SPS question?

[verde_ad]

How can you tell if a monti, or any sps for that matter, is healthy? I have little monti frag and I would like to be able to tell if it is healthy. The colors are bright and it has a light rim around the outside. Is that the new growth? I am new to sps, so any information would be greatly apreciated.
Thanks,
AJ

 

[spicey]

im in about the same position, just got some monti frags and they have their polyps open and look good but im new to sps as well so i cant be sure. does anyone know how much flow is best for these? i have a branching digita, some brown one i dont knwo what it is and a purple encrusting monti. BTW i only have 4 96 watt pcs on my 75 so i put them all up high and they seem good so far......

 

[_kip_]

montiporas are they easiest sps to keep.
as long as you have decent water chemistry and high flow they will be fine. and yep, these are stonies that can be kept under pc and vho (granted a good amount) with success. halides seem to push growth and color more... but.... i digress
you will know montis are happy when you see their polyps out. mine are out 24/7. they need no special feedings besides good light and ca/co3 to grow. monti growth can be seen by the white tips or rims. this is the coral building its skeleton and the polyps soon follow. as montis get bigger flow is even more important. without proper flow they will recede and die.

 

[sammiefish]

spicey,
I think youll be happy with the Montipora under your 4x96W... I grew a caporcornis with 4x65W for ~6months and the thing tripled in size and was a nice deep red.... sure MH will push growth a bit more but the pc's will work nicely.

 

[jimmy g]

How much is "high" flow? like a PH pointing right at it?

 

[_kip_]

nah.. you dont want to blast it with small amounts of high pressure water
you want large, broad amounts of low pressure water and in a random motion.
if water just hits it from one side it will grow like a tree blowing one way in a hurricane

 

[verde_ad]

Thanks for the help. Mine is under 250 watt 20k halides and it looks really good. I have a seio m620 and a spray bar system from the sump for circulation. I am looking into a wavemaker, but I have to find the dollars. Does anyone have any experience with the tunze streams and controlers? IThey are rated at a huge amount of flow, so I don't think they would work in my 30gal. My seio though has 620gph, with very little velocity, and it seems to me I could have a couple of those without any problem. The problem with the Seio is they aren't supposed to be put on wavemakers.

 

[_kip_]

I use two streams. I have the electronically controlled ones that can be used with a multicontroller (backordered) for current simulations. The EC streams can be used with wavecontrollers but the regular ones cant.
most tunze products (except the regular streams) are on a long waitlist... like a couple of months.
one of the coolest things i have bought in a while and has lived up to my expectations is an oceansmotions unit. I have a 4-way on my larger tank and just got a squirt for the smaller one. awesome, no-nonsense devices.

 

[verde_ad]

Is the oceansmotions used in a closed loop? You think it is worth the cost? I am really not attached to any particular device i just want to have more turbulent water and increase my surges.

 

[verde_ad]

also, in my 30 gal do you think the Tunze Turbelle ® Stream 6000 is going to kill my system? It is the smallest stream that offer that will work with the controler. It is rated at 1850 gal/hr. I am also not too concerned about waiting for them, because I don't have that much money right now. Two months would give me just enough time to save up for it.
Thanks for the help,
AJ

 

[_kip_]

i think that stream 6000 would be a bit much in a 30g
the oceansmotions... the squirt model is 125 bucks.. you can use it in a loop or on your return line

 

[verde_ad]

that is what I was thinking too. I have right now over 1000 gph in my display already. I think that is plenty, but I want to add some random flow. I think I will go with the oeansmotions. It is easier to find a place for a pvc pipe in my tank anyway. Adding more powerheads is hard to do.

 

[spicey]

hey thanks alot guys and thatd be great if they really grow as fast as u said sammiefish. i think i have a purple encrusting M. capricornus? he looks nice i put him up by the top but i cant really see polyp extention since they seem so tiny. the branching digita has his polyps open and i can see the white tips with few corals where its apparently growing. thanks everyone

 

[jimmy g]

In my 29 gallon I have 4 powerheads going in all sorts of directions....Is that good?

 

[verde_ad]

there are three main types of flow, surge, turbulant and laminer. An example of when these three types of flow occur on the reef could be the change that happen sin a reef when an ocean swell goes over the top of the reef. This woudl be a surge. Turbulant is when a wave crashes on the reef. Laminer is generally asociated with tidal movements. You want to try and recreate all three of these in your tank.

 

[sammiefish]

not kidding... mine started the size of a nickle and is now the diameter of a baseball...
really that fast!!... under a Coralife aqualight... I have since upgraded to 20000K MH... The color of the M c. is a bit deeper red/orange and I think the plates are a little bit thicker (but I think i have my ca and alk higher now) but it doesnt seem to be growing any faster in diameter than when I had the PC's

 

[spicey]

awesome! thanks alot sammiefish. does he like pretty strong flow? did u have him at the top close to the light or lower? thanks. o and mine doesnt seem to be plating i think its more of an encrusting type if that makes a difference in care and what not thanks a bunch

 

[sammiefish]

I have 3 maxijet 1200 ph's and a 600 gph sump return - 4ft... the Ph's are on an Aquarium Systems Wavemaker powerstrip... I placed the M.caporcornis about 6 inches down from the top of the water under the PC's.... I cant speak to the encrustion Montipora but they are generally regarded as a lower light requiring SPS... (lower light compared to Acropora I guess) I would definately go forward... Im sure youll have good luck...
I can say that my water spiked nitrates up to 20ppm for about 6 weeks and the M.c. didnt seem to be harmed... but im still glad the nitrates are now back down to 0.... thats what I get for trying to boost my YT after some red splotch... he's great now... really recovering nicely. (no drugs I might add... just extra food including nori)

 

[spicey]

o great i have just about the same exact water movement system in my tank except theres also one of those powersweeps in there. i hope he does as well as yours!