Gonipora care questions

[Lelegance]

I have kept gonis in the past, but they always die after going on a trip, or something similar to that such as forgetting to waterchange for a bit. I am now on top of changes, and believe that I am ready for one, so I picked a huge colony up (it was only 130$) that looked really healthy. Just got it in a good spot where it gets random low-med flow and will see how it likes it tomorrow. I was wondering if Magnese actually matters to dose, how often I need to spot/broadcast feed, what to feed, and most importantly, any tricks or tips you have to keep a colony for a long time. Right now I have Reef roids and Benepets benereef. I also am dosing amino acids daily.

Thanks for questions/answers!

 

[Zyk5280b]

Phosphates are part of the key for gonis and underappreciated. They are unfortunate great bell weathers for bottom out moments if you are not testing routinely. Neophos helped give some nutrients back in my system and I was able to get the gonis off the zero nutrient cliff. However I've also been using phos-feed from marin for about a month and have seen a complete turnaround if low nutrients is a concern.

My colonies seem to prefer alk less then 10 and some nutrients(can't keep phos in this system) continued in the water column.

I tried manganese as well during the initial problem solving of my colonies retracted and starting to melt, I did not see an immediate impact as I did with Neophos. With gonis is fairly easy to tell which health direction they are heading in. I saved all 5 of my larger colonies once additional phos was added into the system a couple being close to 3-4 years old at this point.

 

[Roatan Reef]

Goniopora corals thrive in magnesium levels between 1260–1350 parts per million (ppm). Magnesium levels should be maintained within 50 ppm of your chosen target.

Why magnesium is important...
Magnesium levels should be monitored and maintained to ensure proper skeletal growth and tissue expansion.
Raising magnesium levels gradually can help to combat algae outbreaks.
Other water conditions for Goniopora corals:
Temperature: 75–80° F
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.1–8.4
Alkalinity: 8–12 dKH
Calcium: 420–440 ppm
Lighting: Moderate to high .

Also feed your tank or Gonis a good Amino supplement....you can broadcast feed a good Amino supplement, it's good for all corals BTW

 

[Lelegance]

Goniopora corals thrive in magnesium levels between 1260–1350 parts per million (ppm). Magnesium levels should be maintained within 50 ppm of your chosen target.

Why magnesium is important...
Magnesium levels should be monitored and maintained to ensure proper skeletal growth and tissue expansion.
Raising magnesium levels gradually can help to combat algae outbreaks.
Other water conditions for Goniopora corals:
Temperature: 75–80° F
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.1–8.4
Alkalinity: 8–12 dKH
Calcium: 420–440 ppm
Lighting: Moderate to high .

Also feed your tank or Gonis a good Amino supplement....you can broadcast feed a good Amino supplement, it's good for all corals BTW

What amino supplement would you recommend? I have this (photo) also, should I feed reef roids/benepets, and if so, broadcast or target? Do you feed something else, or no feeding?

 

[BryanM]

I do not target feed my gonis.... Maybe I should, but they seem fine.

Re: Magnesium testing: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I feel flow is the most important, I've taken healthy goni's and put them into low flow area's, they close up within days and stay closed, as soon as I move them back into higher flow it improves. IME medium/high light and medium/high flow, my goni's thrive with my sps.

 

[CHSUB]

I believe people that give goni advice really don’t understand what they are talking about. Imo, there is no secret element, procedure, or nutrient level that is required for their survival beyond a stable well maintained aquarium suitable for other corals. The only important requirement is getting a captive grown specimen with a long history of growth. Wild collected Gonis require feeding similar to NPS corals and ime will starve in 99% of all reef aquariums.

 

[Big E]

I believe people that give goni advice really don’t understand what they are talking about. Imo, there is no secret element, procedure, or nutrient level that is required for their survival beyond a stable well maintained aquarium suitable for other corals. The only important requirement is getting a captive grown specimen with a long history of growth. Wild collected Gonis require feeding similar to NPS corals and ime will starve in 99% of all reef aquariums.

Yep, I agree..............the gonis that have been aqua cultured for at least 2 years are worth trying.

Right now Aussie Gonis are everywhere and they are just chop shopped.................buyer beware on those.

From my 5 years of keeping them moderate flow back and forth, low light and a standard amount of nutrients, basically not zero & you'll be rewarded. So, no different than most LPS...........standard care is fine. Also need to watch them.........some don't like each other.

I fragged every one of my colonies numerous times, but I only do it 2 times or so a year.
The main reason is to keep the sizes of the colonies manageable and not to stress them out by constantly hacking them up.

 

[VintageReefer]

I believe people that give goni advice really don’t understand what they are talking about. Imo, there is no secret element, procedure, or nutrient level that is required for their survival beyond a stable well maintained aquarium suitable for other corals. The only important requirement is getting a captive grown specimen with a long history of growth. Wild collected Gonis require feeding similar to NPS corals and ime will starve in 99% of all reef aquariums.

I have 26 gonis and would have more but some just don’t make it. The ones that do are solid and need no feeding or special care. Put them on the frag racks, move them to sand bed, swap spots with other corals as they grow. Doesn’t matter. They are grumpy for a few days then go back to normal.

Then I’ll buy another and it just won’t open from day one and I can tell it will be a problem one. And that is the one that will always have issues and then deteriorate slowly and die. If 26 do well and then a new one has issues then guess what. It’s not the tank

The history and source of the Goni is key. I feel 90% of the chance of survival has to do with what happened with the Goni before you bought it

 

[VintageReefer]

My tank has fluctuated from .02-.05 phosphates up to .9 and now I’m holding steady around .35

I’ve kept nitrates 5-15

I’ve dosed aminos. Ive gone months without aminos.

Gonis had no care about any of this. The only thing I can think of that seems to improve them, was starting daily additions of manganese.

 

[DHill6]

This is an older thread but how much manganese are we talking and do you test for it? @VintageReefer