Gorgonia Slows SPS Growth

natejonesis · #1 11/28/2007, 06:07 PM

I have a tank with a number of SPS and I was thinking about adding some gorgonia for a little diversity of color and movement. I recall reading a long time ago, can't remember where or if a reliable source, that gorgonias produce a chemical which may slow SPS growth. Has anyone read this is well?? or does anyone have both in the same tank and all is fine??

Thanks

gary faulkner · #2 11/28/2007, 10:02 PM

I have both and all is fine.

Lots of SPS and one purple gorge and one silver gorg.

HTH

greenbean36191 · #3 11/28/2007, 10:07 PM

It's not just gorgonians. Lots of other organisms from algae to sponges, and most corals produce chemicals that slow the growth of competitors. That's one of the reasons it's always a good reason to run carbon.

VaderWS6 · #4 11/28/2007, 10:12 PM

No problems from my gorgonian. And I've had it since 1994.

natejonesis · #5 12/02/2007, 06:50 PM

Thanks for the replies. Off to grab a few gorgs.

Frick-n-Frags · #6 12/03/2007, 06:58 AM

however, don't let the gorg polyp tentacles touch the SPS. my briarium will slowly wither an area away on sps if it can touch it.

IceWish · #7 12/03/2007, 07:43 AM

i had lots of gorgs in my tank and never any problems

pnguye3 · #8 12/03/2007, 08:01 AM

I don't believe it would cause any problems whatsoever, but I run carbon most of the time just in case.

gary faulkner · #9 12/03/2007, 06:24 PM

When my gorg fell over into my hammer, the hammer retracted.

I would think that the hammer would have won that battle but it seems that the gorg was the stronger coral this time.

aninjaatemyshoe · #10 12/03/2007, 07:12 PM

That's odd. My gorgonian recoiled from an aiptasia anemone. My frogspawn kicks aiptasia's butt in a fight. So, logically, I would suspect that the frogspawn would win against the gorgonian. Perhaps it depends upon the gorgonian.

gary faulkner · #11 12/03/2007, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by aninjaatemyshoe
That's odd. My gorgonian recoiled from an aiptasia anemone. My frogspawn kicks aiptasia's butt in a fight. So, logically, I would suspect that the frogspawn would win against the gorgonian. Perhaps it depends upon the gorgonian.

I'll have to place some gorgs against the aips, if that's the case.

Would love to get rid of some of those pests. Seems they destroy any coral that has the misfortune to be near them.

Just my experience.

brandonberry · #12 12/03/2007, 09:16 PM

I think you misread that. HE was saying that the aiptasia hurt the gorgonian.

I have lots of gorgonians and SPS. If anything, I would say the SPS tend to stunt some of the gorgonians. I've recently set up a whole new system and since moving certain gorgonians to that tank away from the Monitporas and Acroporas, they have made a big turnaround. It seems that the larger polyped photosynthetic gorgonians seem more affected than the smaller polyped varieties such as Pseudopterogorgia and Pterogorgia. Lighting could also be a factor since my SPS tank had really high PAR 250w lights and my new tank only has 175w lights.

gary faulkner · #13 12/03/2007, 09:33 PM

I think you misread that. HE was saying that the aiptasia hurt the gorgonian.

Yea, my bad.

I still haven't seen any coral, as of yet, to hurt aips.