Goniopora success stories.

BornHandy · Apr 27, 2019

I am building my system, and am a long way from ready, but...goniopora has always brought a twinkle to my eye.

Since success is possible, how about people who have had healthy colonies for more than a year share your set-up and how you maintain your system.

Lights, water movement, refugium or not....

Did you buy a large colony or a frag?

Pictures!

Retro Reefer · Apr 27, 2019

I never had much luck with Goniopora, but I purchased a frag of pink about 6-7 months ago that’s really doing great! T5 lighting, moderate flow, no refugium.. I try to feed it occasionally but it doesn’t seem to eat like other ones I have so I basically just leave it alone.

Bayareareefer18 · Apr 27, 2019

I bought this small frag in August. Has been doing great since.

Lower par and moderate flow. I do run a fuge

SPR1968 · Apr 27, 2019

I’ve got a few quiet large colonies in my system that I’ve grown from very small frags and I’ve just added a few more

Personally I’ve found they thrive in strong water flow areas of my tank. The ones in strong flow grow at least twice as fast as those in slow flow.

SPR1968 · Apr 27, 2019

Here’s a picture of one of mine

Waynerock · Apr 27, 2019

Here is the nicest of the 3 I got, also the oldest (about 1.5 years)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190427/
And had this guy for over a year as well just not as pretty

fd3f6390c7457a9feb52bfd4df474bda.jpg

And an Alveopora just cause. I struggled with them for years but I guess tank finally got dirty enough to sustain them. That and Reef Roids

JDowns · Apr 27, 2019

Medium to high flow. The corners of the tank get a steady gyre of back and forthe. Low to medium lighting - 150 - 175 PAR. My water is fairly dirty as I feed a lot. 10-15 Nitrates, 0.5 - 1.0 Phosphates, so no need to target feed.

BornHandy · Apr 27, 2019

That's pretty encouraging. My LFS has the frags fairly often. I may have to pick one up.

Reefcowboy · Apr 27, 2019

Ive always been a fan of them. Ran high nutrient, low nutrient, fed them didnt feed them...they dont seem to care.
Grow fast and add lots of colors to the tank.
I have a few grown from frags on an sps system with very low nutrients now. Got a few that were close to dying from a fellow reefer, they grew back encrusted and are doing great. I think flow is key, high flow is preferred

Rockytop_Reefer · May 1, 2019

Goniopora isn’t that hard to keep now a days compared to years back as long as you’re getting a healthy coral to start with. Basically they need some nutrients in your water so don’t put them in a Ultra low nutrient tank. And they need to be fed reed roids or goniopower at least once a week. Preferably twice a week.

The ORA pink/red Goni is particularly hardy and I recommend it as a starting Goni once your system has been set up for a bit.

BornHandy · May 2, 2019

You've talked me into it...

Alex716796 · May 10, 2019

My experience with goniopora has been up or down but I found the sweet spot for sure. After much research I have found that goniopora require iron in the water, there was something else that they require that I forgot, anyway they also like nutrients in the water but absolutely hate phosphates. And also they require being fed at least once a week. So far I have been very successful. I feed reef roids once a week and dose Red Sea coral nutrition every other day

Waynerock · May 12, 2019

New edition hopefully he will thrive like my other two I have had for 18 months

zzl630 · May 12, 2019

Fe Zn and a dirty tank

luckylepgw · May 13, 2019

BornHandy said:
That's pretty encouraging. My LFS has the frags fairly often. I may have to pick one up.

Same here, well in a couple more months...

i_declare_bankruptcy · May 13, 2019

ORA red goni is a pretty good one; I hear that all the time. I picked one up and it's still going 6 months later, through some pretty gnarly aglae and bacterial swings. It's not fully out like it was (probably recovering) but still growing like a beast. Seems tough from my account, though I've heard the greener varieties typically aren't as hardy.

ironlungzzz · May 13, 2019

in my experience. goniapora have done well for me. Never experienced any dying off after 6 months or so

Blinkdo · May 16, 2019

You'll have more luck with aquacultured goni's. I've grown the ORA red goni from a small frag to about the size of your fist.

Lingwendil · May 18, 2019

+1 to aquacultured Goniopora.

My past experience is that they do best in an established tank, and seem to be more hardy with higher nutrient levels. Moderate lighting, moderate to high and preferably turbulent flow. Give them a few inches from their fully extended size so they aren't rubbing on rock, tank walls, equipment, etc. Mine grew pretty fast once I had them in tanks with higher nutrients, I couldn't get growth out of them in tanks that were skimmed heavily and kept too "perfect" at all.