Gorgonians for a macroalgae tank with LED plant lighting?

MalibuTheBetta · Oct 2, 2023

Looking at various types of macroalgae tank in interest of maybe setting up a 30-gallon extra-high tank with macros in it, and just a regular LED freshwater planted tank light as lighting. Are there any types of gorgonians that can be kept in this setup?

CasperOe · Oct 2, 2023

CatGirl67 said:
Looking at various types of macroalgae tank in interest of maybe setting up a 30-gallon extra-high tank with macros in it, and just a regular LED freshwater planted tank light as lighting. Are there any types of gorgonians that can be kept in this setup?

If you havent seen this article and video, I am sure you will enjoy it! Very informative when setting out to do what you're planning!

We are planning on setting up a Red Sea Max Nano with a macro algae, gorgonia ish theme and above is my main inspiration.

Please share when you get going

Mr. Mojo Rising · Oct 2, 2023

There are some non-photsynthetic gorgs, they come in a variety of color and might fit in with your plans. You will need to look up their care requirements as far as nutrients and feeding goes, but they are not that difficult.

Hope you post a pic of the tank when done, sounds interesting.

MalibuTheBetta · Oct 3, 2023

CasperOe said:
If you havent seen this article and video, I am sure you will enjoy it! Very informative when setting out to do what you're planning!

We are planning on setting up a Red Sea Max Nano with a macro algae, gorgonia ish theme and above is my main inspiration.

Please share when you get going

I’ll be sure to send many pictures! It probably won’t get going for a while, sadly- I’m waiting for my dad to set up his reef so I can seed my tank with his live rock and we can just generally swap things.

It’s probably not the tank you’re thinking of, however, because I’m planning to keep a jawfish in it (or perhaps a pair)- they’re me and my dad’s dream fish, so the jawfish comes before everything else. So 5 inches of sand, jawfish, either a Royal gramma or a firefish depending on what my dad ends up getting in his 10 gallon, are the only solid stocking ideas.

I do have some preliminary ideas for what kind of fish might be in it beyond a jawfish and a gramma/firefish- possibly a Mandarin, since it could produce enough pods with the macroalgae, Flame Hawk or Arc Eye Hawk (Absolutely love these ones), striped, Midas, or tailspot blenny, possibly a very very small fairy or flasher wrasse (although I’m iffy about that one, what with the tank size- not sure they come this small), and since my mom loves them so much, she’ll probably do all in her power to make me get a watchman goby/shrimp pair. Obviously not all these fish together, lol. I’ll set up a journal when I manage to get it all put together.

MalibuTheBetta · Oct 3, 2023

Mr. Mojo Rising said:
There are some non-photsynthetic gorgs, they come in a variety of color and might fit in with your plans. You will need to look up their care requirements as far as nutrients and feeding goes, but they are not that difficult.

Hope you post a pic of the tank when done, sounds interesting.

I’m kind of scared to keep gorgonians, to be honest- just general anxiety from the time I stupidly brought a gorg while being a complete newbie and it obviously died. Still, they’re so pretty I’ll probably at least try them in this tank. Will be doing research on gorgs in macroalgae setups.

Will be sure to post a pic and have a journal of the tank!

I’m looking at this thread a lot in reference for macroalgae tanks with gorgs- looks a lot like what I want. Not my own tank- I could never do something this beautiful, lol.

Yoshii's 10 gallon gorgonian and macro algae biotope - September 2015 Featured Reef Aquarium

Congratulations to community member yoshii and her 10 gallon nano reef aquarium for being selected for our September Reef Profile! Below is the aquarium prof...

www.nano-reef.com

lion king · Oct 3, 2023

NPS gorgs take very special care and most do not do well with them, so extended research is advised. The photo gorg varieties really don't require alot, and do well under many lighting options. You can see a number of the photo gorgs in this pic. Here's a good source for macro and photo gorgs, check out that photo purple sponge, there's one in the top right corner of my pic. They do also have the nps gorgs.