Goniopora success

[Joe.D]

I love them too! Goni’s and Torches do it for me.

My Alk is approx 9.5 and they seem to like it. Nitrate about 3 and Phos .07.

The red one gets much stronger flow and likes it and has grown in the few months I’ve had it. The teal one is lower flow. I had their positions reversed at first - they both seem to like it better this way.

Pic doesn’t show it well, but the blue tips on the red one are way cool.

 

[ReeferA]

1 year is a progress but not to brag about. One of them looks faded... Good luck

 

[Reefing_addiction]

1 year is a progress but not to brag about. One of them looks faded... Good luck

Rude dude

 

[merkmerk73]

I really only direct feed my gonis. Everything else is on its own- sink or swim !!! That and even if I did feed them my tangs just steal the food - so I would have to stand there and chase them away

When do you direct feed them?

At night when my other corals put feeders out, Gonis retract and aren't really feedable.

Also, is there any jury findings on manganese? This thread is the first I'm hearing about alkalinity - I'm fine bumping my alk up to 8 from 7 but that seems like it could be a red herring.

I have one that I've had for 9 months or so and has grown significantly - if that coral dies suddenly in another 6 months or whatever, there's a shortage of some element that it needs - and I thought manganese was found to be the culprit there, which is why I have trace elements on a doser.

 

[Jmp998]

When do you direct feed them?

At night when my other corals put feeders out, Gonis retract and aren't really feedable.

Also, is there any jury findings on manganese? This thread is the first I'm hearing about alkalinity - I'm fine bumping my alk up to 8 from 7 but that seems like it could be a red herring.

I have one that I've had for 9 months or so and has grown significantly - if that coral dies suddenly in another 6 months or whatever, there's a shortage of some element that it needs - and I thought manganese was found to be the culprit there, which is why I have trace elements on a doser.

I don’t know of any controlled experiment with Manganese for gonis, but I have had a few different vendors/aquaculturers anecdotally say they think it is helpful. It is really hard to determine whether a long term trace element deficiency is causing a problem without doing really long and tedious controlled trials.

I add one drop of a human manganese supplement to my tank every morning. Maybe it is doing nothing, but the bottle cost $5, will last for years, and at low dose seems unlikely to be harmful as manganese is supposedly quickly taken up by algae and bacteria so unlikely to accumulate.

I did notice that when I started adding iron and manganese to a small test/quarantine tank, there was initially increased algae growth, but no obvious change on the few corals present. That tank was not previously getting any supplements and only very rare water changes or feeding, so I can easily imagine it was depleted of trace elements. I have no idea if it was the iron or manganese or both that made a difference.

 

[SCH14]

So I just wanted to add my 2 cents for success with goniopora.

I consider it a success because alot of the times these corals for folks die after few months to 6 months.

So I have 3 currently. 2 red and 1 ultra pink. I see good polyp extension and health. Currently have had these except for one for probably about a year

So I've experimented a little with their happiness and how come to a few things.

Lighting: have done well under t5 and led. They are placed middle low in the tank, they can do fine under non intense light as I think they prefer lower light. I've kept a couple on a frag rack near the top of the tank and that ticks them off and they close up.

Flow: probably the most important thing along with lighting for polyp extension. They like a gentle upswell of current in the pics with this thread you can see 2 are placed along side zoanthids. Another at the bottom. The one at one gets variable current and a nice upswell from the tank bottom. It extends a few like 6 inches. It seems to be very happy. It gets just enough current to sway the polyps back and forth but not beat them up.

Chemistry: maintaining good chemistry with a good salt is very important. They do not tolerate change. Ive noticed if ph drops or alk drops they close up. Specifically alk when it gets below 8. They seem to like 8.5 range. At least that's when I see them to start opening up. Ph is kept at 8.2 to 8.4. I also noticed they like slightly "dirty" water meaning keep some detectable level of phos and nitrate. I do this by dosing neo nitro and neo phos good products from brightwell

Feeding: now it's hard to tell if they actually eat, but I have dosed reef roids, amino and oyster feast with the current off for about 30 minutes. I do this every now and then. They will sense the food and partially close up. You can see their mouth open up but it's hard to tell if food is actually being eaten. It's important to gently release the food and not squirt too hard on the coral. I think feeding is a key to king term success with them.

These corals can be finicky, but can be kept long term. Take this advice with a grain of salt as this is just my observations. Maintaining stable parameters within a good range with gentle flow and medium lighting aling with regular feedings should see success.


