

Some new growth, August, then January:

This is dried Cyclop-Eeze inside:

This is ZoPlan and mysis water inside:


Any 50-600 micron food should be good, on the photos - Cyclop-eeze is 800 mk and less, ZoPlan - 50-250 mk, if I remember right.

I fed several times a day, pinch may be. This led to accumulation of the nutrients, rise of nitrates and phosphates. The filtration should be good - to remove uneaten particles (mine was not ).

I see tubastrea in NC24. How is your sun coral doing now? It looks skinny - the new acquisition? Had problems with water quality, when tried to keep sun in 6g NC - had to move in another tank.
One more thing - capnella in my tanks opened better in high flow and well-lit location.

BTW, had no problems with removing Diodogorgia from the water - had to attach the piece of LR to the base. Grows, as nothing happened.

Here are links to the Rob Toonen articles, he mentioned size of the food and the speed of flow: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...002/toonen.htm http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/3/inverts

[tims]

Great Shots!!!!!!!!!

[ChilisREasy]

WOW amazing photos dude !! i never noticed how much Gorgs look like Chilis ! how much do you feed them ?

[Reefyone]

You said that - be ready to the flood of the pictures!
BTW, I expect the same from you - anything interesting from the life of your corals.
Nano-cubes - if the coral is within 3" from the glass - allow the great clarity of details. Lucky us.

Food: a pinch may be of the ZoPlan once a day, mysis water from 1/2 cube time from time (was more frequent before ZoPlan), 5-7 times a pich of dried Cyclop-Eeze - the general idea is to make concentration of the food in (my only 6g) like snowfall, not the blizzard. Beware of the need of fine filtration at least once a day for a long time, or your LR become loaded with nitrates and phosphates, as my did.
It's all the food, available and affordable to me - you may have other small sized food.

Photos:
Chili coral 2 (wide, finger-shaped) and red finger gorgonian together - pardon the quality, shot across the whole cube, too far:

Same chili, eating ZoPlan:


and particularly large piece of Cyclop-eeze (there are different sizes in the can):


This is the pure provocation, another one of the most difficult non-photosynthetic corals - scleronephthya. It's all what was left from the big coral, have it for almost an year. Tries to eat Cyclop-eeze, but it's too bif for a even smaller, than chili's, polyps:


Frag of the chili #1, cactus shaped and dark, eating Cyclop-eeze:

ZoPlan:

Close-up of the same kind of the Chili, main coral:


Contribute too!