plans for montipora dominated tank

[chills1026]

i know some people have species dominated tanks like acropora and plate corals even shroom or zoanthids. since montis are my favorite looking corals especially the plating kind,i was thinking i would like to set up a montipora dominated tank. has anybody else done this. any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. i would like to be very succesful in this endeavor.

 

[Finland]

I think it would look pretty good, but the problem I see, is with the plating montis(caps) you would run out of room fairly quickly and anything under them would be shaded out. I had a green and orange cap that I just let grow out. After about 2 years or so, the green cap was about 24in in diameter and the orange cap was about 16inch. Took up alot of room in the 180. They would have to be mounted lower in the tank to prevent shading out other corals you might have. I have seen a tank with a orange, green , and purple capS that were rather large and it was pretty cool. Between the 3 caps, it took up most of his 75g tank. Not alot of room fo rmush else

 

[emerald crab]

Not a bad idea considering that they like cooler water than the acros, but as "Finland" said most of them are fast growers and get rather large in no time.

 

[chills1026]

currently i have none. maybe ill just keep them in one half of the tank and keep the remaining half for the other species of montipora species like digitata and an encrusting species. this way the plating form can grow and not block out the light to the others.

 

[tcmfish]

I think it is a very cool idea and you would probably be able to get away with a lot more not-so-reef-safe fish in it. (Angels, butterflyfish, etc.) I believe there was a public aquarium doing this and they had a good amount of butterflyfish in it.

 

[chills1026]

i suppose if they get too big ill have to learn how to frag them to keep them from out growing the tank and shading the others

 

[emerald crab]

Or.....Get a bigggger tank.

 

[acroholicreefer]

It could look rather sweet if you pulled it off correctly and would be a lower maintenance tank. I would keep the caps on the bottom row. Superman, Rainbow/Pokerstar, and possibly Undata montis in a middle row. Digitatas on the top row.

 

[chills1026]

im commited to making this work.this is the first time where i came up with an idea that i liked alot. i have googled montipora but most info is general.as to a bigger tank i like the size i have. im more into quality than quantity,so i would rather have limited amount of corals and take care of them good in my fifty than buy a bigger one and cram as many corals in it as i can. plus it not too big i cant handle the maintenance. if anybody know where i could find good info about that would be cool.

 

[emerald crab]

IMO, a standard 50 gal tank does not give enough room (too narrow) for a single well grown (and I believe that's what you intend to do) cap monti. However a standard 75-90 gal (still a manageable size) has enough width to make your project work. Doing it right, without overstocking (6-12 monitis), can make it a stunning display.

 

[Piper27]

Not a bad idea considering that they like cooler water than the acros, but as "Finland" said most of them are fast growers and get rather large in no time.

What? Montipora like cooler water than acros?

 

[emerald crab]

Yes, lots of acros get up to 83-85 F in their natural environment, montiporas go only to 78-80 F.

 

[twiggyb]

My tank stays at 83-84 and I don't see any problems with my red cap or sand dollar? Interesting to hear.

 

[emerald crab]

When you set a species specific tank, you can tailor to the optimum for that species and you'll get better results. That doesn't mean that other species with slightly different requirements are not gonna be OK.

 

[DopeCantWin]

I'd recommend keeping the Caps away from the Digitatas. The Digitatas take them over and poison entire colonies.

 

[chills1026]

the tank is as wide as a 75 its dimensions are 48x18x13. so if i go with the monti dominated tanks the digitatas should be avoided?

 

[DopeCantWin]

the tank is as wide as a 75 its dimensions are 48x18x13. so if i go with the monti dominated tanks the digitatas should be avoided?

Just make sure you keep them away from the caps.

 

[chills1026]

just so everyone know the set up is a 50 gallon with dimensions mentioned above,it has a 4 bulb t5 fixture,hang on refugium,2 korallia powerheads,one rated at 550 gph the other 1050 gph,it has about 40 lbs live sand and 45 lbs live rock which i plan to add more. i have also plans to add an overflow and sump as well as an ato system. i will be getting an ro/di system,until then i have been using water from my lfs as well as bottled ro/di water.

 

[chills1026]

is there anything i need to add to this set-up to make this plan work? how big should i make the overflow,should i go 1 1/2 in. or will one in. work?