Lime green goni Growth?

[Treefer32]

So, a few months back I got a lime green gonipora. I had a white alveopora that was doing amazing, new polyps almost everyday it seemed. Then I went on vacation, my phosphates went from .04 to .2 in a 10 day period and when I returned the alveopora was dead and covered in cyano. However, the lime green goni was still alive on my frag rack. I decided to move it to it's permanent position after researching it's likes and dislikes. I put it in a medium flow spot. Not directly blasted, but enough circulation around it that it gets food and it's near the sand bed so my LEDs aren't directly blasting it, but, it's definitely getting good directly light. It has two tiny polyps barely visible in my 350 gallon. But each day, when lights are on full both polyps are as open as they can be and bright green and healthy looking.
I know such a tiny coral probably uses very little nutrients, (I've got several mature acropora growing like weeds now). So, to give the little goni the best it can I keep phosphates around .04-.09 ppm. I dose red Sea trace elements A,B,C,D at a 10:1 ratio. 30-35 ml for 350 gallons, which includes some manganese that I read that Goni's like.

Is there anything I can do for the guy to help it grow big and strong. I feel like this is the make it or lose point for my corals. Either they start growing when they're this tiny or they eventually just die off.

When I say tiny, the lime green polyps are maybe 1/8" in diameter. If that. If I didn't know where to look you wouldn't see them. . . All the gonis that I see are 3-8 inches long on here and in large clusters of polyps. Will this ever grow that large and if so will I be alive to see it assuming it has everything it needs now.

Other parameters:

Salinity stable at 1.025
Alk stable at 8.8 dkh.
Calcium always checks in at 500-525
Magnesium always registers around 1500-1540

Phosphates have been stable now at .04 - .09 ppm

Nitrates should be in balance (I run a turf scrubber and vodka dose to control phosphates and nitrates)

I use Reef crystals salt. plus dose the trace elements weekly.

Flow is 4 gyre pumps - 2 FX 350s and 2 FX 280s run directly opposite each other lengthwise
and two MP40s pushing water back to front.
I run a skimmer.

I generally overfeed my 26 fish to keep them less aggressive to each other. Corals get some of that food, the food is loaded with selcon and coral aminos.

Any other suggestions other than growing old waiting for Green Gonis to grow? (It's worse than watching grass grow!)

 

[mattdg]

Can you post a picture?

First off, the green variety of goniapora tends to grow a bit slower than the brighter reds / blues and orange variety. Seems backwards, I know. Goniapora actually does quite well starting from micro frags, such as yours, so long as you keep any algae from overtaking the plug.

I was in a similar situation with a microscopic green goni, a year ago. I moved it to a dimly lit area of the tank with very low flow, around 80 Par and fed it with a very small amount of fine particulate food mixed in tank water, once a week. Again, make sure not to go crazy with trace elements, aminos and food. You don't want to encourage algae growth. Also, very important to pick a spot in the tank and commit to it. Moving a small frag of goni around too much, is basically starting over again.

If the polyps aren't receding, then you will start to see additional polyps form, in due course.

Best of luck.

 

[Treefer32]

Can you post a picture?

First off, the green variety of goniapora tends to grow a bit slower than the brighter reds / blues and orange variety. Seems backwards, I know. Goniapora actually does quite well starting from micro frags, such as yours, so long as you keep any algae from overtaking the plug.

I was in a similar situation with a microscopic green goni, a year ago. I moved it to a dimly lit area of the tank with very low flow, around 80 Par and fed it with a very small amount of fine particulate food mixed in tank water, once a week. Again, make sure not to go crazy with trace elements, aminos and food. You don't want to encourage algae growth. Also, very important to pick a spot in the tank and commit to it. Moving a small frag of goni around too much, is basically starting over again.

If the polyps aren't receding, then you will start to see additional polyps form, in due course.

Best of luck.

Here’s a couple. It looks like 4 polyps, 1 larger and 3 smaller polyps! Might be growing. I was thinking getting some Live phyto for all my corals at some point. Polyps probably aren’t big enough for that. It’s hard to feed them without them closing up.