My Softy Gorgonian Tank

[Bfragale]

https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookwineglass.htm
This is what I thought you might have. It says lightly calcified and a slow grower

Thank you! That looks like it!

 

[Matt Whittle]

Where did you find those pieces.

KP Aquatics

 

[Matt Whittle]

Where did you find those pieces.

Where did you find those pieces.

Kp Aquatics has a bunch of gorgs and sponges.

 

[Matt Whittle]

Awesome!! How long have you had the red branching sponge? I've been wanting to get one but I'm unsure of their difficulty or care...

about 6 months I would say the easiest are the yellow ball sponges and the yellow frilly sponges I have all from kpaqautics

 

[anthonygf]

Very nice reef. What do you feed the whole tank?

 

[Matt Whittle]

Mysis and Brine shrimp and NLS Pellets and flakes daily...a pinch of reef roids and reef chilli every couple days...a small dose of red sea reef foundation ab and no3po4 daily

 

[anthonygf]

Mysis and Brine shrimp and NLS Pellets and flakes daily...a pinch of reef roids and reef chilli every couple days...a small dose of red sea reef foundation ab and no3po4 daily

Thanks. How many times per day do you feed the fish? I am feeding 2 times/day.

 

[Matt Whittle]

Thanks. How many times per day do you feed the fish? I am feeding 2 times/day.

2 to 3

 

[Craigdoc]

Interesting tank, I've got a red tree sponge but it's big :eek: I'm getting some red sea ab+ delivered on Monday so it's good to hear you feed you tank this as I worry about the sponges long term.

I've also got a orange frilly sponge but it's not been doing so well lately, some brittle stars are eating there way inside it, it did have big siphons showing at one point but these have gone now.

My red tree sponge is in high flow and is constantly shedding, I've read that they do shed constantly and the shed is actually eaten by lesser lifeforms, have you seen anything like this on yours?

I do like the look of your tank a lot

 

[Paul B]

Craigdoc, I absolutely like the look of that tank and have had those creatures. Unfortunately all of them except for the brown gorg near the top in the 3rd picture are not photosynthetic and are almost impossible to keep for even a year. Especially that sea pen which is really gorgeous.

I wish you good luck with them and really hope you can keep them all alive and if you do, I would like to know about it. :)

 

[Craigdoc]

Craigdoc, I absolutely like the look of that tank and have had those creatures. Unfortunately all of them except for the brown gorg near the top in the 3rd picture are not photosynthetic and are almost impossible to keep for even a year. Especially that sea pen which is really gorgeous.

I wish you good luck with them and really hope you can keep them all alive and if you do, I would like to know about it. :)

Thanks Paul.

It's a NPS tank apart from the gorgonian that you point out which is a Pterogorgia citrina, I'm going to add a few more photosynthetic ones around the same area up near the surface, my lights are on 1% power so I don't think I could add them any lower.

So far the successes have been the Diodogorgia Nodulifera, it's definitely grown some and generally has very good PE, I've had this about 5 month so far, the Christmas tree coral(Sphaerella) has had a few issues but it's now inflating more and seems to be bigger than when I got it, I've got a few easy things like a sun coral and a chili coral.

I've had issues with the tunicate spewing it's digestive system up, it's done this twice but it doesn't seem to bad now and not done it for a few month.

Sponges are my biggest concern, I'm not sure how long I can keep them going.

I've got a unidentified NPS gorgonian frag that I believe is a Leptogorgia chilensis, I've had a bit of a struggle with this but I'm hoping it's on its way back, it seems to be anyway.

I've also got a flame scallop that I've had in there for 13 month.

So far I've not lost anything since turning it into a NPS tank but it's only been going as NPS for 5 month I think, a few of the gorgonian have only been in a matter of weeks.

I'm expecting it all to probably end badly but it won't be for lack of effort :)

 

[MysticSea]

All of these tanks are amazing love that I am not the only one using macroalgae in the display! :D

 

[ssunthar]

My 150 gallon softy gorgonian tank.

Wow cool tank

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Beautiful! Keep up the hard work!

 

[ssunthar]

Can you get a closeup of the Yellow Frilly Sponge? Kudos to your display.

I am similarly hooked on softies & sponges.

Wow.. nice

 

[ssunthar]

I also have a tank with softies, gorgs and sponges. So far, nine gorgs (NPS and photosynthetic), and at least nine sponges, including three red tree. Here is a little of the NPS tank.

Wow.. nice

 

[ssunthar]

Picked up a used system for $450. Turning this into a softie tank. Everything in the photo was included for $450. Had a lot of hair algae and it’s still a work in progress (had it for about 3 weeks so far) best deal ever!
Display refugium, aqua max skimmer various return ai hydra and prime, corals and fish etc.

I only added a few things from my other tank and a few fish and clean up crew and rock flowers. Otherwise everything included.

I really enjoyed looking at everyone else’s softie set up- gives me a lot of ideas.

HAPPY REEFING!

Very nice

 

[Subsea]

Thanks Paul.

