Who got da gorgs???

[JustDavidP]

Alrighty then...

Some of you may know that I've had a 26 bow stood up for a week now. I've used LR, LS, water and macro from the 75 to get it going. Well.... I've not seen any cycle and probably wont. I've got a healthy mysid population in there and the pods think they are the top of the chain (well..they are..for now) It's going to be (finally...what's it been two years I've been reading/dreaming) my seahorse corral!!!!

I've got shrooms, and zoaz in there and the rest of the system has various dead SPS for hitching posts (should have seen peoples faces at the LFS when I asked for dead coral )

I'm looking for gorgonians!! Got em? I only have a 32W smartlite PC over the tank, so I'm thinking that I need non photosynthetic gorgonians. I may be wrong, but I think I'm underlit for other species. True?

If you have any, and are willing to frag em.. let me know. Most gorgs I've seen at the various LFS are not very appealing. Actually, I coudn't even tell if they were alive. I saw no polyps whatsoever.

Let me know if there's something kicking around looking for a new home.

D

 

[NateHanson]

I thought the non-photosynthetic gorgonians had very low survivability?

You may be able to keep one of the hardier photosynthetic varieties instead.

 

[JustDavidP]

I'm gonna go read. I thought with 32W of 50/50 over a 26 bow, I'd be SOL for any photosynthetic activity.... again... I should use lunch hour to read. No use in making the baseball batting order...looks like I'm rained out...yet again.

Thanks Nate,

D

 

[NateHanson]

I'm really just speculating David. Not sure at all. I just had the impression that the non-photosynthetic gorgs were hard to keep.

 

[nunofs]

From what I read before getting my gorgonian, I also believe that the non-photosynthetic ones have pretty small long-term survival rates in captivity... they need lots of nutrients in the water, and flow to bring those nutrients to them. So I decided to go with a photosynthetic gorgonian, that I've tentatively identified as "Pterogorgia anceps", commonly sold as "purple gorgonian"... this one also needs a lot of flow because it's a slow grower and tends to collect algae if not flushed by the current. So I don't think it would make a good choice for a seahorse tank, which is typically low flow.

Nuno

 

[JustDavidP]

Nate and Nuno...I think you are right.. non-photo are hard to keep..from what I've read, my tank (albeit nutrient rich compared to yours) wouldn't be a good home for them.

There has to be SOME gorg that can be in a pony tank. Most Seahorse tanks I see have them in there. I'm going to plow through more bits and bytes for info...thanks guys.

D

 

[Greg Hiller]

I've been propagating this gorgonian for many years:

It is photosynthetic. I've seen it do okay in moderate light. Your light might be a bit low for it.

I've also tried non-photosynthetic gorgonians in the past. I agree with what's been said, quite difficult to keep. It can be done, but you have to be religious about feeding....and I mean like feeding everyday, maybe twice a day with very small particulate food, which will add to the bioload of your tank.

 

[dad300]

greg, is that Briarium? also how much are you looking for a frag of it?

 

[JustDavidP]

Nice happy gorgonian Greg...

It's hard finding that "happy medium". The SHs would rather subdued lighting. The gorgonians would rather moderate lighting. I think I'm going to stick to using skeletons for hitching posts. That and the C. Prolifera which seems to be doing well under this lighting. Heck, it is still thriving in my 10 gallon offline fuge with NO lighting.

I also made a feeding dish with a 4" branch of tonga, epoxied to a half shell of my T. Squamosa that passed in the clam crash of 04. It is going to sit in the little "lagoon" area to the right center. The current there is enough to gently move the foods in it, yet not strong enough to knock it out. The feeding dish is pretty cool in that it looks natural, yet is effecient.

Pic of the pony corral after putting in more LR and macro last night. Sorry for the salty glass, I wanted to get a shot before the timer shut down the PC's. I'll take more pics this weekend when I clean the tank up a bit.

Be well ...be salty..be you!

David

 

[penguinsix]

You should be able to increase the lighting on your Seahorse tank as long as you don't go MH or T5 as those are way too bright for them. 130 pc on that tank would be fine for them.

 

[Bidadari]

David, the non-photosynthetic gorg. is definitely hard to keep. I bought mine for my SH tank a couple weeks ago, until now I've never seen any polyps out.
FWIW, my SH mostly hitch on my tree coral or on a large shell that I have in that tank.

 

[JustDavidP]

Thanks all! I can't upgrade lights just yet...I've got this disease "Da-Funds-A-Low". I did bump them up cheap (40 bucks) from NO 18W to the 32W smartlight fixture. Any additional improvements will have to wait until mid Summer.

D

 

[nunofs]

How about one of those cheap LOA 65W compact fluroescent fixtures (like the one you have on the fuge)? That would double the light you have on the tank at a very small cost.

Nuno

 

[JustDavidP]

Yeah...but...

I've already stuffed the AGA hood that is with the system. I can't get into building a new canopy for it now. Maybe later.

For now, I'm using skeletons as hitching posts, as well as C. Prolifera and the tonga branch. After I get up and going proper, I may upgrade lighting and look into the gorgs then.

Thanks for all your inputs... you've taught me what I needed to know. I'm waiting for gorgonians until later.

D