Goniopora not opening with ideal parameters

[Mattc123]

Hi all. I purchased a goniopora on sale last week for around $30, thinking my tank was finally ready for it. It's been 7 days and it still hasn't opened and I'm wondering why. My parameters are
Ph- constantly 8.1-8.3
Nitrates of 4.0 or less
No nitirite and no ammonia
Phosphates of .08 and slowly coming down
DKH of 12 (which is a little high I know I'm working on bringing it down slowly)
Salinity of 1.023 which I'm trying to slowly also bump up to 1.025
Calcium 433ppm
Potassium of 400ppm
Iodine of .06
Iron as instructed by the red Sea colors kit
Temp steady between 77-78f
Magnesium 1200 which is also a little low but I can't imagine this would be it
I can't seem to understand what else I could possibly do to get it to open, it's got plenty of light and it's in a medium flow area. Any tips are appreciated! Thanks guys

 

[i cant think]

Hi all. I purchased a goniopora on sale last week for around $30, thinking my tank was finally ready for it. It's been 7 days and it still hasn't opened and I'm wondering why. My parameters are
Ph- constantly 8.1-8.3
Nitrates of 4.0 or less
No nitirite and no ammonia
Phosphates of .08 and slowly coming down
DKH of 12 (which is a little high I know I'm working on bringing it down slowly)
Salinity of 1.023 which I'm trying to slowly also bump up to 1.025
Calcium 433ppm
Potassium of 400ppm
Iodine of .06
Iron as instructed by the red Sea colors kit
Temp steady between 77-78f
Magnesium 1200 which is also a little low but I can't imagine this would be it
I can't seem to understand what else I could possibly do to get it to open, it's got plenty of light and it's in a medium flow area. Any tips are appreciated! Thanks guys

Honestly, I think that everything has been done and it’s just in sulking mode (As gonis usually do). It may come out but I think it’ll just sulk and slowly die for no reason

 

[kzenoni]

I have several in my tank, the ones in about 70 par seem to be opening the best. You may need to move it.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Agree with above comment, mine is in the corner of my tank, so gets lower light, medium flow.

 

[Reefsupreme]

I’ve had the same problem. For this reason I buy aquacultured. A lot of frags you will buy are cut from wild colonies. You just don’t know if it will do good in a tank. Either way Goni can be tricky.

 

[Mattc123]

Here it is today after feeding and moving it up higher in the tank as from what I understand they need around 100 par and in my biocube 32 par is about a Max of 85 in 12" of water. We'll see if feeding it reef roids and moving it higher has any effect!

 

[TheDragonsReef]

My personal experience is that lps dont like high alk.

 

[Mattc123]

My personal experience is that lps dont like high alk.

Any tips on how to lower it? I've been trying vinegar and water changes but neither seem to work. I've just kinda let it slowly decrease on it's own so far

 

[rhostam]

They can definitely recover. I messed with lighting when I first got mine and it did not like it at all. It was a brief change, but still the only thing I can think of that could cause such an abrupt and prolonged reaction.

All other LPS and green Goni seemed unphased, but…

First few months and with more white lighting:

Closed up tight one day after a lighting change (tried an AI profile from their site). Color loss progressed quickly.

About two months later:

About four months later and in new tank:

PAR in original tank and placement was about 115.

PAR in new tank and placement is about 95.

 

[Mattc123]

They can definitely recover. I messed with lighting when I first got mine and it did not like it at all. It was a brief change, but still the only thing I can think of that could cause such an abrupt and prolonged reaction.

All other LPS and green Goni seemed unphased, but…

First few months and with more white lighting:

Closed up tight one day after a lighting change (tried an AI profile from their site). Color loss progressed quickly.

About two months later:

About four months later and in new tank:

PAR in original tank and placement was about 115.

PAR in new tank and placement is about 95.

