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Goniopora Coral Care Guide
Last updated on June 15th, 2023
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Goniopora Coral Care Guide
Goniopora coral, also referred to as Gonis or Flower Pot Coral, are a beautiful addition to most reef tanks! Goniopora coral are typically more difficult to keep than many other soft coral. In fact, they were known as a "6 month coral" for a while because that's about as long as they lived. These days, they're a bit easier, but you still need to have a good knowledge of what to do if they start looking poorly in order to successfully keep gonis.
Some of the challenges that come with Goniopora coral is that they seem to need amino acids, some feeding, nutrients (Phosphates and Nitrates), and manganese. Somewhere between 0.001ppm and 0.002ppm (1ug/l to 2ug/l) is the best bet for maintaining manganese for Goniopora coral.
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What are Goniopora Coral
Goniopora coral, or gonis, are closer to what hobbyists refer to as an LPS, but they are really more of a class of their own. Goniopora have polyps that look very similar to a flower. It is a stem-like tentacle with a flower-like polyp on top. These polyps have little pedals and a mouth in the center. All of this coming out of a dome-shaped calcium based skeleton.
When Goniopora is upset or not doing well, they will receed into the skeleton and while not dead yet, will look like they're close. Often, after an iodine dip and a couple of days, they will bounce back. Sometimes this comes from additional supplements like amino acids and manganese being needed.
What are Alveopora Coral
Another coral that is very similar to Goniopora is Alveopora. While these are different coral, they are frequently called Goniopora. Truthfully, Alveopora are very similar Goniopora, and their care requirements are almost the same. That said, Alveopora are typically much easier to keep than Goniopora.
The easiest way to know Alveopora vs Goniopora is that Alveopora has 12 pedals (polyps) per stalk, and Goniopora will have 24. Essentially alveopora has little ball-shaped petals and goniopora are more like strings.
As for alveopora care, the main difference is that alveopora can handle more flow tank gonis, and they aren't as dependant on manganese. Otherwise, the care requirements are very similar.
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How Fast do Goniopora Coral Grow?
Most Goniopora Coral Grow fairly slow. This is part of the reason for the cost, especially at the nicer end like the Yellow Goni, Glitterbomb Goni, or Amazeballs Goni. The calcium skeleton tends to like to stay in a dome shape. Meaning the full skeleton needs to grow for the coral to grow, rather than encrusting coral like chalice.
How Do You Frag Goniopora Coral?
In short, to frag goni coral, you simply cut the skeleton with a diamond blade band saw like the gryphon. Then I like to dip the coral with something to help bacteria such as iodine, and something like ReVive for stress relief.
Please note that any polyp that is cut will die. And smaller pieces have lower survival rates after fragging.
Goniopora Coral Care - Flow
Goniopora coral generally do not like much flow. Low to moderate flow is the most you will need. Just enough for the tentacles to flow. If the tentacles pull in and stay short, you may have too much flow.
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Goniopora Coral Care - Lighting
Goniopora coral like low light. Typically i see 75-150 PAR as the recommended levels. So, split the difference and aim for about 110-115.
For more about the different types of lighting, see the Reef Stable Saltwater Aquarium Lighting Guide.
Goniopora Coral Placement and Aggression
Goniopora coral are not very aggressive, but can sting neighbors with their long tentacles. Based on lighting and flow, the best placement is on lower rocks or even in the sand. Generally this will let you keep them farther away from other coral to prevent stinging.
Feeding Goniopora Coral
Goniopora Coral are photosynthetic, however they do tend to need to be fed small plankton foods and amino acids, such as Reef Roids and Red Sea AB+. Personally, I soak dried plankton foods, like reef roids, in the "juices" drained from defrosting frozen fish food as well as Red Sea AB+ or another amino acid. This seems to work well for me, but results may very as it can raise Phosphates quickly.
Goniopora Coral Care - Temperature
The commonly agreed upon temperature for Goniopora Coral is the same as most corals, averaging at 78 degrees F. Goniopora Coral can survive in a range of temperatures, however 78 is the average. The best bet is to keep the temperature stable, within 1 degree F, for the best results!
Goniopora Coral Care - Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium
Since Goniopora have calcium skeletons, they do depend on alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium. Any alkalinity level between 7 and 12 dKh should be okay, just maintain the alkalinity within 1dKh of the chosen level. Calcium should stay around 420ppm give or take 25 ppm. And Magnesium should be within 50ppm of whatever number you choose, personally I target 1350ppm.
Goniopora Coral Care - Nitrates and Phosphates
Goniopora do consume the Nitrates and Phosphates in the water when they grow.
Though you don't want to be absolutely zero on Nitrates or Phosphates, you also don't want to be too high either. The ideal levels for Nitrates is between 1 and 10 ppm. Phosphates should be roughly 0.05. That said, many tanks run high nutrients, mine has been over 50ppm of Nitrate and 0.3 Phosphates with no major negative effects. I've also seen as low as 1ppm Nitrate and 0.01ppm Phosphates with the same success. Unfortunately there are still a lot of questions for these parameters in reef tanks.
If you are looking to lower your Nitrate and Phosphate, read through the Saltwater Aquarium Filtration Guide, and specifically pay attention to the biological filtration.
Other Resources
- Saltwater Aquarium Filtration Guide
- Reef Tank Nitrate Removal
- Saltwater Refugiums - What are they and do I need one?
- Carbon Dosing for Reef Tanks
Goniopora Coral Care Tips from Tidal Gardens
Goniopora Care Guide - Cheet Sheet
Temperature
- Goniopora Coral Prefer to be at roughly 77 - 79 degrees F.
Alkalinity
- Focus on stability, maintaining within 0.5 dKh
- Most success between 7-10 dKh
Calcium
- Focus on stability, within 25ppm.
- 400-450ppm is the ideal range.
Magnesium
- Between 1200-1400ppm. Targeting 1300ppm
Nitrates and Phosphates
- The below numbers are ideal, but goniopora can tolerate a range of nutrient levels.
- Nitrates: 1-10ppm
- Phosphates: 0.01 - 0.05ppm
Manganese
- Between 0.001ppm and 0.002ppm
Lighting
- Goniopora are not overly picky on lighting. Provided the PAR is roughly 75-150, you should be fine. You may need to experiment with what the particular goniopora coral likes best.
- Blue and Actinic spectrum are best for color and growth.
Conclusion
Goniopora Coral are a slow growing coral that may be challenging at times. Despite this, the flow, color, and satisfaction of these coral really make it worth it! If you're up to the challenge, you won't be disapointed when you get goniopora coral care nailed down!
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Additional Coral Care Reading:
- Reef Stable - Acropora Care Guide
- Reef Stable - Montipora Care Guide
- Reef Stable - Euphillia Care Guide
- Reef Stable - Clove Polyp Care Guide - Clavulariidae
About the Author
John Krenzer
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John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.
Today, John maintains a 120 gallon mixed reef aquarium as well as a 210 gallon aggressive species aquarium. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.
John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.
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