Gorgonian problems

[WVNed]

I have several gorgonians. They are not happy. I do not understand why though.
Here are six of them

They have been in these positions a long time. I was doing something in the tank and knocked one off the rock on the right in the picture above. To get it out of the way I moved it to my other tank.

Within a 1/2 hour it was fully open and happy again. Today I moved the purple ribbon over. It extended it's Polyps for the first time in months after about an hour.
These 2 tanks are on one sump and have the same water parameters.
So I am thinking it is the lights or flow.

The 240 has 4 250 watt MH and 8 52 watt T-5s. All the bulbs have been replaced in the last 2 months. Ushio 20K for the MH. I have tried the lights from 15 inches down to 6
with no change.
The 75 has a Reefbreeders Photon V2 running at 60% on all channels.

Both tanks have Vortechs for flow. I added 2 more MP 60s to the 240 and removed the smaller Tunze pumps thinking that was the problem. Flow is good in both tanks now. Probably more in the 240. I have tried several modes on the MP 60s. It doesnt seem to make a difference.
Not sure what else I can try or what is going on.
They did great for a long time. When they got sad and stopped growing I just assumed it was time for new bulbs and re lamped.

Dont know what else to do.

Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, You're are my only hope.

 

[DrZoidburg]

So was it just the purple one you moved? Maybe its getting used to new lights. Also sometimes they can get too much light as much as they love it. Check for algae growing on them. From time to time I have to take a soft paint brush to them and they open up again. Only other thing I can think is maybe the fall made the one exude a chemical that told the other ones to act that way. Not really enough info.

 

[WVNed]

Sorry I wasn't clear. This has been a long term problem that started several months ago.

When moved one from the 240 to the 75 it almost instantly got better, Today I moved another and it happened again.

I don't understand what has changed about the 240 that makes them do poorly there now.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Maybe something is ticking them off. Like a fish, or critter, or maybe another coral in close proximity. Not sure if gorgonians can deal with other gorgonian toxins. Purple one seemed close to the whip one in last picture. Do you run carbon? So moved one to 75 good, moved another to 75 good? How much did they grow in 240? Seems like a light or flow like you said, or a proximity thing. Scratching my head so far.

 

[WVNed]

Here are the 2 pictured above in Feb 2019 in the 75 at the old house when the sailfin and gorgs were tiny.

I dont run carbon because of the tangs. I use ozone.

 

[najer]

My guess is a fish nipping.

 

[WVNed]

Everything just looks sad. Blue Ridge isn't growing anymore either
I just got an ICP back. All good.
75 gallon tank with 100% less sad.

 

[WVNed]

2 days later

 

[BostonReefer300]

+1 on nipping fish or other critter. Although I suppose that in the process of moving them, you could've knocked algae off that was irritating them. Beautiful tanks BTW

 

[WVNed]

It isnt just the gorgonians though if I am honest.
Sorry about the dirty glass.
The short of it
Here are the tanks right now.
The 2 tanks have the same water parameters (on same sump and good ICP test last week)) and the same flow.
The big one with the Halides is doing poorly now though it was fine 6 months ago. It has new lamps.
8 hour photoperiod now at 8 inches over the water. I have tried down to 6 inches but that makes it hard to get into the tank and didn't help so I raised it a little. I have tried as high as 15 inches.
Something moved from the big tank to the smaller one improves in 1 hour.

If it isn't the water or the flow it has to be the lights. Or am I missing something.


What else can I try?
Help @ReefSquad (always wanted to do that)
Now I need it.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Gorgonians will begin to fight with chemical warfare as they grow bigger. This will demand a large water movement and good lighting and carbon. I have had 12 -16 varieties in my 210g before. They do some crazy things. Algae build up will also do it, so will fish irritating them or the other corals.

How are you replenishing trace elements. I would add iodine to my system as the rest were handled by the calcium reactor.

I too have two tanks set up with one sump and yet one will get caked in algae and other fine. Crazy how that works. Water is same, but all else is different. Flow, light, other animals, rock, etc.

I hope they recover for you. They look pretty good with all the polyps out! My ribbon did great for over 2 years, then just got covered in algae so much and died. I was always cleaning it.

 

[WVNed]

Gorgonians will begin to fight with chemical warfare as they grow bigger. This will demand a large water movement and good lighting and carbon. I have had 12 -16 varieties in my 210g before. They do some crazy things. Algae build up will also do it, so will fish irritating them or the other corals.

How are you replenishing trace elements. I would add iodine to my system as the rest were handled by the calcium reactor.

