LIGHTING AND CARE FOR MONTI CAP

[warhol1]

What type of lighting and other care such as water flow would I need for a monti cap? Are they aggresive and what type of food do they eat?

[organism]

Montipora caps generally need t5 or metal halide lighting, preferably in the bluer spectrum, and moderate flow. They aren't aggressive and don't need food, they just need stable water conditions, especially calcium and alkalinity. They usually do better under moderate to lower light in t5 and metal halide tanks, I've got one in the middle of my 30 cube display with 4x24w t5's and it does great in there.

[Flavum]

I agree with the above I just wanted to add that there are undoubtedly the easiest sps out there. Just make sure that there glued down and theyll take off in no time. Ive got a couple caps at the very top of my reef which is probably not a good idea as they tend to plate out......but I Love them for sure my fav. sps!

[WindCloudWRX]

Monti Caps are fairly easy. I agree w/ the above. But I never chance any SPS w/ anything other than MH. JMHO.

 

T5 is great for supplement, but for overall of SPS, I am iffy. Unless you increase the wattage, but still.

[Flavum]

oops forgot to touch on the lighting ? I would agree w/wind. I think that althoguh you can grow sps with t-5's the growth rate is night and day compared to the halides. another thing I dont really like about the t-5s is it seems to always give my sps a pastel coloration. I prefer the electric colors I get from my halide

 

to each his own.

[lakshwadeep]

I strongly disagree with windcloud and flavum about T5s. MH has it's own problems (i.e. relying on one/two bulbs for the spectrum you want), and to say that the growth rate is "night and day" for T5s is a little extreme, IMO. Here are some large tank examples:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1011785

[Flavum]

yeah maybe when you have 16 t-5 like the first tank there in your link. the average t5 fixture is probably 2-4 bulbs. the average mh is 150-250. and undoubtedly the 150 would kill the 2 or 4 bulbed t5 fixture when it comes to growth rates. you see what im getting at? you might be able to get up to the growing power of mh but your going to need twice as many t5's to do it. flourescents just dont cut it when it comes to intensity imo. Im talking from my personal xp here too I dotn want you to think im just spouting off here. Ive had a 150 halide and the 4 bulb t-5s. no competition

[lakshwadeep]

yeah maybe when you have 16 t-5 like the first tank there in your link. the average t5 fixture is probably 2-4 bulbs. the average mh is 150-250. and undoubtedly the 150 would kill the 2 or 4 bulbed t5 fixture when it comes to growth rates. you see what im getting at? you might be able to get up to the growing power of mh but your going to need twice as many t5's to do it. flourescents just dont cut it when it comes to intensity imo. Im talking from my personal xp here too I dotn want you to think im just spouting off here. Ive had a 150 halide and the 4 bulb t-5s. no competition

 

First off, you say "the average t5 ... is 2-4 bulbs. the average mh is 150-250" I know that you meant to say "150-250 Watts", but you didn't. For a person who had no idea what you were talking about, your sentence would literally mean the MH has 150-250 "bulbs" because the units were unclear. Moreover, there are different lengths of T5s, and longer T5s have higher wattages. A 150W MH will definitely have more watts than a 4 bulb fixture that's 24 inches because 24" T5 bulbs are 24 watts, and so even 4 24" bulbs would be 96 watts.

 

Also, you'll notice that none of the tanks in the reefcentral thread I linked to had more than 8 bulbs, so I don't know how you got "16 T5s" from anything in my link.

 

However, even the wattages don't mean that one fixture is better than another. If a T5 fixture doesn't have individual parabolic reflectors, it is almost as bad as a PC fixture of the same length. I used to have a "130W" PC fixture on my 20 high, but I would never have considered SPS under that lighting because a PC doesn't give as much lumens as T5s or MH. That's why the high-end, and high-price, T5 fixtures place a lot of importance on advertising their individual reflectors. This is just as important for MHs, and I've noticed that many cheap MH fixtures have horrible reflectors that don't maximize the amount of light entering the tank.

 

Finally, "growing power" is a qualitative, not quantitative, analysis if you aren't keeping other factors (such as dosing or other water conditions) constant. Taking PAR readings at different levels of the tank would be a more scientific calculation. Obviously a 150W MH, with a good bulb, would be a lot better than T5s with out individual reflectors.

 

If you would actually post the brand/model/length of your MH and T5s, then I wouldn't have written this long rebuttal.

Edited November 13, 2008 by lakshwadeep

[Flavum]

alright you got me I didnt put watts. my apologies friend I didnt think that it was really needed. and your right it wasnt the first tank that 16 t-5s it was the 3rd and it is there! are you even reading your own links? here direct quote for ya

 

16 x 54 W T5. ( 10 x Coral light and 6 x Purple Fiji from Korallen Zucht. ) Reflectors are built in to the units and the bulbs are cooled with single ventilators. The lamps are operated with Profilux aquarium computer.

 

listen im talking from my own personal experience here and the 4 bulb current t-5 fixture was a joke compared to the growth rate of my 150

[lakshwadeep]

My mistake about the 16 T5s. I guess I didn't realize 500 gallon tanks are what you're talking about.

