Help my poor struggling Gonipora.

[R33fDaddy]

Nitrates are now below 30 and this goniopora that hasn't been open for months is still pretty much closed.

It does peak out a little bit as the lights are ramping down. I moved it to the lowest flow lowest light spot in my tank and still nothing.
Here it is Today as the lights are ramping down.

Here is my lighting settings.

Any tips or advice is appreciated.

Alkalinity 11.2 dkh
Calcium 500 ppm
Magnesium 1470 ppm
Nitrates 25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Phosphates 0ppm
Salinity 1.026
Temp 77 Degrees

 

[R33fDaddy]

After months and months of being closed and looking like a skeleton, check this out....

I think my Nitrates are somewhere between 0 - 10. I need to get a test that can measure that low accurately. I also haven't done a water change in about three weeks.

Do Y'all think I should hold off on a water change just to see if progress continues to be made? Any tips are appreciated.

 

[boacvh]

Not an expert at all but I have noticed on mine the changes matter more than the actual level. This is my goni sitting in 40ppm no3 and .46 po4 after going away on vacation. No issues. But as soon as I reacted (or could say overreacted) and tried to drop those levels fast, it started to retract like yours. Once stabilized came out again but took a while. My suggestion is to do all changes slowly. Give it time.

 

[R33fDaddy]

Not an expert at all but I have noticed on mine the changes matter more than the actual level. This is my goni sitting in 40ppm no3 and .46 po4 after going away on vacation. No issues. But as soon as I reacted (or could say overreacted) and tried to drop those levels fast, it started to retract like yours. Once stabilized came out again but took a while. My suggestion is to do all changes slowly. Give it time.

Do you think I should hold off on this week's water change? That would make it a month without a water change. Just wondering if a sudden change in elements could make it retreat again.


Your tank looks awesome by the way.

 

[boacvh]

Do you think I should hold off on this week's water change? That would make it a month without a water change. Just wondering if a sudden change in elements could make it retreat again.


Your tank looks awesome by the way.

Thanks so much!

I don't think water change will hurt at all.
I just have noticed my corals can tolerate high levels of nutrients well, they might not grow much, but they are usually ok. I don't have many acros so more tolerant corals in general. But as soon as I try to bring down levels fast is when I have run into issues, so now I am no longer "afraid" of high levels, just sudden changes. I would say keeping a steady water change schedule that lowers your levels slowly is better than sudden big changes. But again, I am a relative noob so take advice with grain of salt, it's just observation of my tank behavior.

 

[Hincapiej4]

I feel like your ALK is quite high though..I know not everyone will agree.

 

[R33fDaddy]

I feel like your ALK is quite high though..I know not everyone will agree.

This is part of the reason I'm thinking to not do a water change just see. All my other Corals are doing great, but I wonder if a lower Alk will have an affect on the Gonipora.

Alk is at 10 dkh right now

 

[Hincapiej4]

When did your alk go to 10? over how long time frame? If it was too fast, that might be why. it also might be signaling and your other corals havent reacted yet..could take a week or two.

 

[R33fDaddy]

When did your alk go to 10? over how long time frame? If it was too fast, that might be why. it also might be signaling and your other corals havent reacted yet..could take a week or two.

It took eleven days to from 11.2dkh to 10dkh.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Imo I wouldn't go lower than 9 -10 dkh if they were fine at 11 in the past. Keep it somewhere and stay there. Try to do same for ph, and anything else you can. Could move them to a lower flow spot. Also I don't think I would brush them off it could cause injury making things worse. Keep nutrients stable and algae should die off if goni comes back. Do you target feed these or dose aminos? That could help.

 

[R33fDaddy]

Imo I wouldn't go lower than 9 -10 dkh if they were fine at 11 in the past. Keep it somewhere and stay there. Try to do same for ph, and anything else you can. Could move them to a lower flow spot. Also I don't think I would brush them off it could cause injury making things worse. Keep nutrients stable and algae should die off if goni comes back. Do you target feed these or dose aminos? That could help.

I target feed Reef Energy AB+ Daily.

Measured my Nitrates last night and they are below Zero.

Everything else in my tank looks good. I'll measure Alk later on Today since I did do the water change.