+ian parkinson No, they aren't easy. They are non-photosynthetic gorgonians. They require a dedicated aquarist to feed regularly (rotifers/zooplankton, depending on polyp size and their feeding preference, perhaps timely autofeeders work best), as well as an excellent filtration system to cope with those frequent feeding regimen, also a strong random current so as to weed out the algae growing on top of it. Mine did not survive for 3 months. So I would suggest you not to keep those NPS.
Taking care of these are not real easy. Your 2.5-old tank looked pretty awesome. But seemed there're some green algae developing on the left side of the glass wall, as well as feeding the Goniopora takes challenge in selecting the right brand of tiny pellets/dusk formed food source, in order to successfully pass through Goniopora's membrane of host cell. And Goniopora is very sensitive to Iodine level. If the Iodine level is way lower than 0.06ppm in tanks, they will not be live more than 6 months.
Big thanks to your appreciation to my tank. This tank failed to strive in summer since i did not have a cooler. All the corals slowly faded. I updated the tank to a Sump Refugium 2 years ago. Now my tank is overwhelmed by the pulsing xenia. They are currently conquering the top of my tank rendering the corals below unable to receive light.
+摩卡拖鞋 In fact, I got a 10G, experimenting, back-wall-sump tank as similar as yours too :) At first, I'd planned to plant a bunch of macro algae in the back-wall sump, but a little bit of broken algae had flown back to the front without any awareness. The tiny broken piece of macro algae stuck on the live rocks, and the blue led lighting promoted the growth 'n' spreading the macro algae root, and the algae "conquered" the whole tank in just a couple of months. Now, 70% space of the whole tank are occupied by the macro algae. Half of the corals are eaten by the macro algae lol. But I found lots of copepods breeding there :-) Therefore, I have planned a new 24G, internal overflow piping tank, which has come in my hands. All I need is to drill a bigger hole on the top of the aquarium wood cabinet, so that I can put that old 10G tank (70% macro algae), as a sump inside cabinet to join the new tank, to form a whole ecosystem. - What a story, isn't it, haha :-)
+HiAlphaHobby LOL!~ what a great unintentional success to frag macros. Not sure if the reef market at your location demands macros, but i am pretty sure if i were you i would have earned quite a lot. Perhaps you might want to introduce some larger tangs to eat off the macros.
+摩卡拖鞋 Thanks! The special old, flooded display tank with macros would be the refugium sump in the carbinet (Firstly, temporary taking out all live rocks and macros, then introducing some coral bones 'n' live sands to cover up the whole top of the bottom connecting pieces of plates for effective filtration, with which would be a stock submerged pump, to promote growth for denitrafication bacteria. When I finish the filtration plates installation, then put back all live rocks with the macros back onto the filtration sand bed. Then, after installing the new main tank plus the macros's sump, linking 'em with the newest Jebao DCS-3000 pump, with newest designing 6-axis propellers (incredibly silent feature), to linking all related equipments together, including an affordable, yet decent external UV sterilizer, and water chiller. And, all would be done! At last, I would propose to introducing a little yellow tang to the newly setup display tank, then cutting some of the harvest macros periodically to feed the yellow tank without feeding dried seaweed lol. So, would not to have a plan to keep a tang in the sump in future - Its a big task to a new reefer like me lol :o
It's a blueberry gorgonian. I feed the whole tank with only Kent Phytoplex to supply phytoplantkton as a whole twice a week. Flowerpot itself lives symbiotically with zooxanthella so they can receive energy from those creatures by photosynthesis. They might get organic food as well from fish excretes and possibly small colonies of free-floating algae before attaching to glass surfaces. These are all purchased stuff from shops. :]
