Golden Gorgonian feeding.

[atoll]

Bought a golden Gorgonian yesterday which is none photosynthetic and therefore needs direct feeding. A few questions please.
1/ I have spirulina powder, would this be a suitable food for it, if so how much, how often and how best deliver it to the gorg?
2/ it's getting a reasonable amount of flow which I understand is beneficial but it's also getting quite a bit of light. Would that be fine as I don't have a GHA issue at all?

Here is a pic of it so any info and advice to its health would be appreciated.
BTW I also have a photosynthetic gorg that's growing very well not far from it I may need to frag soon.

 

[dennis romano]

Very nice gorg. I have one that resembles yours, three other NPS gorgs and five photosynthetic. gorgs. My NPS get fed a mixture of phyto, oyster eggs plus nutrients several times a day. These yellow polyp gorgs have mid-size polyps so I mix in a little Reef Blizzard by Brightwell Aquatics. This food resembles Reefroids. I alternate that food with a little frozen rotifers. Everything gets mixed in a squeeze bottle and gets squirted upstream of the gorgs. The current takes the food to the gorg. When a polyp catches food, it will close on it. Anything above moderate light is bad. Algae will smother the gorg and it won't be able to eat. Good luck!

 

[atoll]

Very nice gorg. I have one that resembles yours, three other NPS gorgs and five photosynthetic. gorgs. My NPS get fed a mixture of phyto, oyster eggs plus nutrients several times a day. These yellow polyp gorgs have mid-size polyps so I mix in a little Reef Blizzard by Brightwell Aquatics. This food resembles Reefroids. I alternate that food with a little frozen rotifers. Everything gets mixed in a squeeze bottle and gets squirted upstream of the gorgs. The current takes the food to the gorg. When a polyp catches food, it will close on it. Anything above moderate light is bad. Algae will smother the gorg and it won't be able to eat. Good luck!

Cheers for the reply and advice. Some say to feed a couple of times a week but I guess it may depend on how quickly you want it to grow.

 

[dennis romano]

Cheers for the reply and advice. Some say to feed a couple of times a week but I guess it may depend on how quickly you want it to grow.

In nature, NPS gorgs are fed constantly by food brought by the current. Feeding them a few times a week is bad for them. I look at it this way, if the polyps are out, feed it.

 

[atoll]

In nature, NPS gorgs are fed constantly by food brought by the current. Feeding them a few times a week is bad for them. I look at it this way, if the polyps are out, feed it.

Agreed however, the constant feed is more of a trickle and not every polyp is fed at the same time and it could be sometime before any one polyp gets to feed. They have to catch their food and they may only get a passing morsel once in a while.
When you gross feed you are feeding all the polyps x number of times a day. Having said that I am a great believer in following mother nature as much as is reasonably possible after all she has all the answers. So far I am feeding twice a day and will.monitor it closely.
Thanks for your input much appreciated.

 

[Ben Pedersen]

I have had some success with feeding a mix of spirulina powder, chlorella algae powder, Reefroids, 1mm pellets and crushed fish flakes.

I put it is my auto fish feeder and feed 6 times a day. It seems to keep my sea fans and coral happy.

 

[atoll]

I have had some success with feeding a mix of spirulina powder, chlorella algae powder, Reefroids, 1mm pellets and crushed fish flakes.

I put it is my auto fish feeder and feed 6 times a day. It seems to keep my sea fans and coral happy.

Cheers,
As well as the spirulina powder which I add to some tank water in a jar I have added frozen copepods, roterfers, lobster eggs, gunpowder and H2O Ocean LPS powder to the mix.

 

[Ben Pedersen]

Cheers,
As well as the spirulina powder which I add to some tank water in a jar I have added frozen copepods, roterfers, lobster eggs, gunpowder and H2O Ocean LPS powder to the mix.

All the dry ingredients from my auto feeder drop over the return pump in the sump. As the water is pumped into the main tank it contains all the food.. This enables wide distribution of the food in the water column.

 

[Ben Pedersen]

The corals seem to like it as well.

 

[Devaji]

Bought a golden Gorgonian yesterday which is none photosynthetic and therefore needs direct feeding. A few questions please.
1/ I have spirulina powder, would this be a suitable food for it, if so how much, how often and how best deliver it to the gorg?
2/ it's getting a reasonable amount of flow which I understand is beneficial but it's also getting quite a bit of light. Would that be fine as I don't have a GHA issue at all?

Here is a pic of it so any info and advice to its health would be appreciated.
BTW I also have a photosynthetic gorg that's growing very well not far from it I may need to frag soon.

how did this turn out for you? did you find a good feeding routine? what mix did you use?

 

[atoll]

how did this turn out for you? did you find a good feeding routine? what mix did you use?

It did well for many.months then started to wilt. I am certain it was a food issue either not feeding enough, variety or simply the wrong foods

 

[sfin52]

It did well for many.months then started to wilt. I am certain it was a food issue either not feeding enough, variety or simply the wrong foods

Thats a shame

 

[Devaji]

It did well for many.months then started to wilt. I am certain it was a food issue either not feeding enough, variety or simply the wrong foods

ah bummer i had high hopes you found the magic elixir for NPS gorgs.