Monti cap corals

[greg1786]

Ive been keeping sps for a while now but never really been into monti caps. My gf has really been wanting one so we got two small frags at the lfs yesterday. Ive got them under 216watts of t5 ho and 120 watts of pc lighting about 10" below the fixtures. They are on my frag rack on plugs in a moderate to high amount of flow. Neither frag is bigger than 1-1/2". Being new to them i have to questions. Is the area i have them in flow and lighting wise good? And does it matter how big i allow them to grow befor placing them on the rockwork at their permenant home?

 

[Finland]

I have found that caps are pretty tolerant to most flow and lighting conditions, as long as water quality is ok. I have a few caps in my tank, some are in high flow, high light positions, while a few smaller pieces that broke off are down on the sand in a corner with very little flow, and minimal lighting. Color is not as good down on the sand, but they grow like a weed. You can let them grow however long you want on the frag rack, but it would be easier to mount a smaller coral than a larger one. I would recommend mounting lower and off to the side , because they are fast growers and will take up a lot of real estate and shade whatever is below them.

 

[squishifishi]

all I know, is that if you put them at the top, you'r reef will end up with a roof.
Love 'em though! good luckQ

 

[jBugg]

I love monti caps as well. The cup-like growth does it for me. And they're fairly inexpensive too. I have a bunch of frags: 2 different greens, a red and an orange. I can't wait for them to grow.

 

[danil]

They are pretty hardy corals and very forgiving to light/flow/water parameters.
I recently got Starburst Cap and this thing is awesome!

 

[greg1786]

Great info guys thanks! I think im going to put one at either end of the rock work about 6" about the sandbed. That should give them a lot of room to grow without covering anything below them. When they start getting huge or in the event that they shade another coral are they easy to frag? Can i just trim the area thats doing the shading with some snips or bone cutters?

 

[nogascans]

Take the suggestion to put them down low if possible. They will take up a lot of real estate and create shaded areas (90 gallon bowfront running since June of last year) In tank version 2.0 ( new cubed 175 ) these will be repositioned lower and to sides.

Sincerely,

David

 

[Finland]

Great info guys thanks! I think im going to put one at either end of the rock work about 6" about the sandbed. That should give them a lot of room to grow without covering anything below them. When they start getting huge or in the event that they shade another coral are they easy to frag? Can i just trim the area thats doing the shading with some snips or bone cutters?

They are very easy to frag. I just reach in the tank with my hands and snap off whatever I want to trim. They are pretty fragile, so you will have to be careful you don't break off a bigger chunk than you wanted to.

 

[Nanighan]

Can be used as a frag rack for temporary use.