Question on digitata growth.

[SaltyMember]

I have two monti digi frags for almost a year now. One blue, one orange. They are about 16 inches below a 250 wt SE 14k bulb. I notice that they are not growing out (branching) but instead the base of the coral is spreading out and encrusting the LR more.
What would cause this? Are they getting too much light? How do I get them to "branch out" more?
thanks

[Travis L. Stevens]

They are establishing a strong base. All coral frags will grow out before they grow up. The genus Montipora is also known for being non-conformists when it comes to growth patterns. Often Montiporas that typlically plate will form columnar pillars in the center, or branching varieties will encrust or plate out. As long as it is growing, I wouldn't worry about it.

[SaltyMember]

thanks, I thought maybe they were getting too much direct light.

[King-Kong]

If you find out let me know, salty. Mine seems to worry a lot more about spreading a base than growing in finger form.

[SaltyMember]

Will do King. I might try moving them down a little lower in the tank to see what happens.

[Cody Ray]

How is the flow in ur system? A heavy base is often a sign of high water flow (a good thing). I would imagine that once it begins to branch it will form thick branches.

[johnanddawn]

mine typically encrust and then shoot branches up from there far faster then their "established" branches grow - this is why all my digi frags are now mounted horizontally instead of vertical - i think its just the nature of the beast to grow that way. as an experiment i did two equally sized frags of orange digi and the horizontal one was way more then 3x the size of the vertical with multiple branches coming up from the base when i sold the vertical one

[SaltyMember]

How is the flow in ur system?
Flow is 21x tank turnover.


this is why all my digi frags are now mounted horizontally instead of vertical - i think its just the nature of the beast to grow that way.
I will keep that in mind the next time I mount a digi frag.

Thanks for all the input everyone.

[blstravler]

They do grow a good base first, in the first pic below you can see a green digi frag about 7 months ago-

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d38/blstravler/2005_1206_Tank_1800037.jpg


Now you can see it and the base has grown out and it now has a lot of branches.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d38/blstravler/2006_0916Tank823060003.jpg

This part of my group of Digi's you can see how they have all started a big base and then grown branches.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d38/blstravler/2006_0916Tank823060004.jpg

[Gundo5000]

Cool pctures, very nice growth. I like the pink digi a lot. I just picked up a purple one from the lfs, it's kind of a gamble though becuse it is wild.

[SaltyMember]

Very nice growth in those pics. I can see what you mean about the base growing out first. Thanks.

[bosborn1]

I have the exact opposite problem with a ORA Digi. It seems to only want to grow branch and isn't fortifying its base enough....During the day when the flow is at the max I notice it kind of slighty swaying. All my other SPS are quite encrusted...Just not the Digi.

I hope I am not Hijacking I just thought is was relevant

Scott

[blstravler]

bosborn1-

Just out of interest, what color is it. I had an ORA very light blue with white polyps that did the same thinng and grew very slow. Unfortunatley it just never did well and now I only have a small piece left.

[bosborn1]

Its the ORA German Blue Digi. It has purplish/blue polyps under 15k lighting. Mine grows like a weed but only branches..It just wont encrust.

[Stoney Mahony]

I have the same German Blue ORA and it just encrusted a quater size base after about 6 months. It's growing up and into a main flow outlet in my tank. I think it fell off the rock like 10x before it finally laid down a base.

[bosborn1]

I am not alone...Now I feel better. I have to right mine once every couple of weeks.

Scott

[Lobster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8159670#post8159670 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bosborn1
I have the exact opposite problem with a ORA Digi. It seems to only want to grow branch and isn't fortifying its base enough....During the day when the flow is at the max I notice it kind of slighty swaying. All my other SPS are quite encrusted...Just not the Digi.


Maybe you can influence it by taking a frag and mounting it horizontally at the base? They do tend to grow better that way for me in general, although I know its hard to mash polyps into superglue. :D

[Horace]

For the record.....Digis LOVE a ton of light. Everyone says montis are low light SPS, when it comes to digis this is not the case IMO. Mine are mostly in the top half and some right up to the water surface. All of them are super colorful and grow like weeds. You want to see some growth...Check this out...

Feb
http://www.photodump.org/stored3/Pink-OrangeDigi.jpg

Aug
That yellow tang is about a 5" fish
http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_1737.jpg

Here is my tank at 1 year. Most all of these corals were frags.... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=910001

[blstravler]

Horace-

Would you be interested in selling a piece of the pink digi you have?

Sorry to bother you with the rerquest/question.

Thanks
Keith

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8160426#post8160426 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blstravler
Horace-

Would you be interested in selling a piece of the pink digi you have?

Sorry to bother you with the rerquest/question.

Thanks
Keith

Actually this colony is about to start hitting the side glass and will need to be fragged soon...However, I am hesitent to ship any frags, since I have never really shipped frags before, and especially if you were only ordering that single frag. If you are really interested let me know.

[blstravler]

Horace

Just PM'd you back

Thanks-

Keith

[blstravler]

Horace

FYI, Your in box is full.

Thanks Keith