coral of the week { montipora digitata }

[shred5]

Week #20 coral of the week {montipora digitata} common name sea whip. This coral is pictured on pages 30 and 31 of the book the Corals a quick reference guide by Julian Sprung or you can find it on page 235 of aquarium corals by Eric Borneman.

Every week I will post a new coral and I want you to post everything you know about this particular coral. Everything from common names, how hardy they are, water temp, water flow, lighting, water parameters, fraging, spawning, related corals, scientific names, feeding, best ways to ship, etc. Post your pictures for identification. Please tell us about your system so others can duplicate your success. Also email me for request on which corals you would like to see in this section.

Dave

 

[SueT]

Well, again a coral I can pass my experiences with, but no pics. There are some pics of my purple digitata on my website though. I have several color morphs of digitata. I have green, purple tips W/ brown polyps, an intense solid purple, green w/purple tips, no orange though. Mine are in both of my reef tanks. One is my 120 dedicated sps tank:
ca. 450-480ppm, alk. 11-12 dKh, temp controlled by a chiller@ 77 degrees. The other reef is my 180 ecofilter that also has some of all colors: ca. 450ppm, alk. 11-12 dKh, temp also controlled by a chiller @77. This, for me is a very hardy sps coral. Easy to frag and keep. It is also an easy coral to tank raise if you don't have the most intense of MH's. You may not have the extreme colors though. Mine are in the top half of the tank under {120gal.} 2 400w 65k iwasaki's 2 110w vho actinics, {180} 3 250w iwasaki's and 2 160w vho actinics. My tanks are fed 2 times weekly with DT's in the 180 and Kent's phytoplex in the 120. I have frgged all but 1 of the montipora's and have traded them with several hobbiests, easy to ship too.

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
http://www.marshreef.org/members

 

[KenH]

Here is a link to some pictures of orange M.digitata and info on my website.

http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/m__digitata_-_orange.htm

--- KenH
website: http://www.ReefCorner.Com

 

[Adrian]

Here are a couple of the colonies in my tank. I also have a bright pink, looks just like the tips of Ken's orange monti but not as big and there is no orange, but its still kind of small so maybe it will grow up to be the orange, and a couple of the lime greens, but no pics They are all fast growers. They tend to lose there bright colors when subjected to medium to low lighting and turn a cream color or a brown. HARDY, cant kill them unless something really goes wrong. Very easy to frag, I break a branch off, stick it in a hole in a rock, and a week later it has attatched. Good current, bright light, high Ca and Alk for best growth.

 

[KenJopus]

Check out: http://72gallonbf.homestead.com/ under SPS.
I have a bright green one under 2x250 MH. Very fast grower, and very hardy. Frags easily.

 

[bjmumy]

Here's one of my brown M. digitatas:

This thing grows like a weed. It is under 2 250W Iwasakis in my 75 gallon reef with moderate current. I think these are one of the easiest SPS to keep. It did well when I had only 440W of VHO as well. I think they are tolerant of a number of different light levels as well as environmental conditions. I would highly reccommend it as a beginner's SPS.

Here's a pink frag I just got last saturday from the same friend who gave me the brown one as a frag:

Brian

 

[ATLANTIS]

here is some purple montipora digitata

here is soime green velvet montipora digitata

and some orange montipora digitata

 

[Ice Cream]

Brian,
I'm lusting after that pink monty. It's beautiful! Is it hard to find?
JB

 

[bjmumy]

Brian,
I'm lusting after that pink monty. It's beautiful! Is it hard to find?
JB

I can't imagine they are that hard to find. If you look and still can't find it anywhere, email me and I can hook you up with my friend who gave me my frag. He has a grow out tank and a huge system and sells frags. I don't think he normally ships frags, but I'm sure he'd be willing to if you were willing to pay for the shipping.

Brian

 

[Agu]

I have a chocolate brown monti that was given to me as an unmounted frag. First thing I learned is that it's very brittle, by the time I got done mounting it there were three frags. It seems very tolerant of light levels, directly under 400w mh or off to the side in partial shade doesn't seem to make a difference. My favorite frag is in indirect light under a spraybar. This frag has developed into a very convoluted shape with branches growing down as well as up.

Agu

 

[Mark]

I really like Montipora digitata's. Usually, something very colorful means that it is delicate. But these beauty's are about the most undemanding sps I own. I love 'em. Nice colors, fast grower, and hardy. What more can you ask for?

 

[original-reefland]

Here are some pics of my green montipora:

http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/corals/sps/montipora01.htm

and of some orange:

http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/corals/sps/or-montipora-digitata01.htm

 

[Niven]

Does anyone think that the pink digitata is the same as the orange, just under less light or different alk or different color light?????
Just an idea,
Gareth

 

[tubs]

Here is a frag of the purple stuff:

 

[KenH]

Niven,
My orange M.digitata under 400W 10Ks is very pink under 175W 10Ks in my prop tank, about like in the picture above. I don't know if it is the lighting or the lower Alk/calcium levels that tank tends to have.

--- Ken

 

[shred5]

I find the purples love lots of light, but most digitata will adapt to almost any light but may lose its color and turn brown. It likes medium to strong current. Its an extremely easy coral to keep. And due to the porous skeleton is very easy to frag. One more thing they grow really fast.

This a frag I mounted about two weeks ago. You can already see it incrusting the glue.

This is the mother colony that I got from Niven

Dave Polzin

 

[petpoor]

Here is a frag of reddish/orange Monti that I have several colonies of.
Tom