I too have two tanks set up with one sump and yet one will get caked in algae and other fine. Crazy how that works. Water is same, but all else is different. Flow, light, other animals, rock, etc.

I hope they recover for you. They look pretty good with all the polyps out! My ribbon did great for over 2 years, then just got covered in algae so much and died. I was always cleaning it.

on a doser and add Brightwell Iodion weekly.
Algae on them wouldn't instantly go away when I move them from 1 tank to the other.
An honest appraisal is that other things in the big are are poopy looking too, though not all of them.

 

[WVNed]

II thought the purple ribbon was going to die. Some smaller ones I started off of it did die.
After the re-lamp and dropping the light it did shed and turn purple again.

 

[vetteguy53081]

II thought the purple ribbon was going to die. Some smaller ones I started off of it did die.
After the re-lamp and dropping the light it did shed and turn purple again.

Gorgonians can thrive for a long time if provided with the proper environment in the reef aquarium. However, they are considered a more difficult coral to care for. They need to be attached to the substrate and most require a brisk but moderate water movement. Gorgonians do best with a stable environment and moving them often stresses them, at least temporarily. If exposed to air, they get upset during a transfer. Mainly is light- They are photosynthetic and require both good light and water flow. In your pics, light seems somewhat Low intensity. Also addition of stronium, potassium and iron keeps them perky.
Feeding is also a requirement. They capture planktonic foods for survival. You can feed them several things, like Marine Snow, micro-plankton, brine shrimp, copepods, and reef roids 3-4X per week.
If you notice any algae or cyanobacteria near or on them, remove it from the coral immediately as this will cause rapid tissue deterioration.

 

[WVNed]

Gorgonians can thrive for a long time if provided with the proper environment in the reef aquarium. However, they are considered a more difficult coral to care for. They need to be attached to the substrate and most require a brisk but moderate water movement. Gorgonians do best with a stable environment and moving them often stresses them, at least temporarily. If exposed to air, they get upset during a transfer. Mainly is light- They are photosynthetic and require both good light and water flow. In your pics, light seems somewhat Low intensity. Also addition of stronium, potassium and iron keeps them perky.
Feeding is also a requirement. They capture planktonic foods for survival. You can feed them several things, like Marine Snow, micro-plankton, brine shrimp, copepods, and reef roids 3-4X per week.
If you notice any algae or cyanobacteria near or on them, remove it from the coral immediately as this will cause rapid tissue deterioration.

I took those this morning while the lights were ramping up and only the T-5s were on.
I have had them a couple of years. They have doubled and tripled in size in that time.
I dose trace elements, iron and iodine

 

[WVNed]

Gorgonians can thrive for a long time if provided with the proper environment in the reef aquarium. However, they are considered a more difficult coral to care for. They need to be attached to the substrate and most require a brisk but moderate water movement. Gorgonians do best with a stable environment and moving them often stresses them, at least temporarily. If exposed to air, they get upset during a transfer. Mainly is light- They are photosynthetic and require both good light and water flow. In your pics, light seems somewhat Low intensity. Also addition of stronium, potassium and iron keeps them perky.
Feeding is also a requirement. They capture planktonic foods for survival. You can feed them several things, like Marine Snow, micro-plankton, brine shrimp, copepods, and reef roids 3-4X per week.
If you notice any algae or cyanobacteria near or on them, remove it from the coral immediately as this will cause rapid tissue deterioration.

I have a question. I dose the minimal amount of trace elements for my system volume. I dont have a lot of corals. But most of the elements don't show up as present on an ICP. Should I increase it?

Add 1 ml trace elements of each solution per 100 l / 25 US-Gal. of aquarium system water volume daily

For 400 gallons that is 16ml a day of A- and K+

 

[fishguy242]

@Eagle_Steve any insight ??

 

[Uncle99]

In addition to brighter light, iodide supplements to 0.06ppm, and great flow, I need to maintain phosphate in the 0.08-.1ppm range and dose both phyto and some marine snow every few days or so.

 

[WVNed]

I am wondering if I should have went with 400W MH
2000 watts still seems like overkill to me.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I think 400w would be overkill. Honestly my gorg tank ran years on 250w x3 and 4T5s. This tank was 24"x24"x84". I had some pretty large gorgs. I think this is a picture of them in maybe their second year as many are missing and the grubes was huge when I changed up the tank and lost way too much to think about.
I did forget to mention that they love food. I fed a lot!

Second picture you can see at least 4 different species from the tank.
Third picture is not great, but you can see some of the growth. My Grube's was cut regularly as it hung up out of the water and was a monster by 3 years in the tank.