Goniopora Survival XXXX >>>>> GROWTH <<<<<

[CNDReef]

Here’s the pictures that I just took

You can see the the original frag from the underside

 

[CNDReef]

Here’s one that struggled in my tank for about a year , even thought it was a goner a few times that’s finally doing good. It’s a reefgen florescente green

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Here’s the pictures that I just took

You can see the the original frag from the underside

great photos thanks
how old is that goni frag & has its skeleton grown over the disc?

 

[CNDReef]

The purple was fragged from the mother colony by me at our local club meeting either the last weekend of May or first weekend of June. It seams like it’s growing around it and not really contouring it. The frag itself was a 1” rectangle that you see a little of from the underside. Everything else has grown from that

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ive had pure luck with gonis' and noticeable growth. I keep them under moderate light and water flow with occasional feedings and at mid tank or Below mid tank.

 

[BigJohnny]

Yea greens are the hardest. Youd be better off getting a 100% aquacultured variety as well. WWC has many

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Yea greens are the hardest. Youd be better off getting a 100% aquacultured variety as well. WWC has many

Not able to get any from WWC,,, only GBR

 

[Scrubber_steve]

new gonni going well

 

[sghera64]

Bought another Goniopora yesterday. A Metallic Green, or perhaps Ultra Green, not sure, but from GBR.

Has anyone documented a Goni's skeletal mass increasing in captivity?
Obviously they need to survive for this to occur.

Yes - - I made this video a few years back. I bought a G.stokesi and wanted to chronical its life. I figured it might last a year, but went much longer than that. It died a couple years ago after a Power Blue Tang ate a quarter of it. It took about 9 months for it to waste away after that "munching".

 

[Breefer94]

I have been incredibly lucky with a green one. Was told it was an easy beginner coral a few years ago at the Lfs and have been lucky enough to have had this one go from golf ball size skeleton on a half inch piece of pvc to a baseball sized skeleton on a one and a half inch pvc. Volleyball sized when she opens. She's even lasted through a tank collapse and a few moves. Currently recovering from a nitrate spike. IRON. My Stokesi's tentacles start receding when I stop dosing iron.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Yes - - I made this video a few years back. I bought a G.stokesi and wanted to chronical its life. I figured it might last a year, but went much longer than that. It died a couple years ago after a Power Blue Tang ate a quarter of it. It took about 9 months for it to waste away after that "munching".

Great video, & I loved the accompying music

What is your advice, besides not letting a powder blue any where near them?

 

[acesfull44]

Easily a staple in my tank. One of the hardiest. It's only open about 60% here but it's about the size of a soccer ball fully open.
Target feed 2x/week
Middle of Tank
Directly in front of a MP10

 

[andrewkw]

While I have had a few colonies over the years, I don't believe they grew as fast as this frag I got back in May.

Taken just now after I finished going through the thread

Hard to tell from the picture but it has encrusted quite a bit for a little over 6 months. Relatively high under kessils with good flow. I target feed once a week. While the bleached pink may look a little nicer it is a lot darker and healthier now. It was a fresh cut when I got it.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

While I have had a few colonies over the years, I don't believe they grew as fast as this frag I got back in May.

Taken just now after I finished going through the thread

Hard to tell from the picture but it has encrusted quite a bit for a little over 6 months. Relatively high under kessils with good flow. I target feed once a week. While the bleached pink may look a little nicer it is a lot darker and healthier now. It was a fresh cut when I got it.

what food do you use?

 

[sghera64]

Awsome reply, thanks very much.

So
1. how about under LED ? key spectrum ?
2. I've heard it recommended to keep potassium at NSW level ?
3. just how much flow ?
4. NO3 PO4 ?

I kept mine under MH (the one in the video) from 2011 to 2017. I was surprised when I learned it had been at 75-90 PAR all those years (after buying an Apogee 510 in 2015). Now, I'm keeping a metallic green and red Goni beneath LED (SB Reeflights) with a little T5 supplemental. These are sitting in about 100 PAR. Notice I have them sitting in the sand as previously mentioned by another reefer above.

[Gonio Video]

 

[SuncrestReef]

Just for fun, I made a time-lapse video of a new goniopora as it opened up over a couple hour period:

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Notice I have them sitting in the sand as previously mentioned by another reefer above.

what effect does the sand have, as mine are sitting on a bare bottom covered in coralline

 

[andrewkw]

what food do you use?

I use a mix but the goni mostly gets reef roids. That being said I soak LRS, reef roids, and sometimes other foods (coral frenzy pellets, PE Mysis, Calenus, Pellets ect). The LRS in this case is for my meaty LPS as much as my fish so it's thawed out with the reef roids and mixed up together instead of stuck into the tank frozen as if it were for only the fish. The goni of course is smaller mouthed so it's getting smaller foods, but some of the "juice" from the frozen and even larger sized dry foods.

 

[sghera64]

Great video, & I loved the accompying music

What is your advice, besides not letting a powder blue any where near them?

Thanks!
Recommendations:
1.) Scour the net for as much as you can on these. Posting your success/struggles and asking for input (like this thread) help not only you, but the rest of us Goni lovers.
2.) <150 PAR (as previously mentioned.
3.) I have run a wide range of nitrates 1-25ppm and PO4 (0.006 - 0.060 ppm). I for one cannot say any of these are bad (or necessarily ideal.
4.) I read to feed the fish hard so they poop a lot. I've done that and my Goni's survived a number of months at ULNS - - before I started dosing NO3 and PO4.
5.) I added a macro refugium to help steady my nutrients (NO3, PO4) and provide pods for my mandarin gobi and my Goni's. I highly recommend a macro refugium - - but, if I recall correctly, you have one already.
6.) Stability, consistency and keep things as constant as possible (is that redundant? ). I think this is the key and is more important for G.Stokesi than even for most SPS.

My sense on point 6 is more about the bacteria and other microbes on our corals. After reading/watching some recent scientific findings on bacterial infections of corals, I am starting to think that harmful bacteria are always present on our corals, but the coral keep ahead of those "bad" bugs so long as the coral stays healthy and strong. Healthy coral must be hosting some other micro fauna that keep the "bad" bugs to low enough level or they produce enzymes and proteins that do that. I believe Julian Sprung also postulated this about a decade ago.

 

[sghera64]

what effect does the sand have, as mine are sitting on a bare bottom covered in coralline

I've "read" (but don't know for sure), that sitting in the sand keeps them closer to a food source (pods and pod fry) that live in the sand. But, I've seen a number of YouTube videos of Goni keepers that have bare bottoms and some of the Goni's are mounted on posts and platforms. One thing I've also noticed is that those who have been successful tend to keep more than one and they keep them close to each other. In the wild, these things don't live in isolation. They live in huge communities.

In my tank, at night after lights out, I can see a lot of small shrimp swimming around and beneath my Goniopora. I guess once the pods get large enough, they are not "food" for the Goni's, - - - but the baby pods (microscopic) probably are.