Monti growth

[gareth.hubbarde]

How quickly do plating monti grow? Tbh I have no idea if it's growing, happy or not.
Any ideas?

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[Timfish]

If you look closely you'll see what looks like about 1/8" growth on the edges. You can see there's a line where it looks like growth stopped for a little bit then started. How fast it gorwos depends on multiple variables. Starting with genotype, lighting, nitrogen and phsophate concentration and ratio. microbial load, water flow and even tankmates all play a role.

As far as being happy that's far more subjective and unfortunately growth and coloration are not good indicators. High phosphates may cause faster growth but faster growth is also implicated in a weakened immune system. Since flourescing and chromo proteins are made by corals to deal with less than ideal lighting conditions, as anitoxidants to deal with free radicals and to deal with pathogens or parasites and since "healthy" colored corals in the wild have been found to have unhealthy shifts in their holobiont color can't be used as an indicator of health either.

 

[gareth.hubbarde]

If you look closely you'll see what looks like about 1/8" growth on the edges. You can see there's a line where it looks like growth stopped for a little bit then started. How fast it gorwos depends on multiple variables. Starting with genotype, lighting, nitrogen and phsophate concentration and ratio. microbial load, water flow and even tankmates all play a role.

As far as being happy that's far more subjective and unfortunately growth and coloration are not good indicators. High phosphates may cause faster growth but faster growth is also implicated in a weakened immune system. Since flourescing and chromo proteins are made by corals to deal with less than ideal lighting conditions, as anitoxidants to deal with free radicals and to deal with pathogens or parasites and since "healthy" colored corals in the wild have been found to have unhealthy shifts in their holobiont color can't be used as an indicator of health either.

Thanks for the detailed answer I really appreciate your time.

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[Imaexpat2]

Under optimal tank conditions I have gotten growth that was as fast as 1/4 inch a week, although I think 1/8th of an inch is more common. Monti Caps can be some really fast growers in my experiences with this coral.

One factor that was working for me that might not apply to your case is I was mounting my frags vertical vs horizontal when fragging this coral. I found this got more layers and more convoluted growth patterns and perhaps faster growth than typically achieved. I kind of discovered that by accident as I mount my SPS frags horizontal instead of vertical as it gave me faster growth and made my SPS frags "bushier" with lots of branches as well! I know that sounds kinda crazy but I am here to tell you it WORKS!!! That trick I learned from Sally Joe and Scott Morrell at Geothermal Aquaculture Research Facility in Bosie Idaho in 2003...