Branched Montipora - good for first SPS?

[MellowReefer]

My tank has been set up for a year and I have mostly LPS right now. I haven't been that excited to try SPS mostly because of it being more challenging and I really like the LPS. But I was browsing on LA and saw this purple branching montipora, and I thought I heard montiporas are one of the easier SPS. What do you think? I keep my parameters very stable, always about 8.5 Alk and 420 Cal, and always test zero nitrate. My only concern would be phosphate, which I go back and forth with because some of my corals reacted badly to GFO. Are branching montiporas tolerant of a little phosphate? How do they do under LEDs? Thanks in advance.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Hello fellow Bay Area reefer. I may have something quite similar to what you are describing:

These were two little fingernail sized frags that have encrusted nicely and are just starting to branch out.

Montipora digitata are one of the more forgiving SPS, so they are a good one to start with. I have found that his purple variety does okay in medium light and will encrust nicely, but in order to branch out it really needs a good amount of light. I have these under LED lighting and the top one is getting ~185 PAR. Give them a medium flow, too. The polyps are small, but they extend well off the base which makes for a nice effect.

 

[MellowReefer]

Thanks for the tip, neighbor! After doing a little more research, I decided to go for it. A purple one is on the way from LiveAquaria

 

[Nano sapiens]

From their website: 'Montipora digitata, Purple - Aquacultured, ORA® (Montipora digitata)'.

Is this the one you ordered? One thing to watch out for. They get stung easily, so it's best to keep other stinging corals and such a distance away.

 

[salman01]

yep i agree,...montis grow fast too so give it space

 

[MellowReefer]

I have a few questions, hoping someone can help. When placing it, are you not supposed to touch the coral at all except at the base? What about it leaning against a rock a little, is that alright? Does it look healthy to you? I notice in part of it there seems to be some algae growing out of it, should I try to remove it? Thanks in advance. By the way this was not aquacultured/maricultured.

 

[MellowReefer]

Also, I think it has changed color since I got it two weeks ago. Here's when I first got it, you can see it was more purple. Sorry, not the best camera.

 

[Ptyochromis]

I have a few questions, hoping someone can help. When placing it, are you not supposed to touch the coral at all except at the base? What about it leaning against a rock a little, is that alright? Does it look healthy to you? I notice in part of it there seems to be some algae growing out of it, should I try to remove it? Thanks in advance. By the way this was not aquacultured/maricultured.

Give it time. Don't hijack the thread

 

[rhino509]

what lighting do you have? lighting for lps isnt always gonna be enough for sps...theyll grow but they wont always keep color.

 

[MellowReefer]

Give it time. Don't hijack the thread

What? Didn't realize I could hijack my own thread...

 

[MellowReefer]

Right now its in a quarantine tank with 50 watts T5 lighting on a 20 gal tank. I know it's not enough long term but from what I read you don't need to have that much for 6 weeks quarantine.

In the tank it will go into soon I have Ecoxotic LED lights. 6 white/blue and 7 blue over a 6ft tank that's 21" high. Here's the link below. Do you think this is enough light for it? If not I can easily add a few more strips.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Ecoxotic..._Fixtures-Ecoxotic-XX08225-FILTFILDLK-vi.html

 

[tomservo]

The purple monti that's super common in my area mostly comes from a guy with a 180 long that has several basketball sized colonies going.. His is under rather low PAR, like 60-120, doesn't color up very well but it grows like crazy! Put it under 175-350 PAR and it will go a very nice shade of purple.

This stuff is IME super easy. It grows very fast and even under low light it branches just fine - but the branches are quite fragile, a casual bump will turn your colony into rubble. I got my frag and Matt was going to break off a nice 2-3" piece and a softball sized chunk came off instead.. for my $5.

 

[MellowReefer]

Thanks, that's good to know. I will be careful to give it plenty of room and not bump it. I have to find out how to get my PAR rating.