fascinating watching a montipora create a beachhead on a rock...

[Sk8r]

Too tiny to get a photo with any camera I have, but here's the situation:
of all sps corals, montipora is one of the easiest. I'm still fighting the 'how much light' question with my Radions, and decided to try an encrusting (as opposed to digitate [fingered] montipora.

Set this tiny frag plug of sunset montipora up in the brightest light and strongest flow (under a Radion and opposite a Gyre)--stuck in a hole in rock coated with deep red algae (almost as good as coralline, but not)---and that was Wednesday.

Friday, 2 days after plopping the plug in the hole, I note that under the actinics (blues) you can really see an orange spot on the rock right next to the frag.
Saturday, the tissue on that side of the frag is puffing a bit.
Sunday, there's a new bright green polyp (flower) on the tissue which is definitely on the orange spot on the rock.

For a coral, that's thundering great speed. It would be nice to see it spread over and cover that rock. My lps hasn't been happy up there. If I've found what is, Snoopy Dance.

[BigEZ77]

Congrats on the quick growth. I also put a sunset monti frag on the highest peak of my rock, also directly next to the Gyre and it hasn't been doing super well...seems to not be growing fast and lost a lot of the vibrant color it original had. I glued the plug on top of the rock, may try putting it in a hole as you've done.

[Sk8r]

How's your light? I'm using Radion Pro on the Radiance pre-set, at about 50%. This does have a half-inch rock ridge as a partial buffer against the flow. The gyre is a 115 (the lesser one) set at 70% (it's a wedge tank, as deep as wide.) Alkalinity at the moment is 9, mg at 1380, cal at about 460. [Been fighting an overabundance of mg from a prior brand of reef salt.] Also I've been feeding Selcon into the system, for the fishes, but some say that corals respond to it.

[BigEZ77]

My A160WE is running at 70% intensity and 35% color. There is no ridge blocking mine from the Gyre but it is just on the left edge getting a little less flow than being right infront of it. I also feed Selcon and garlic.

[Sk8r]

The Radiance program is very heavy on the blues, has about 2-3 hours of white light before things begin to blue down.