I'm hoping the placement higher up in the tank helps, I don't have a part meter so I'm thinking it's about 8" under the water and it's likely getting 80-100 par and medium flow where it is now. I'm gonna try to lower my alkalinity with some vinegar a little more agressively now and see if that makes a difference

 

[mdb_talon]

I'm hoping the placement higher up in the tank helps, I don't have a part meter so I'm thinking it's about 8" under the water and it's likely getting 80-100 par and medium flow where it is now. I'm gonna try to lower my alkalinity with some vinegar a little more agressively now and see if that makes a difference

Thats just going to be a temporary lowering. Do WC with a low alk salt if you want to to stay down

 

[Mattc123]

Thats just going to be a temporary lowering. Do WC with a low alk salt if you want to to stay down

I've been trying water changes with salinity by aquavitro and the batch says it has an alkalinity of meq/L of 3.7 and so far it's had no effect. Anything else I can do?

 

[Lavey29]

You need to correct your nitrates, alk, mag and salinity or you will probably start experiencing other coral issues also as I have experienced previously. Gonis are finicky corals and you have to give them some weeks or a month at least in a spot to see if it acclimate and accepts that placement. I had difficulty with mine but in hindsight it was more due to my parameters then the placement in the tank.

 

[Mattc123]

You need to correct your nitrates, alk, mag and salinity or you will probably start experiencing other coral issues also as I have experienced previously. Gonis are finicky corals and you have to give them some weeks or a month at least in a spot to see if it acclimate and accepts that placement. I had difficulty with mine but in hindsight it was more due to my parameters then the placement in the tank.

Are my parameters not ok where they are minus the salinity and alk? I know those can be a major factor but I figured everything else was ok where it was at

 

[Lavey29]

Are my parameters not ok where they are minus the salinity and alk? I know those can be a major factor but I figured everything else was ok where it was at

Nitrates are low, should be 10, mag is low a lot of coral farms run 1500, phosphate looks good.

But with this caveat, every tank is different. If everything else in your tank is thriving then only work the small tweaks you suggest. If everything is not thriving then those parameters may be causing stress on your corals and slowly deteriorate until one day you wake up and bam. I thought my stuff was doing OK not great and didn't realize my numbers were off somewhat, not major but enough to do unseen internal stress damage to my corals and that makes them susceptible to other coral disease. Once I locked in my numbers the whole tank came alive and thrived.

So base your adjustments on the current overall health quality of your tank. I'm just going off the numbers you posted.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Any tips on how to lower it? I've been trying vinegar and water changes but neither seem to work. I've just kinda let it slowly decrease on it's own so far

It should lower on its own if you have a few stony corals, but water changes are the best way. If your alkalinity is 12dkh and you do a 25% wc with water with alk at 8 you should drop 1dkh. If it doesnt your testing is off.

You need to correct your nitrates, alk, mag and salinity or you will probably start experiencing other coral issues also as I have experienced previously. Gonis are finicky corals and you have to give them some weeks or a month at least in a spot to see if it acclimate and accepts that placement. I had difficulty with mine but in hindsight it was more due to my parameters then the placement in the tank.

4ppm of nitrates is fine. But i agree mg and salinity need to be raised

 

[Lavey29]

It should lower on its own if you have a few stony corals, but water changes are the best way. If your alkalinity is 12dkh and you do a 25% wc with water with alk at 8 you should drop 1dkh. If it doesnt your testing is off.



4ppm of nitrates is fine. But i agree mg and salinity need to be raised

4 is ok if you only have a couple corals but if your tank is moderate to full then 5 to 10 will be better in my opinion.

 

[Mattc123]

I bumped the salinity today to 1.024 and will hopefully work towards .025 in the next few days. My magnesium is back up with the water change I did but the alk didn't seem to go down at all and is still at 12.2. still not open today though but it maybe? looked like it wanted to peek out.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

I bumped the salinity today to 1.024 and will hopefully work towards .025 in the next few days. My magnesium is back up with the water change I did but the alk didn't seem to go down at all and is still at 12.2. still not open today though but it maybe? looked like it wanted to peek out.

What alk does your salt mix at and what test kit are you using?

 

[Mattc123]

What alk does your salt mix at and what test kit are you using?

It's supposed to be a guaranteed batch of 3.7 meq/l which translates to about 10.3dkh I believe. And I'm using all Hanna checkers