Red goniopora?

[hifi]

Is red Goniopora hard to keep? What is the best & easyest food to give em? Im also getting a Hammer coral & Blue mushrooms. I am looking for advise on all of these. Ive searched the net & Im getting conflicting answers, some say the red goniopora is not to hard some say they are & Im confused so Im looking for all the help I can get. I have a thread in another forum about calcium & Im just learning the reef chemistry basics & need some advice. Please be kind Im new at reef keeping. I have all kinds of buffers & additives so I can start maintaining a reef system but Im sure I missing somthing, like brains :hilarious . Thanks for any help me & my wife are looking forward to a sucsesfull reef!!!!!!!!!

 

[promisetbg]

Red or any goniopora is not easy to keep. The red however is hardier than others, especially the green Stokesi. Is this solid red, or red with purple centered? It is'nt a coral that someone just learning about corals,parameters, and their care should attempt to keep. If it is already ordered, then I will do my best to share with you what I know. What type of lighting do you have? What size tank, and what fish do you keep?
Do not touch the flesh of the coral with your hands. Do not bump it or otherwise injure it. Inspect it for any recession when you get it. Hopefully it will be intact. When they come in with damage, often bacteria will set in and they go downhill. They need to be placed at the bottom of the tank if under strong lighting, and need a moderate flow..enough to sway them back and forth and keep detritus and food from staying on them. Place a small flat rock under them nestled in the sand, or something similar to raise them just a bit above the substrate.
Foods are important..feed by gently puffing near with a turkey baster, pipette, or syringe.
Dt's oyster eggs
crushed frozen cyclop-eeze
rotifers
phycopure
Chromamaxx
crushed sweetwater zooplankton
the liquid that is left in the cup after feeding many other food items such as mysis
shrimp,spirulina,squid,,Zoe,Selcon, prime-reef, etc.
These are the foods that I feed all my gonioporas and alveopora.

 

[promisetbg]

Originally Posted by HiFi
I have all kinds of buffers & additives so I can start maintaining a reef system
This worries me....all you should need is a two part A & B additive{alkalinity and calcium}...maybe magnesium down the road.

 

[hifi]

Interesting, I could not tell you if its solid red, or red with purple center ordering online from a tusting supplier. I have 2x250 watts mh 2x65 pc antinics, its a 60g with 53lbs lr, its a stalbel established tank. I have a tiny regal (we are getting a 150g in fall) a coral beauty 2 percs, a lawn mower blenny, 6 line wrasse & 2 cleaner shrimps, 4 turbos, 4 crabs, 1 very healthy sebae. So what your saying is that it may be unhealthy when I get it? I thought they were touchy but I didn't know. I like a challange, once there in a doing well are they hardy? How do you get them in without touchung them? How do you acclimate them. Sorry for so many questions but I love knowlage keeps trouble away!!

 

[hifi]

Dont worry promisetbg I dont just dump stuff into my tank I just did some research & bought what I thought I may need. Im always prepaird!!!!!!! But never jump the gun.

 

[promisetbg]

Lighting is good if you follow my placement instructions. You either wear latex gloves to lift the coral to the tank, or many times there is a stony base on which the coral is growing, you can touch that...just not the fleshy part. Hopefully your percs won't find it attractive, does the sebae host the clowns? You do not want a fish that will go between the coral and an anemone, it can take the stinging nematocysts from it to the coral. Float the bag 20-30 min, then add a small amount of your tankwater every 15 min . for an hour or drip to acclimate. Getting a healthy specimen in the first place is very important. They succumb to brown jelly disease and other bacterial infection if injured or mishandled.Do not put it straight out under the light when you first get it..remember it's been in the dark. Let it acclimate a few days to weeks in a shadier spot before moving it slowly out to the open if that's where you want it. I have my red/purple in a semi-shaded spot. My purple and pink take full lighting. I also have a red stuchburyi in my nano...they can do ok with less lighting .

 

[hifi]

Yes my sebea hosts my clowns, but maybe its best if I wait on the goniopora & get experance first with simpler stuff. What about the hammer coral & mushrooms? Should I becarfull about placment of these corals by that I mean can they sting ,or can my sebae react to them? Is frogspawn better to start as well. Im placing a order in the morning.

 

[promisetbg]

Mushrooms lower flow, placement on bottom, they can sting other corals such as hard corals. Hammer or frogspawn ,give enough room around them for their sweeper tentacles. Moderate flow for them and offering meaty foods occasionally. Mid to higher placement.

 

[hifi]

Thanks promisetbg Im glad we had this chat. I think I may have made a misstake buy getting the goniopora so soon as I said I got mixed comments abut them & to spend $80 on them to watch them die would not have been good. My wife read what you said & we decided against the goniopora for now she says thanks

 

[promisetbg]

No problem!

When you are ready, you will have this thread to look back on.

Tell your wife I said hi too...I commend you both for waiting until the time is right. There are very beautiful and tempting. I have been doing this just over three years, and only now do I feel confident enough to try and keep some harder to keep species. It is a fun learning process.. and more so if you are patient. Good luck and post pics when you get your new corals.

 

[miamireefr]

I have currently cared for a green stokesi going on only 2 months but have not had any recession and is always thriving i the tank although I keep water conditions near to perfection and target feed it every other day a mix of dt's and cyclopeeze and add calcium and iodine every week to the T on schedule... I can say that they thrive every day along with all my other corals. Again I only learned how delicate the goniopora can be after buying one....lol impulse buy and new to the hobby but caught up fast... Good luck if you decide to keep the goniopora..I am currently in search of a pink one....not easy to find!

 

[promisetbg]

Like this?

 

[miamireefr]

Wow thats exactly the ones I am referring too and thanks for making such a great gesture of wanting to sell this beauty and providing photos even before I asked!!

Very nice....hope I can find one soon.

 

[hifi]

Nice pictures gives me somthing to look forward to, my wife loves em to. Is it dangerous to have a hammer or frogspawn with a sebae anemone hosting clowns in the same tank?
We havent orderd yet but will in a couple hours.

 

[hifi]

I got my mushrooms & hammer coral, I have put them in & just want to say thanks to every one who helped me

They have been in for 2 1/2 hours & I have my halides off & I just have my actinics on when can I turn on my mh's? Fyi there 2x250 watts.
The shrooms opend up & the hammer is starting to, how much flow do the hammer's like? Should they be swaying alot or just some motion?
Does this make me a reefer now

 

[promisetbg]

Hey..that is great. The hammer will do well in moderate flow...some movement back and forth is good.{not "alot"}. Yes..this makes you a "reefer"

Make sure now that you keep all of the parameters in check, especially Ca, Alk, and Mg. And of course the others like Nitrates and PO4.

 

[hifi]

Thanks a ton for all the help everyone, heres what my water is at as of now Alk 10.7dkh, mag 1440ppm & calc is 400 I want it a bit higher, Phos 0, amm 0, trites 0, trates 0 :jumping: I like where its at, its a good start

.

 

[promisetbg]

Those are really good numbers for someone starting out with corals. Generally people have a tough time with Alk and PO4. When the tank gets a bit stocked you want to keep that Alk above NSW a bit in a closed system. I keep mine at a solid 4.00 or a DKH of 11.2, with CA at 450. Your Mg is perfect.

 

[mrdc]

Very nice coral Promise

You always have nice pics and I thank you for sharing. My LFS had a red one awhile back which I almost bought but just didn't have the room at the time. It sure is some pretty stuff.