Experience with montipora and lighting

[JJB103]

I would like people with experience with montipora capricornis and digitata to shed some light and advice on lighting requirements for growth and color on these corals. I have seen mine love and hate intense lighting. The colors always fade a bit when they are not happy. Please chime in with your thoughts.

 

[tommyboynj]

What lighting do you have. Iv found that mine tend to fade with to much light. They also seem to be more sensative than anything else I have to alk swings

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[Oxylebius]

I have several species of montis (listed in sig) and from my observations on current and lighting: some montis don't like high light but seem to like mid-range light (sorry no PAR readings so I don't really know).

I don't have high current in the tank right now, I'd classify the current as random medium current on one side of the tank and low current on the other.

My lights are 6xT5HOs (front to back)
*ATI Coral Plus
*RS Actinic
*ATI Coral Plus
*RS Actinic
*RS 10,000K
*ATI Actinic
These don't add much blue light to the tank, I was aiming for more of a white balance with the pop of color here and there. These allow for more natural light where the oranges and greens look orange and green.

Some observations:
* My purple haze encrusting monti I had placed high center of tank on slanted vertical surface - the area of the coral that saw the most intense light died off and the monti spread into the crevices and cracks which are receiving lower light (sorry no PAR reading). It continues to spread around all the crevices and cracks and is moving lower in the tank.
* The digitatas that receive direct morning and afternoon light from the windows are growing the fastest (sorry no PAR readings).
* The Lower current allows the digitata montis to base out and spread encrusting the rock with their initial growth more then growing upright. Once they based out mine began lots of little branches and grew vertical.
* I just bought and placed four different caps along a rock that goes from the top of my tank to the bottom (left side of tank), so can't tell yet if some will grow-out faster then others.....TBD
* Digitata's colors pop when the lights first kick on (no dimming effect on my tank to allow lights to slowly turn on, but it is a bright room from window light), by evening the colors are duller but there is still color. I feed fish in evenings. When there is lots of little food bits floating in the tank and the corals pick it up they color up again. I cut the pumps when feeding, then turn on one pump to help circulate the food particles for a half hour, during that time some particles make it to the other side of the tank, I know this b/c the gorgonian polyps are going crazy opening and closing grabbing food. So, the montis do get a chance to eat as well and color-up.

I feed my montis weekly I think this also plays a factor b/c after I feed them they color-up very brightly (the best time to take photos!) instead of showing the drab brownish color. But, scientific literature states that montis have lower prey capture then other species, like stylos or even lps and softies. Literature also states that montis use surface mesenterial digestions partly b/c polyps are so small.

But, montis seem to be surprisingly adaptable when given time to acclimate to new tank parameters - not as finicky as other sps.

I think it is more then light parameters that cause the drabness... perhaps a combo of parameters.

 

[AC273]

I had a forest fire monti at the bottom of my tank, moved him up to the top 3rd and he loves it there. Medium flow. His neighbor is an orange digital that is looking beautiful. I use Cree led supplemented by twin t5 48" lights. (One attinic one coral plus)

Mine seem to be light lovers. I changed the flow on them a few weeks back and they got cranky, so definitely medium flow. I suggest you pick a spot and let them be. Moni seem to be pretty adaptable but can take a month before they settle in. Moving them around might be stressing them.

 

[Oxylebius]

JJ - it really should come down to the PAR, it is really hard to guess light levels (intense, high, med, and low) with so many different bulbs available now. Sorry, that I don't have PAR readings.... it really would be interesting to find out how sensitive some are to light.

In addition to my above observations my orange monti cap is at about 4 inches below the surface of the water, side of tank, so not directly under the most intense light (which would be the middle) and it is loving it there.

Current does seem to also be a factor to keep in mind with montis.

Lots of montis are found in lagoons in the wild, but many like mine, were frags and had adapted over time to captive tanks and luckily they do easily adapt to a variety of parameters....

 

[JJB103]

What lighting do you have. Iv found that mine tend to fade with to much light. They also seem to be more sensative than anything else I have to alk swings

I have LEDs. It's a DIY 3w system. Very very bright, but its turned down to about 50% right now. My acro frags and everything is doing good with the lights. My montis seem to be more sensitive than my acros. I did just check my alk and it is a little low at 7.9. Ill test everything else and see if anything else is weird. They are growing really well, but seem to be a little dull compared to usual.

I have several species of montis (listed in sig) and from my observations on current and lighting: some montis don't like high light but seem to like mid-range light (sorry no PAR readings so I don't really know).

I don't have high current in the tank right now, I'd classify the current as random medium current on one side of the tank and low current on the other.

My lights are 6xT5HOs (front to back)
*ATI Coral Plus
*RS Actinic
*ATI Coral Plus
*RS Actinic
*RS 10,000K
*ATI Actinic
These don't add much blue light to the tank, I was aiming for more of a white balance with the pop of color here and there. These allow for more natural light where the oranges and greens look orange and green.

Some observations:
* My purple haze encrusting monti I had placed high center of tank on slanted vertical surface - the area of the coral that saw the most intense light died off and the monti spread into the crevices and cracks which are receiving lower light (sorry no PAR reading). It continues to spread around all the crevices and cracks and is moving lower in the tank.
* The digitatas that receive direct morning and afternoon light from the windows are growing the fastest (sorry no PAR readings).
* The Lower current allows the digitata montis to base out and spread encrusting the rock with their initial growth more then growing upright. Once they based out mine began lots of little branches and grew vertical.
* I just bought and placed four different caps along a rock that goes from the top of my tank to the bottom (left side of tank), so can't tell yet if some will grow-out faster then others.....TBD
* Digitata's colors pop when the lights first kick on (no dimming effect on my tank to allow lights to slowly turn on, but it is a bright room from window light), by evening the colors are duller but there is still color. I feed fish in evenings. When there is lots of little food bits floating in the tank and the corals pick it up they color up again. I cut the pumps when feeding, then turn on one pump to help circulate the food particles for a half hour, during that time some particles make it to the other side of the tank, I know this b/c the gorgonian polyps are going crazy opening and closing grabbing food. So, the montis do get a chance to eat as well and color-up.

I feed my montis weekly I think this also plays a factor b/c after I feed them they color-up very brightly (the best time to take photos!) instead of showing the drab brownish color. But, scientific literature states that montis have lower prey capture then other species, like stylos or even lps and softies. Literature also states that montis use surface mesenterial digestions partly b/c polyps are so small.

But, montis seem to be surprisingly adaptable when given time to acclimate to new tank parameters - not as finicky as other sps.

I think it is more then light parameters that cause the drabness... perhaps a combo of parameters.

This is awesome. Thank you. I will post my parameters after I test them. It's always trial and error to see what coral likes what. My digitata is growing but the polyps are never fully extended. Maybe too much light?

 

[JJB103]

So my parameters are as follows
Ph 8.2
Am 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate almost undetectable
Calc 550
Mag 1440
Alk 7.0dkh

I'm confused now my test results on 11-17-2013 were
Ph 8.2
Calc 575
Mag 1440
Alk 9.8 dKH

How is it possible for alk to drop so suddenly with all other parameters not moving hardly at all? I'm going to post this on a new thread. This is obviously the reason my montis aren't completely happy, just confused at why all other sps are fine. It's only a sunset monti and a red digitata than have no polyp extension.