Mounting Chalice and Montipora? (with pictures)

[shawnriv]

Hello Everyone,

I purchased two really nice pieces of a Hollywood Stunner Chalice and Red Cap Montipora. They have been in the sand bed for the past three days adjusting to my Kessil 360 light. I am just not sure how and where to mount them. Here are some pictures from the first day:





Here is a FTS:



Thanks!

[MondoBongo]

nice looking pieces. i have those in my tank as well. both mounted so that they can plate out.

if you glue or epoxy their bottom side to an edge where they can jut out in to the water, they will grow pretty happily.

heads up about the hollywood stunner, they pack a wallop and have some decent length sweepers. mine will put out sweepers about 2" - 4" long. so far it has won a battle again a platygyra and some xenia. just something to keep in mind.

as far as light, i have my monti up relatively high, and my stunner about mid level under my AI Vegas.

both of them, given proper conditions, grow pretty quickly.

[Mark9]

I put my Montipora midish tank and my chalice under it.
Sounds odd, but the chalice seems happy there.
6 ATI T5's.
Will depend alot on your lights.

[inthedeep2]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

heads up about the hollywood stunner, they pack a wallop and have some decent length sweepers. mine will put out sweepers about 2" - 4" long. so far it has won a battle again a platygyra and some xenia. just something to keep in mind.

both of them, given proper conditions, grow pretty quickly.

yes careful with the stunner. I had to get rid of mine. it went from a 2-3'' frag to a 6''x9'' full colony in a matter of 4 months and loves growing on anything glass, rocks, other corals after stinging them.

[shawnriv]

Originally Posted by Mark9

I put my Montipora midish tank and my chalice under it.
Sounds odd, but the chalice seems happy there.
6 ATI T5's.
Will depend alot on your lights.

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

nice looking pieces. i have those in my tank as well. both mounted so that they can plate out.

if you glue or epoxy their bottom side to an edge where they can jut out in to the water, they will grow pretty happily.

heads up about the hollywood stunner, they pack a wallop and have some decent length sweepers. mine will put out sweepers about 2" - 4" long. so far it has won a battle again a platygyra and some xenia. just something to keep in mind.

as far as light, i have my monti up relatively high, and my stunner about mid level under my AI Vegas.

both of them, given proper conditions, grow pretty quickly.

Thanks for your recommendations! I think I'm going to place the chalice positioned flat against the rock (above where the Flame Angel is) and the montipora right about that in the flat over-hang. Therefore, once the montipora begins to grow out, it will slightly shade the chalice. And how do I "persuade" a montipora to grow in a certain direction. I would like to it to grow towards the front of the tank as shown in Mark9's photo.

Thanks!

[MondoBongo]

i can't say i've had much luck persuading it to grow one way or another. it kind of grows in all directions as it sees fit. flow has some determination on it, as does light, but they kind of just do their own thing.

if there is nothing in the way, they tend to plate out, if there is something in the way, the tend to encrust. mine is plating on one side, but encrusting the rocks on the other wise.

you can kind of see here. bottom of the photo where it is growing over the acans is the plating side. top of the photo is where it is encrusting over, and growing up, my rockwork.

[Mark9]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

i can't say i've had much luck persuading it to grow one way or another. it kind of grows in all directions as it sees fit. flow has some determination on it, as does light, but they kind of just do their own thing.

if there is nothing in the way, they tend to plate out, if there is something in the way, the tend to encrust. mine is plating on one side, but encrusting the rocks on the other wise.

+1 on all this.
My red is expanding in all directions since it can.
The purple and green have hit the back glass and are encrusting upwards.
The purple is also encrusting the rocks.
It's what they do.

[F4talreeefer]

As the rest said they kind of just grow. Personally I like my Monti near the bottom so it creates a low over hang for fish to hang out but not higher enough to cause shading to surrounding corals. From research I came to the conclusion that Monti will adapt to a variety of light conditions.

[shawnriv]

Originally Posted by Mark9

+1 on all this.
My red is expanding in all directions since it can.
The purple and green have hit the back glass and are encrusting upwards.
The purple is also encrusting the rocks.
It's what they do.

Originally Posted by F4talreeefer

As the rest said they kind of just grow. Personally I like my Monti near the bottom so it creates a low over hang for fish to hang out but not higher enough to cause shading to surrounding corals. From research I came to the conclusion that Monti will adapt to a variety of light conditions.

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

i can't say i've had much luck persuading it to grow one way or another. it kind of grows in all directions as it sees fit. flow has some determination on it, as does light, but they kind of just do their own thing.

if there is nothing in the way, they tend to plate out, if there is something in the way, the tend to encrust. mine is plating on one side, but encrusting the rocks on the other wise.

you can kind of see here. bottom of the photo where it is growing over the acans is the plating side. top of the photo is where it is encrusting over, and growing up, my rockwork.

Thanks guys for the recommendations! This is what I'm thinking. The red circle is for the Montipora and the green circle is for the Chalice. The arrow is the direction I'm hoping the Montipora grows.