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Pink Gonipora, Flower Pot, Coral not doing well since I got it from the Coral Kids frag swap

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MikiCab

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Hello Everyone.
I paid for a grab bag at the Cali Kids frag Swap and I got a Pink Gonipora. I acclimated the coral, let it float, added water over some time and finally put it into my tank. I put it in the corner at the bottom of my tank because I read online to put it into a lower light part of the tank at first and slowly move it to a higher light area but it has gone from being open to not opening up.
10 Gallon tank. Approximately 8 months old. 2 Clown fish, live rock, sand bed, AI Blade light.
Par in the location it is in is about 50 par. I can move it up to get higher par.
Nitrate is 12
Alkalinity is 9
Phosphate is 4.2 (I am doing water changes, feeding frozen food to lower it) Not much algae so everything looks ok.
Magnesium and Calcium are always steady so have not tested in a while.
I dose 3ml of properly mixed All For Reef per day and Kalkwasser 8ml per day.
Advice it welcome. I am thinking about moving it up so it can get about 150Par. I have my tank all mapped out from borrowing the par meter so I know where I can put it.
Thank you in advance
Richard
 

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MikiCab said:
Hello Everyone.
I paid for a grab bag at the Cali Kids frag Swap and I got a Pink Gonipora. I acclimated the coral, let it float, added water over some time and finally put it into my tank. I put it in the corner at the bottom of my tank because I read online to put it into a lower light part of the tank at first and slowly move it to a higher light area but it has gone from being open to not opening up.
10 Gallon tank. Approximately 8 months old. 2 Clown fish, live rock, sand bed, AI Blade light.
Par in the location it is in is about 50 par. I can move it up to get higher par.
Nitrate is 12
Alkalinity is 9
Phosphate is 4.2 (I am doing water changes, feeding frozen food to lower it) Not much algae so everything looks ok.
Magnesium and Calcium are always steady so have not tested in a while.
I dose 3ml of properly mixed All For Reef per day and Kalkwasser 8ml per day.
Advice it welcome. I am thinking about moving it up so it can get about 150Par. I have my tank all mapped out from borrowing the par meter so I know where I can put it.
Thank you in advance
Richard
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Richard, I would typically say for gonies its your traces, but are you sure phosphate is 4.2 (!)? Also, For a 26 gallon nano I dosed 400ml Kalk, not sure what your objective is with 8ml? I would not dose all for reef with Kalk to be honest, rather use Kalk up to its maximum Alk and CA level, and then supplement the remaining amounts with two part dosing.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Richard, I would typically say for gonies its your traces, but are you sure phosphate is 4.2 (!)? Also, For a 26 gallon nano I dosed 400ml Kalk, not sure what your objective is with 8ml? I would not dose all for reef with Kalk to be honest, rather use Kalk up to its maximum Alk and CA level, and then supplement the remaining amounts with two part dosing.
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I was kind of thinking the same thing after reading their post again. 8mL seems like too little, unless there isn't much evaporation happening is the only thought I have about it.
 
ReyDeFarts said:
I was kind of thinking the same thing after reading their post again. 8mL seems like too little, unless there isn't much evaporation happening is the only thought I have about it.
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I assume still more evaporation than 8ml :). Or if a glass cover or anything, this could mean a low PH due to not enough O2 getting into the tank but not sure what skimmer he has.
 
Alexander1312 said:
I assume still more evaporation than 8ml :). Or if a glass cover or anything, this could mean a low PH due to not enough O2 getting into the tank but not sure what skimmer he has.
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I have an ATO for evaporation. I tuned the Kalk in using a dosser. I was doing 30ml a day and as my Alkalinity stabilized it was down to about 8ml and it seems to be happy there. I use All for Reef for the trace elements. I am slowly upping the AfR. I started at 2ml, now 3ml and will go to 4ml this weekend. I am testing every couple of days to get my dosser tuned in. I would rather undershoot than overshoot and slowly bring everything in. I don't know why the Phosphate is so high. On several reading I got Zero for Nitrates and using Hanna testing and double check with Red Sea test and still Zero but now Nitrate is 12 which is unusual for this tank. I just got a brand new 5 stage RO/DI from BRS for Christmas so it is brand new. Still Zero on TDS.
I think I will move the Frag up so it gets a bit more light.
 
Coral reefer said:
Not sure you’ve mentioned anything about flow?
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The corner it is in is just under the pump outlet and I have a wave maker.
Also the reason I use Kalkwasser and All For Reef is when I first started a reef tank my Alkalinity was always low so I was constantly hand dosing Soda Ash. I bought a doser and starting using Kalk and my problem was solved. As I added more corals I started thinking about trace elements so I found All For Reef. I have been slowly lowering my Kalk usage and upping my All for Reef usage. I still got a lot of Kalk so I figured I would use it all up and am trying to hit a happy medium until all the Kalk is gone. Once it is gone I will try to use only All for Reef.
 
MikiCab said:
The corner it is in is just under the pump outlet and I have a wave maker.
Also the reason I use Kalkwasser and All For Reef is when I first started a reef tank my Alkalinity was always low so I was constantly hand dosing Soda Ash. I bought a doser and starting using Kalk and my problem was solved. As I added more corals I started thinking about trace elements so I found All For Reef. I have been slowly lowering my Kalk usage and upping my All for Reef usage. I still got a lot of Kalk so I figured I would use it all up and am trying to hit a happy medium until all the Kalk is gone. Once it is gone I will try to use only All for Reef.
Click to expand...
I used all for reef for a while for a 3-gallon Pico tank for a similar reason but I was not convinced. But I understand what you are trying to do now phasing out Kalkwasser and relying on All for Reef for everything, which simplifies it. I guess you can and there are many others doing it. However, was the issue with AFR not the lack of sufficient magnesium? Did you test your magnesium levels, if not I suggest you do as gonies like magnesium too. Also, I did not see this earlier but 50 PAR is probably not enough for them. I have all my gonies between 100-150, and they can go even higher over time.
 
