Goniopora

adamsfour · Aug 10, 2024

By far my favorite coral is Goniopora. But I have had zero success. I continue to try and get the same results every time. They look awesome for a while then stop fully extending, then stop extending, and then are totally closed up. I have tried high in tank, low in tank and in the middle. I have tired so called Goniopora food and spot feed them. Still no luck. I know there are people out them who have awesome luck. My parameters are Cal 460, Alk 11.80, and Mag 1200. Phosphate is .01 and nitrate is 2.9. I am trying to raise these levels as historically they have hovered around zero and the latest thinking I see is they should not be zero. I assume my issue is chemistry and/or lighting. Any help would be appreciated.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Aug 10, 2024

As you mention, the nitrate and phosphate are very low. Alk is very high compared to most tanks. I have 7 goni's under metal hallides, so they are they very flexible in regards to lighting, my flow is pretty high. The don't like to touch other corals or will close up.

This is just general info which I'm sure you know, but there's not much to go on in your post. Maybe if you post a tank pic might help generate more idea's.

gbroadbridge · Aug 10, 2024

adamsfour said:
By far my favorite coral is Goniopora. But I have had zero success. I continue to try and get the same results every time. They look awesome for a while then stop fully extending, then stop extending, and then are totally closed up. I have tried high in tank, low in tank and in the middle. I have tired so called Goniopora food and spot feed them. Still no luck. I know there are people out them who have awesome luck. My parameters are Cal 460, Alk 11.80, and Mag 1200. Phosphate is .01 and nitrate is 2.9. I am trying to raise these levels as historically they have hovered around zero and the latest thinking I see is they should not be zero. I assume my issue is chemistry and/or lighting. Any help would be appreciated.

They are starving.

If you wish to keep your Alk so high, you should aim for Nitrates around 20 and
Phosphate 0.10 - 0.20.