Weird Montipora growth

[vuduz06]

Hi! I am having some strange growth out of my montipora, I believe it to be a Hodgsoni. i had the coral under 4 t5's and it was growing a flat plate but as soon as i upgraded to the Reefbreaders photon 48 is started to cascade down and once it touched the rock started encrusting on it. I was under the impression that under higher light Montiporas would grow up instead of down. I have taken frags of this coral and placed them under different lighting/flow conditions for science, but they haven't grown much yet. Has anyone had something like happen? Will is start plating again once it gets to a happy place?

Thanks for looking!

 

[cleverbs]

In my experience when ever I have had montis under led they like to encrust the rock. Now under MH/t5ho they grow flat and up and start doing the cup thing that we all love about them. I am not sure why they do this with LED

 

[vuduz06]

Well thats not very encouraging haha, i already have a mystic sunset that's kinda close in color that is encrusting that is just out of this picture to the left. I guess I'll see how it goes as it is now attached to this rock in multiple places.

 

[Silly clownfish]

How long have you had it and how firmly is it attched to the rock. I have noticed that they sometimes grow down faster at first - like the are trying to get well anchored - before growing up. That's my theory at least.

 

[vuduz06]

I've had it over a year, bought a very small frag. It was growing out flat until I changed to leds. It has continued to encrust on the rock since my initial post. If I see any changes I will update. It kinda looks like it melted down on the rock.

 

[daaznguy]

I have LEDs and my monti caps cup up. They just take time. Most will grow out a good bit before they start cupping. Takes time. Just be patient and don't mess with the coral.