The last pic is oh the main colony but I used AI to cut it out and post it on a blanck background. Photos are not edited for color

Gonis are my favorite coral- thought id share my current experience. I have a 310g display and got velvet pretty early on. Long story short the goni was in there w handful of highend torches and chalices. Went fishless for 90 days and "somewhat" kept up with the tank doing stuff here and there weekly. bought the goni at the size of maybe 7-10 inches tall, 8-10 inches wide, quite large. Alk started at 7.5 and this goni would fully open and just looked like it was loving life. Put in a full trident system have started to add fish - raised alk somewhat slowly and is now 9.0. Doesnt seem to be as large as it used to be in the previous weeks. Still opens quite a bit and is large, just not the full extension it used to be.

 

[alindell]

1 year is a progress but not to brag about. One of them looks faded... Good luck

I'm not bragging. Im just sharing my opinions on some success. Alot of people can't keep these but a few months and any insight could be helpful.

 

[QuickrdenU]

My Pink Goni is the healthiest coral in my tank by far. It gets tons of light. Some of the shorter varieties have died off. Who knows?

 

[Reefing_addiction]

When do you direct feed them?

At night when my other corals put feeders out, Gonis retract and aren't really feedable.

Also, is there any jury findings on manganese? This thread is the first I'm hearing about alkalinity - I'm fine bumping my alk up to 8 from 7 but that seems like it could be a red herring.

I have one that I've had for 9 months or so and has grown significantly - if that coral dies suddenly in another 6 months or whatever, there's a shortage of some element that it needs - and I thought manganese was found to be the culprit there, which is why I have trace elements on a doser.

During the day. I feed my fish, which causes all my other corals to put feeders out. After the fish are fed I feed the gonis their gonipower.

I keep my alk around 8.5
I dose 2 ml of manganese daily
Iodide a few drops every couple of days
And @Reef Nutrition phyto - 40-60 ml at night when the lights are out . (NOTE- do not start with that much. It’s very concentrated, but my tank clears it within 1-2 hours)
I keep mag high (closer to 1500) and 400 on my calcium.

With just adding the gonis within the last two weeks I haven’t started with strontium and potassium yet but I will be soon. My recent ATI test came back and I definitely need to start the potassium

I rarely do water changes lol
I don’t run a skimmer
Currently fighting my nutrients (they just about bottomed out)
I run a refugium and I have extra live rock in my sump

 

[Reefing_addiction]

During the day. I feed my fish, which causes all my other corals to put feeders out. After the fish are fed I feed the gonis their gonipower.

I keep my alk around 8.5
I dose 2 ml of manganese daily
Iodide a few drops every couple of days
And @Reef Nutrition phyto - 40-60 ml at night when the lights are out . (NOTE- do not start with that much. It’s very concentrated, but my tank clears it within 1-2 hours)
I keep mag high (closer to 1500) and 400 on my calcium.

With just adding the gonis within the last two weeks I haven’t started with strontium and potassium yet but I will be soon. My recent ATI test came back and I definitely need to start the potassium

I rarely do water changes lol
I don’t run a skimmer
Currently fighting my nutrients (they just about bottomed out)
I run a refugium and I have extra live rock in my sump

oh and if after feed the gonis I have left over food I dust my other corals.

 

[killer2001]

I wasn't able to keep Gonis alive for more then a few months in my tank. But then again, that was back when I was having air quality issues and couldn't get the pH above 7.8. So I may try again one of these days.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

I wasn't able to keep Gonis alive for more then a few months in my tank. But then again, that was back when I was having air quality issues and couldn't get the pH above 7.8. So I may try again one of these days.

I still don’t test PH….

Though I tend to open a window even during winter

My tank has great surface agitation

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Goni feeding
Don’t judge
I highly over fed
Stupid nitrates

This is the Aries gonna shortly after feeding- mouth closed



And some photos
Which are horrible (partial because I screenshot them from the video)

These photos were a little after feeding

 

[Whisperer]

Sharing mine. The purple grew from square inch frag with few polyps. Almost lost the green one but it’s bouncing back. I love the thin, long hair of the one on the left.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Sharing mine. The purple grew from square inch frag with few polyps. Almost lost the green one but it’s bouncing back. I love the thin, long hair of the one on the left.

And they are touching each other !!! lol

Love your garden!

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Just wanted to post another picture of this cuz it’s purdy

 

[Whisperer]

And they are touching each other !!! lol

Love your garden!

I think they look nice when mixed together in one spot. They are fine with each other.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

So wish me luck with my new gonis!

Look the mandarin!!!!

 

[Jmp998]

So wish me luck with my new gonis!

Look the mandarin!!!!

Gorgeous collection, good luck and I hope they hold those amazing colors.

Where are they from?

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Gorgeous collection, good luck and I hope they hold those amazing colors.

Where are they from?

red circle @Pieces of the Ocean
yellow circle @RiptideAquaculture
The rest @Zoanthids

All of these @Pieces of the Ocean

Front @Zoanthids
Back two @Pieces of the Ocean