Check your Mg level. I used to only dose All For Reef without caring about Mg, then after a while Ifound my Mg is extremely low. Added Mg and gonia started to do better. Also you'll need proper flow, which was not mentioned in your description.
 
Alexander1312 said:
I used all for reef for a while for a 3-gallon Pico tank for a similar reason but I was not convinced. But I understand what you are trying to do now phasing out Kalkwasser and relying on All for Reef for everything, which simplifies it. I guess you can and there are many others doing it. However, was the issue with AFR not the lack of sufficient magnesium? Did you test your magnesium levels, if not I suggest you do as gonies like magnesium too. Also, I did not see this earlier but 50 PAR is probably not enough for them. I have all my gonies between 100-150, and they can go even higher over time.
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I have not checked Magnesium lately. I used to check it regularly but after a while it seemed the only things that changed were the Nitrate, Phosphate and Alkalinity so I check those regularly. I started keeping a log so I can keep track of what I am adding and what the readings are so I can fine tune everything.
Thanks for the advice. I think I will move the flower pot higher in the tank so it gets a little more light and see if it opens up a little more.
Update.3/16/24 : good call on the Magnesium. I had not been checking it because it was so stable. It a bit low at 880. I was thinking the All for Reef would take care of it but like you said not enough to keep it up. Thanks for the advice.
 
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MikiCab said:
Update.3/16/24 : good call on the Magnesium. I had not been checking it because it was so stable. It a bit low at 880. I was thinking the All for Reef would take care of it but like you said not enough to keep it up.
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Yeah...I thought I was a bit low at 1100 a few weeks back. That seems very low. I have never tried the AFR. Currently I am relying on my water changes to replenish my magnesium. I was thinking about adding a magnesium supplement or dosing for it, but I keep reading that it's something I don't need to worry about too much if I keep up with regular water changes. When was your last WC?
 
Gonipora are among the most sensitive of corals and depending on where they were sourced can range from merely difficult to impossible They want a gentle flow or at worst a low-medium flow. Too much flow blows off the soft tissue and that's game over. Depending on the Goni they want from 50 -175 par usually. Less to start with. They NEED stability! That's hard in a small tank. I have a larger tank that's 7 months old and I'm not willing to try goni's till it hits the one year mark. Unlike many corals where it's not necessary Goni's do MUCH better with feeding.
 
MikiCab said:
The corner it is in is just under the pump outlet and I have a wave maker.
Also the reason I use Kalkwasser and All For Reef is when I first started a reef tank my Alkalinity was always low so I was constantly hand dosing Soda Ash. I bought a doser and starting using Kalk and my problem was solved. As I added more corals I started thinking about trace elements so I found All For Reef. I have been slowly lowering my Kalk usage and upping my All for Reef usage. I still got a lot of Kalk so I figured I would use it all up and am trying to hit a happy medium until all the Kalk is gone. Once it is gone I will try to use only All for Reef.
Click to expand...


I love all for reef but the amount of trace elements is insufficient I find. After a couple of ICP tests where they were basically 0 for everything-I was dosing in seachems elements 2x a week-but did not do anything for manganese. Rerouted everything and now dosing TM’s trace A|K daily. See what that looks like on next test.

After that I may try another Goni-my last didn’t do well at all-and I do feed like crazy and have good flow.
 
L/B Block said:
I love all for reef but the amount of trace elements is insufficient I find. After a couple of ICP tests where they were basically 0 for everything-I was dosing in seachems elements 2x a week-but did not do anything for manganese. Rerouted everything and now dosing TM’s trace A|K daily. See what that looks like on next test.

After that I may try another Goni-my last didn’t do well at all-and I do feed like crazy and have good flow.
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Good flow may not be Goni flow and what do you feed them and how?
 
L/B Block said:
What’s Goni flow?

As to feeding at the time
Oyster feast 2x a day
Rotifers 2x a day
ROE 2x a day
MYSIS 2x a day

Dried avast marine jerky and algae pellets 3-5x a week
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Low to medium-low at best. They like to gently sway. As to food amino acids broadcast fed to entire tank. and then plankton seems to work. For this I've seen some people recommend turning the pumps off and VERY gently squirting a cloud around them. Leave pumps off for at least ten minutes.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
Low to medium-low at best. They like to gently sway. As to food amino acids broadcast fed to entire tank. and then plankton seems to work. For this I've seen some people recommend turning the pumps off and VERY gently squirting a cloud around them. Leave pumps off for at least ten minutes.
Click to expand...
I do feed aminos as well daily -pumps
Are off for hour. But good to know about flow. I think the placement was incorrect last time.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
Gonipora are among the most sensitive of corals and depending on where they were sourced can range from merely difficult to impossible They want a gentle flow or at worst a low-medium flow. Too much flow blows off the soft tissue and that's game over. Depending on the Goni they want from 50 -175 par usually. Less to start with. They NEED stability! That's hard in a small tank. I have a larger tank that's 7 months old and I'm not willing to try goni's till it hits the one year mark. Unlike many corals where it's not necessary Goni's do MUCH better with feeding.
Click to expand...
This is not an exaggeration. I recently moved one of our goniopora, that wasn't extending well, literally three inches in our tank and it immediately started extending more and being happier.
 
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