Orange Montipora Capricornis

[Codyheitmiller]

How fast do they grow

 

[neilanh]

Pretty quick. I had one start as a 3" x 3" frag and was almost the size of a basketball in a year.

 

[Codyheitmiller]

DANG!

 

[Codyheitmiller]

Where should I put it in my tank?

 

[neilanh]

Mid level is fine for them, they're not very demanding at all.

 

[Codyheitmiller]

I can't wait for it to get big. How do I take it off the plug without breaking it?

 

[Sarcothelia]

I have a green one (pink fringes) in my 24g. It's at the top because I only have 72 watts of CPF and has grown from a 1" frag to 4" in this past year. I'm glad it's not growing much faster as I don't have much room to put it!

Montis are pretty much as easy as it gets for SPS (unless you've heard about heliopora...pretty much indestructable if your params are within reason)

 

[neilanh]

They'll grow right over the frag plug, Id just leave it on there as they're quite fragile and will likely snap into several pieces if you try to remove it.

 

[Codyheitmiller]

Yeah. I just snapped a part off. Whoops my bad. But I put that part on the other side.

 

[Codyheitmiller]

It's starting to bleach. What could be causing it?

 

[ccCapt]

What's you alk? High alk can bleach them pretty fast.

 

[sarsim9697]

Bleaching is usually a lighting issue--too much or just more than it was used to. You can use something to diffuse the light over a few days to give it a chance to adjust to new lighting. Hope that helps.

 

[Codyheitmiller]

It was too high. I have 2 HO 52w bulbs for a 75g, I thought higher would be better but I'm keeping some difficult things in my tank even with the lights

 

[sarsim9697]

Corals are sensitive to change so you can diffuse the light over them for a few days or move them to a shady spot where they can just get reflection from the substrate. You have to do the same thing when you change your bulbs too or you will have the same problem with all of your corals.

When I bought my new T5 HO bulbs, I got a purple one (I guess they're new) instead of one of the white ones and didn't have to adjust anything, even though I was about four months late in changing them. That gave me one white, two actinic, and the purple, plus it gave the tank a nice shimmer effect like having halides. The output was stonger due to the new bulbs but not so much brighter as if I had two new white bulbs. My most sensitive corals reacted only by splitting again!

Having really strong lighting is fabulous; you just have to ease newbies into it. Then, they will grow like crazy.

 

[Codyheitmiller]

So when I replace my bulbs should I replace one then way a few days for the other one?

 

[sarsim9697]

You could do that but keep an eye out for any changes; even that might not be enough. It seems like the white llights have a deeper impact on the more sensitive corals. I have heard of doing nothing but increasing and then decreasing the dark cycle over a period of weeks after bulb changes. I have also heard of people using wax papaer as a diffuser for a few days. I think the most careful approach would be to change actinics over a period of days with a longer dark cycle and then change your white lights over a period of days with an even longer dark cycle in between. Some do one of each at a time over days (1 actinic and 1 white at a time) it all depends on your system and your corals. You will have to figure out from trial (hopefully no error) what works best for your corals. Anything you can do that is not DRASTIC is best.

The change in lighting kills the symbiotic algae within the corals, that is what is responsible for their color and also why they turn white. Your particular system is as unique as you are so there really is no one answer that works for everyone. You just have to play detective to find out that works best for your guys. They will recover gradually and be better than they were before under the new lighting once you figure out how to time it right.