care and placement of this monti

[murphreef]

ok well i got this a few days ago and i wanna make sure i dont kill this one lol

i havent had much luck with montis before all kinds to be exact .... and no i dont have nudis they just slowly bleach and fade away....

with my water being as good as its guna get IMO i can only think i was frying them with lighting before and not letting them adjust for a few days or a week whatever

anwyays this one i have placed all the way in the corner of my 180 so that its not getting blown away with too much lighting

i run 250W Phoenix 14ks on PFO HQI ballast and mini pendants

any suggestions would be appreciated .... how long should i leave it in the "dimmer" area of the tank??

and what kind is this exactly it looks like its guna plate

thanks

 

[tecoral]

Not sure of the kind, but it is nice. I would make sure it gets good flow and put it where it will likley stay in the tank. Put some window screening over the top to acclimate it for a week or so.

Also watch that froggy doesnt send out some sweepers and wack it ;-)

 

[murphreef]

thanks for the input!

yeah that froggy never really send out sweepers anymore ive got it far enough away i think the pic is a lil misleading

so do these montis need a ton of light or just medium light cuz i think i always fry mine with putting too high up right away....

this one looks really nice and i wanna keep it that way and i want it to grow nicely

as of right now it seems to be ok with its position it has nice PE and theres a decent amount of flow

 

[Sk8r]

I have had good luck with montipora digitatas---I have a single Ushio 250 10,000 with 2 actinics, and have them in places ranging from 15 inches below the bulb to 20 inches: they seem to like the flow from my Sea Swirl 1/2 inch, which goes past them but never stays.

 

[murphreef]

thanks sk8r

ive never had luck with any monti for some reason and the only thing i can pin it down to is over lighting them....

my other acros do well but montis always seem to fade away on me over time....

so this time i decided place it far away from light lol but it still has good flow at the end of the tank.... the flow comes in surges to that end from my OM 4 way

so im hoping for the best cuz if this monti doesnt make it then im done trying with montis

 

[murphreef]

so will this monti be ok in a lower light area for the next few days until it ajust to my lighting ....

its not like its total darkness as u can see lol its just the lowest light area of my tank being in the corner outta direct lighting from the MH's

i just wanna make sure its not guna die becuz now im not givin it anuf light u know what i mean

 

[twon8]

what kind of fish do you have in your tank? if you are keeping acros there should be no reason for montis to not thrive.
I would put it halfway up in your tank, then slowly move it to wherever you want its final place to be. you shouldn't have to acclimate too much with 250 14k's

 

[murphreef]

yeah i know thats what i thought too but these things never make it in my tank so i was thinking that maybe i wasnt acclimating them correctly to my lighting

cuz ive tried all kinds from digis to plating to encrusting and all slowly bleach out and fade away some take a while though for that to happen

and like i said i dont have any nudis ive checked and dipped and all that

as for fish i have a blue tang, yellow tang, dwarf lionfish, 4 lyertail anthias, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, mandarin, and a clarki clown

ive never seen one pick on the corals ....

my water is the following

SG 1.025-1.026
ph 8.1-8.3
am, na, ni 0
PO4 undetectable using salifer " i run a phosban reactor and macro
Ca 400-420
Alk 7.6-8.0 dkh i know its a lil low but its stable and my other acros are growing well
temp 79-80
mg 1400
flow about 40x's turnover in the tank

well i think im guna leave it where it is for now for a few days to check it out and see how it does there ....

should it be ok in a not so light intense area??

thanks for ur help

 

[twon8]

have you been putting all the past monti's up high? even so 250 14k shouldnt' kill them, maybe burn them a bit, but monti's are very durable ime. they easily recover when burned, stung, as long as the irritant is removed.

 

[murphreef]

yeah i put them up high generally 1/2 way or higher in the tank....

i had some alk issues in the past but it would just sway around from upper 8's to lower 7's so i dont know if that would cause it but now my alk is stable and all else is doing well