Secret sauce for keeping Goni long term?

[jackintheboxfish]

Instead of another “what’s best” thread, I figured it’d be more useful to compare what people are actually doing when their gonis are thriving.

If you’ve had long-term success (unlike me who’s had long term unsuccess), I’d really want to hear what worked/didn’t work for you. Especially want to know what “common advice” you’ve heard, tried, and either continued to adopt or threw in the trash. Hot takes are welcome

 

[skiracer8148]

Chaeto Gro

 

[JonoH]

Hard to say exactly to be honest, but I ticked everything that I do which seems to be working.

If they stay closed for an extended period of time, then an Amino Bath definately helps also.

 

[jackintheboxfish]

Chaeto Gro

Please explain what u do :)

 

[jackintheboxfish]

Hard to say exactly to be honest, but I ticked everything that I do which seems to be working.

If they stay closed for an extended period of time, then an Amino Bath definately helps also.

Oh interesting - would you say you feed pretty heavily on the gonis? I’ve tried feeding but it didn’t seem like they “ate”.

In terms of a amino bath, do you just dose into the tank or try to target that as well? What product do you use?

 

[JonoH]

Oh interesting - would you say you feed pretty heavily on the gonis? I’ve tried feeding but it didn’t seem like they “ate”.

In terms of a amino bath, do you just dose into the tank or try to target that as well? What product do you use?

Theres a few posts on Reef2Reef about it. You mix it up and place the coral in there for a period of time, almost like force feeding it. Snip of it below (I think this was from Isaac Alves)

 

[jackintheboxfish]

Theres a few posts on Reef2Reef about it. You mix it up and place the coral in there for a period of time, almost like force feeding it. Snip of it below (I think this was from Isaac Alves)

Oh wow this is not what I expected. gotta try that. Do you do this to the gonis w/o PE you’ve had for a bit or new ones too?

 

[JonoH]

Oh wow this is not what I expected. gotta try that. Do you do this to the gonis w/o PE you’ve had for a bit or new ones too?

Only if they have been retracted for an extended period of time.
Goni dont like moving around, and are really sensative to touch/moving around the tank - can cause them to close up for months.
Best bet is to choose a spot for them and stick with it, if they dont open up, then try the above.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I find the red and green ones to the easiest. The colors seem more difficult for some reason, blue, yellow, grafted, etc.... I can keep them for one or two years then they slowly die away, not sure why. I don't dose mangonese, but I use AFR and I've had my red and green goni's for many years now.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@VintageReefer can give you some advice!

 

[get-salty]

Chaeto Gro

Yo.... my man got secrets !

 

[DSC reef]

In my experience, target feeding, moderate flow and mid to bottom of the tank under the halides and they grew pretty consistently while keeping color. I fed a lot of different foods in my reef tank.

 

[tzabor10]

Target feeding 2x a week with Gonipower. Micro gonis are very hardy. @WWC Ragin rojo is also very hardy.

 

[56longroof]

I've only had mine for a few months but they seemed to respond to manganese doinsing.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

They don't do well in ULN systems. Need some nutrients and trace availability.

 

[jackintheboxfish]

I find the red and green ones to the easiest. The colors seem more difficult for some reason, blue, yellow, grafted, etc.... I can keep them for one or two years then they slowly die away, not sure why. I don't dose mangonese, but I use AFR and I've had my red and green goni's for many years now.

Huh interesting. I guess your experience says it’s not necessarily a trace element issue cuz AFR should have all the traces? Or perhaps certain colors of gonis require even more than what AFR provides?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Huh interesting. I guess your experience says it’s not necessarily a trace element issue cuz AFR should have all the traces? Or perhaps certain colors of gonis require even more than what AFR provides?

That could be, I didn't think of that.

 

[jackintheboxfish]

In my experience, target feeding, moderate flow and mid to bottom of the tank under the halides and they grew pretty consistently while keeping color. I fed a lot of different foods in my reef tank.

in terms of lighting I feel like I’ve heard contradicting information. Reading one of the reef books (forgot which one) and it put goniopora on the medium to high light, but some also says they don’t like a lot of light because of oxidative stress .

In your experience though, mid to bottom is best so guessing 50-100 PAR range?

 

[jackintheboxfish]

Target feeding 2x a week with Gonipower. Micro gonis are very hardy. @WWC Ragin rojo is also very hardy.

Yeah it seems like the really red gonis are much easier than some others.

 

[DSC reef]

in terms of lighting I feel like I’ve heard contradicting information. Reading one of the reef books (forgot which one) and it put goniopora on the medium to high light, but some also says they don’t like a lot of light because of oxidative stress .

In your experience though, mid to bottom is best so guessing 50-100 PAR range?

I've never measured par, ever. Always went by look. I had twin 150watt DE 20k Hamilton bulbs with 4 blue plus T5(48") for my lighting. Most of my Tridacna were on the bottom of the tank in the 75 gallon so if the clams thrived for over a decade I figured there's plenty of par, lol. I agree, there's plenty of conflicting information.