 

I'm glad you mentioned your T5 fixture was from current (which has really bad reflectors). But, what length was it?

Edited November 13, 2008 by lakshwadeep

[Flavum]

alright you got me I didnt put watts. my apologies friend I didnt think that it was really needed. and your right it wasnt the first tank that had 16 t-5s it was the 3rd! are you even reading your own links? here direct quote for ya

 

16 x 54 W T5. ( 10 x Coral light and 6 x Purple Fiji from Korallen Zucht. ) Reflectors are built in to the units and the bulbs are cooled with single ventilators. The lamps are operated with Profilux aquarium computer.

 

listen im talking from my own personal experience here and the 4 bulb 46 inch current t-5 fixture was a joke compared to the growth rate of my 150 WATT halide.I would tell you the brand but there is none its a hand me down that I had gotten that honestly looks like its been through hell with a 14k pheonix bulb. same exact tank, same schedule, same everything.

 

as for the night and day comment, thats coming from my own personal experience with my system and yes it was that much of a difference. The overall point I was trying to make was that yes you might be able to get the resuslts you get from mh with sps but youll end up spending alot more $$$.

 

I hope we can keep this civil my friend and dont have to resort to insulting one another.

 

 

 

oops clicked the reply too soon

[lakshwadeep]

I still don't buy the argument that T5s are a lot more expensive than comparable MHs (such as the 4 bulb TEK light vs. the 150W sunpod), but I guess we can agree to disagree.

[kermitthedaniel]

i would say that t5s are minimum, and get individual reflectors for them, back to the question at hand boys... Flavum and lakshwadeep. they were just getting into the timeless t5 vs MH arguement. what size is the tank, get as many t5s as you can in your tank. they can grow under t5s probably because they have come a long way since way back when they first came out. and i think what flavum was talking about the pastel colours, probably ment that because t5 give colour entirely around the tank you dont get dark spots, so corals get all the light to every part of them, where as a single point of light , there will be different degrees of light hitting the colour in different parts even if small.

Edited November 13, 2008 by kermitthedaniel

[colgan10]

Lakshwadeep is alittle in love with t5s man almost to a weird extreme do they keep you company at night too....lol....

 

I have my cap under a 150 WATT mh 20k and it is doing great i have pictures of it under my thread....i have excellent growth since it started out tiny it now takes up a whole corner of the tank.

Edited November 13, 2008 by colgan10

[fiction101]

I still don't buy the argument that T5s are a lot more expensive than comparable MHs (such as the 4 bulb TEK light vs. the 150W sunpod), but I guess we can agree to disagree.

 

The tek sells for $225?

[lakshwadeep]

Lakshwadeep is alittle in love with t5s man almost to a weird extreme do they keep you company at night too....lol....

 

I sometimes hear them giving me advice. Normally I wouldn't spend so much time to write that out since, like kermit said, the debate has been around for years.

[WindCloudWRX]

I still don't buy the argument that T5s are a lot more expensive than comparable MHs (such as the 4 bulb TEK light vs. the 150W sunpod), but I guess we can agree to disagree.

 

I didn't read too much into the debate because IME, I know corals have a vast range of tolerance. Again, the MH is just me, and using T5 as a supplement is my choice. I think about UPKEEP in cost and think MH are easy to ship, receive and setup. If I had wanted to replace 4-5 bulbs, I think shipping would be a hassle? let alone the risk. Well just a point of view seeing how I looked at the maintenance cost in actually DOWNSIZING.

 

Now if we could make a MH TUBE w/ equal dispersion that'd be even more great. LOL.

 

To each their own.

[lakshwadeep]

The tek sells for $225?

 

Sorry, I should have said the TEK retrofit kit. I'm too cheap to buy a complete fixture.

 

windcloud: I'm not sure what you're get at since I've received 5 T5 bulbs so far with no shipping problems.

Edited November 13, 2008 by lakshwadeep

[nematoad]

You can keep Monti caps under PC, but they just won't have the same colour, and growth is a bit slower.

 

T5s are plenty enough for the Montis too, have them half way down your tank. For any SPS, T5HO is more than adequate. Just taking a look at European systems which are all T5 by now, there is no limit to T5's, IMO, and they know their stuff.

 

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Just give them good light and good flow, and you'll have a happy specimen of the easiest and most distinctive SPS to keep

[WindCloudWRX]

Sorry, I should have said the TEK retrofit kit. I'm too cheap to buy a complete fixture.

 

windcloud: I'm not sure what you're get at since I've received 5 T5 bulbs so far with no shipping problems.

 

LOL I mean shipping charges. I know I am price sensitive.

Just saying maintenance cost wouldn't kill me. lol. I just liek MH damnnit lol.

[colgan10]

+1 to the above

[SmittyCoco]

I just liek MH damnnit lol.

 

+2

 

I like the shimmer

[Wburrick]

All this Talk about MH and T5. What about LEDS ? I love my leds. low electric bill, No maintenance fees, Dimmable color selection, and I actually have too much power.

[Euphyllia]

PC and okay water params.

[ColaAddict]

I have my red monti cap in the bottom of my tank, 40 inches way from my LED's and it' growing great. I don't think they need much light.