It's a NPS tank apart from the gorgonian that you point out which is a Pterogorgia citrina, I'm going to add a few more photosynthetic ones around the same area up near the surface, my lights are on 1% power so I don't think I could add them any lower.

So far the successes have been the Diodogorgia Nodulifera, it's definitely grown some and generally has very good PE, I've had this about 5 month so far, the Christmas tree coral(Sphaerella) has had a few issues but it's now inflating more and seems to be bigger than when I got it, I've got a few easy things like a sun coral and a chili coral.

I've had issues with the tunicate spewing it's digestive system up, it's done this twice but it doesn't seem to bad now and not done it for a few month.

Sponges are my biggest concern, I'm not sure how long I can keep them going.

I've got a unidentified NPS gorgonian frag that I believe is a Leptogorgia chilensis, I've had a bit of a struggle with this but I'm hoping it's on its way back, it seems to be anyway.

I've also got a flame scallop that I've had in there for 13 month.

So far I've not lost anything since turning it into a NPS tank but it's only been going as NPS for 5 month I think, a few of the gorgonian have only been in a matter of weeks.

I'm expecting it all to probably end badly but it won't be for lack of effort :)

I applaud your success, passion and determination. To say Chilli Corals are easy is a milestone that I have not achieved. While I have not attempted nps gorgonions, I have had moderate success with Gulf of Mexico ornamental sponges. In talking with diver/owner Russ Kronwetter of GCE, he collects sponges in two locations, one in 50’ on a horizontal ledge and 30’ on a vertical ledge. He stressed to me the violent currents from waves that moved VW size boulders at 50’ level. To that point, he increased circulation in his holding facility > 100 tank volumes each hour.

https://www.live-plants.com/elephantearsponge.htm
https://www.live-plants.com/yellowball.htm
https://www.live-plants.com/redfingersponge.htm

can you expound on how you satisfy nps feeding requirements in your system.

 

[Craigdoc]

I applaud your success, passion and determination. To say Chilli Corals are easy is a milestone that I have not achieved. While I have not attempted nps gorgonions, I have had moderate success with Gulf of Mexico ornamental sponges. In talking with diver/owner Russ Kronwetter of GCE, he collects sponges in two locations, one in 50’ on a horizontal ledge and 30’ on a vertical ledge. He stressed to me the violent currents from waves that moved VW size boulders at 50’ level. To that point, he increased circulation in his holding facility > 100 tank volumes each hour.

https://www.live-plants.com/elephantearsponge.htm
https://www.live-plants.com/yellowball.htm
https://www.live-plants.com/redfingersponge.htm

can you expound on how you satisfy nps feeding requirements in your system.

So do you feed your sponges anything special? At the moment I'm adding Korallenzucht sponge power and carbon dosing to help with nutrients but also in the hope that the sponges maybe consume the extra bacteria.

I certainly wouldn't say I've had total success, the flame scallop I class as a success because I've had it over a year.

I've got a few things growing which is a good sign.

As for feeding the tank I've come to the conclusion (possibly incorrectly) that feeding the little guys is extremely important, so by little guys I mean copepods, amphipods, brittle stars and everything in between, the sand bed is covered in spaghetti worms, there must be thousands of them, all producing waste, I have pods all over the glass during the day and night, I think the amount of natural zooplankton produced off all the little tiny organisms must be high which can only help the coral.

The foods that go into the tank on the doser are easyreef phytoplankton, I'm currently dosing 5ml a day, I'm adding 2ml of easyreef sps food a day too, it's soon going to be joined by red sea ab+

Frozen food is mainly what I feed, roughly 5-6 cubes a day, it's made up of.
Lobster eggs
Copepods
Rotifers
Cyclops
Microplankton
Red plankton
Green plankton
Chopped mussels
Coral food
Filter feeder food (it's made up of lots of different things, it seems to be very small particles)

I feed the sun coral mysis and fish eggs for 3 days Inna row and then I miss 2 days.

Powdered food is reefroids and DD clam food, I target feed a small amount of reefroids daily and the clam food gets broadcast fed occasionally.
I've got some aqua forest powder food on the way so I'll be trying this.

I've got 5 Pacific oysters which I think help with the filtration, apparently they give off bacteria as a by product so again I hope this helps the coral and sponges feed.

My main approach is high flow in the DT but my return pump is turned right down, plan being that the food spends more time in suspension in the DT to hopefully get eaten rather than going over the weir into the sump, when it does go over the weir I've got filter floss that I change every other day.

Phosphate is my biggest issue, trying to keep that under control is a pain :mad:

 

[Subsea]

Wow! Your feeding regime is extensive. Kudos to you. Please further explain your nutrient management philosophy.

As a reefer of 50 years, I must claim “Old School” methods that have been adopted to my Reefing style of
“Laissez Faire”. Everything about my system is about producing live food thru diverse food webs. On my 25 year mature 75G tank, I use a 30G EcoSystem mud/macro refugium. On the 75G display, a reverse flow undergravel filter use positive pressure of oxygen rich bulk water to flow up thru < 2” of special reef grade aroggonite at 0.1-1.0 mm diameter. I consider the void under ug plates to be a Cryptic refugium.