Montipora Capricornus Growth Rate

[sunamoon]

That purple cap is incredibly bueatiful! how lucky you are!

My two are growing rather slow because i only have pc's. But they are doing fine. I have the green and the orange. The green had grown out about 2 inches in the last year. then while i was doing some cleaning i accidently dropped a rock i had to move and it broke it off. man did i cry! so now the green is back to square one. but it is alive and will eventually be back.

 

[jay24k]

My purple is exploding but here is 3 pics. The quality stinks but just to show you how fast they grow. This is from nov 10 to dec 10 to mar 10 so 1 month and then 3 months.

 

[Nathan]

Jay24K,

Nice! Good growth too!

-Nathan

 

[Perureef]

i have an orange capricornis that i had for about a year now, however growth is very slow. Ca is always solid (400 from red sea test kit), water parameters are ideal. growth is happening, but very very slowing, nothing like ive read above. i have 4*54W T5's about 2 1/2 inches above the water, and the cap is about 8" from the water line. i did not mount it vertically, it is almost completely horizontal. could this affect growth that greatly? thanks for any info.

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

OK, I need capricornus. Now.

 

[jay24k]

I would say no but each piece could be different honestly. I have several caps mounted all sorts of ways. They tend to grow whatever way they naturally would. If they plate horizontal, they will turn that way and plate.

Other factors could be influencing it. IMO, higher phosphates or high nutrients can cause them to grow slower. I'm not saying that is the case with you but I've seen tanks with hardly any growth that have perfect parameters. The only reason I know something isn't right was because hair algae kept growing.

Try placing it in another spot. Several corals grow faster/slower depending on light and water flow.

 

[Perureef]

thank you. actually you might be right about the high nutrients. phosphates always test zero, but i dont trust the results since right now i have acrazy bubble algae outbreak. lately i have been stepping up my water changes and the CSS has been pulling a lot of crap, but i guess this would be enough to still irritate the capricornis. the flow however is a bit on the higher end where it is placed. it is near the overflow, so theres always a constant pull of water over it. unfortunately i cant move it since its attached to a huge rock.

 

[pcragg]

This is great info!

What's everybody's experience with placement in the tank with regard to lighting?

I have 400 watt MH 10ks and 2 110 VHO actinics.

Thanks again,
Phil

 

[jay24k]

This is just my experience. I think any cap can be suited wherever, but it takes them awhile to get their normal color back.

For example, I have a green w/ purple rim. It is 5 inches from the water surface. The lights really was too much for it and the color wasn't very nice. I gave it 2 more months and it bounced back and is vibrant as can be. My purple cap turned to a super super light purple and is about the same height as the green. I was really happy with the new color. However after 2 months, it turned back the grape grape purple. My orange is 6 inches above the bottom and I have a few more randomly placed. They all grow very quickly.

My lights are 250 watt 10k's

 

[Nathan]

I find that alkalinity affects the colour too. What about you?

-Nathan

 

[jay24k]

I haven't noticed that. My alk I keep around 8 to 10 dkh. It got as low as 6 dkh but I ajdusted my calcium reactor and dosed accordingly.

 

[ReefHotSpot]

As you can see in the pics, caps do grow very fast. I never much cared about shape in my tanks so I always had a good time fragging and spreading. Caps are such great corals because once you get one going they are easy to share. That is, if you don't much care about true shape with them.

max
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