GMK Growth Spurt?

[Hooz]

I got a single polyp GMK back in March of this year. It's been steadily growing for me, and in the 8 months I've had it, it has grown to 12-ish polyps (not always easy to count).

About 2 weeks ago the whole colony closed up on me. I wasn't too worried as I figured a snail or hermit ran over them, and my 38 other types of zoas all looked fine. But then it stayed closed. For days. Every once-in-a-while a polyp or two would open 1/2-3/4 of the way, but most were closed all day, every day. I was worried.

This morning a friend suggested that maybe the colony was just going through a growth spurt. I've had other, smaller colonies do that, but never for more than 5-7 days. So I started comparing pictures I've taken over the last 2 weeks and, sure enough, there are several new polyps!

This picture was taken a week ago. Pay special attention to the circled areas. And I apologize for the less than stellar, zoomed in photos.

And then this picture was taken today...

The polyps are closed, but they're not shrinking, and they look healthy enough. And, you can pretty obviously see that there are more polyps! In fact, I'm counting up to 18 now!

So now I've switched from worried to cautiously optimistic. If they all open back up after this is over, it'll be the single largest growth spurt of any zoa in my tank, and my GMK colony will be up to about 18 polyps.

 

[threebuoys]

Looking good, hope you are right, and to what do you attribute your success? Or, conversely, have you been disappointed they didn't grow faster?

 

[Hooz]

Looking good, hope you are right, and to what do you attribute your success? Or, conversely, have you been disappointed they didn't grow faster?

Honestly, I've done some experimentation with my zoas. I've tried raising and lowering the PAR (found that lower seems to work better for me), different nutrient levels, amino acids, different alkalinity.

The PAR on my sandbed where most of my zoas are gets to the mid 70's at peak, and dips down into the high 60's before and after the whites ramp up and down. I run lower PAR, but a 14 hour photperiod instead of the typical 12 hours most people run. I did a very long DLI calculation (with help), and my tank falls right in the sweet spot for softies and LPS based on my PAR levels, ramp times and max photperiod. I don't think there is any spot in my tank that gets more than 120-ish PAR, though, and it works out well for my LPS and zoas. I run LuxEngine LED upgrades in my lights, so I have (IMO) a much better color spectrum than most lights on the market.

I've kind of settled on 15-20ppm nitrate, anything .05-.1ppm phosphates and alk in the 8.5-9dkh range. I maintain my alk with All for Reef, so that takes care of my calcium, magnesium and trace elements too, in one shot. I did switch from Reef Crystals to regular old Instant Ocean a while back because the high calcium in RC was getting too high with dosing.

I dose Red Sea AB+ daily and Reef Chili 2-3x a week. Both are just broadcast to the whole tank (turn off returns but leave the wavemakers going). I've had pretty good success that way, so I'm sticking with it.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I expected from the GMKs. At the time I got it, it was the single most expensive coral I'd purchased. I'd heard horror stories about them being finicky melters, so I was just tickled that they grew for me. The larger the colony got, the faster the new polyps started popping out. In hindsight, they did seem to grow well for me, and much faster than some other guys' frags that I've seen.

I'm up around 40 different types of zoas now, including ALL the Kraks and several other mid/high range flavors. They all seem to do very well for me. I must be doing something right, I guess.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Looking good! It's like watching dollar bills grow haha

 

[Hooz]

Looking good! It's like watching dollar bills grow haha

HAHAHA! Nah. I don't have any plans to frag these for quite a while.I'd let them take over my whole tank if they wanted. Definitely one of my favorites!

 

[shakacuz]

cha-ching!


i want this same growth spurt to happen for my JF *** krak's.

 

[Hooz]

cha-ching!


i want this same growth spurt to happen for my JF *** krak's.

My JF *** Kraks have gone from 1p to 5p in about 5 weeks, so keep those fingers crossed!

 

[threebuoys]

Honestly, I've done some experimentation with my zoas. I've tried raising and lowering the PAR (found that lower seems to work better for me), different nutrient levels, amino acids, different alkalinity.

The PAR on my sandbed where most of my zoas are gets to the mid 70's at peak, and dips down into the high 60's before and after the whites ramp up and down. I run lower PAR, but a 14 hour photperiod instead of the typical 12 hours most people run. I did a very long DLI calculation (with help), and my tank falls right in the sweet spot for softies and LPS based on my PAR levels, ramp times and max photperiod. I don't think there is any spot in my tank that gets more than 120-ish PAR, though, and it works out well for my LPS and zoas. I run LuxEngine LED upgrades in my lights, so I have (IMO) a much better color spectrum than most lights on the market.

I've kind of settled on 15-20ppm nitrate, anything .05-.1ppm phosphates and alk in the 8.5-9dkh range. I maintain my alk with All for Reef, so that takes care of my calcium, magnesium and trace elements too, in one shot. I did switch from Reef Crystals to regular old Instant Ocean a while back because the high calcium in RC was getting too high with dosing.

I dose Red Sea AB+ daily and Reef Chili 2-3x a week. Both are just broadcast to the whole tank (turn off returns but leave the wavemakers going). I've had pretty good success that way, so I'm sticking with it.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I expected from the GMKs. At the time I got it, it was the single most expensive coral I'd purchased. I'd heard horror stories about them being finicky melters, so I was just tickled that they grew for me. The larger the colony got, the faster the new polyps started popping out. In hindsight, they did seem to grow well for me, and much faster than some other guys' frags that I've seen.

I'm up around 40 different types of zoas now, including ALL the Kraks and several other mid/high range flavors. They all seem to do very well for me. I must be doing something right, I guess.

Thanks for such a thorough response!

I'm slowly getting off the ground with my zoas and I hope to emulate your success.

Which types of LPS have you concentrated on? I've got several varieties that seem to be doing well but still too early to notice a lot of growth.

 

[Hooz]

Thanks for such a thorough response!

I'm slowly getting off the ground with my zoas and I hope to emulate your success.

Which types of LPS have you concentrated on? I've got several varieties that seem to be doing well but still too early to notice a lot of growth.

I have several "named" torches (Indos), hammers, frogspawn, goni and just jumping in with blastos. I had some mushrooms that were going crazy that I just sold because they were reaching off of their island, and I didn't want to fight with them on my main rockwork.

 

[Cell]

Not sure I've ever seen a growth spurt attributed to zoas being closed for an extended period of time. Nice info/observation!

 

[Coral Kai]

How much do GMKs go per polyp rn?

 

[zoaprince]

What ever happened to these?

 

[Hooz]

How much do GMKs go per polyp rn?

Still around $150-ish per polyp.

What ever happened to these?

Theyre still only opening halfway, but theyre all still there.

I'm still scratching my head, though. In the same timeframe that this has been going on, Predators have gone from 2p to 8p, Mind Tricks from 1p to 5p, Gold Mauls from 3p to 8p, Murder Hornet frag from 5p to 11p... same lights, same tank, same everything.

 

[Hooz]

What ever happened to these?

Lights are dimming, so they're closed a little more than usual, but this was the GMKs tonight.

They started doing this around Thanksgiving, but there's still 19 colored bumps there.

 

[Coral Kai]

I bought 2 polyps that's 7 now

 

[SauceyReef]

Would love to hear an update! @Hooz

Just got a GMK polyp at a frag show this weekend.