Monti-Mountain

wow

wow

All gone now... :-(. Well mostly. Had to frag them all up. They were starting to shadow half of my tank lol. But now I get to start again!

Nice. How long did it take to get to that point?

Nice. How long did it take to get to that point?

The tank is currently right at the one year mark. The orange started as a half inch frag took about 8 months before I really had to frag it back. I took this pic right before I fragged him up again(real fast grower). The orange and purples grow a lot faster than any of the greens (Appleberry, Season Greetings, and the cap).

I have been experimenting with grafting them together but that's gonna take years. I'm curious how the capping, branching, and encrusting montis are going to grow together.

 

The tank is currently right at the one year mark. The orange started as a half inch frag took about 8 months before I really had to frag it back. I took this pic right before I fragged him up again(real fast grower). The orange and purples grow a lot faster than any of the greens (Appleberry, Season Greetings, and the cap).

 

I have been experimenting with grafting them together but that's gonna take years. I'm curious how the capping, branching, and encrusting montis are going to grow together.

I never liked the grafted ones. Looks unnatural. Yours looked amazing.

Love the "peek a boo" of the pink through the purple!

Absolutely gorgeous.

What lighting were you using?

Wow, this is really fun to see! I'll look forward to watching a second grow-out now that these have been fragged!

Love the "peek a boo" of the pink through the purple!

Thanks! Since I have re-done it I tried to really mix them up together to get some interesting contrasts. Will try and get a new pic up soon. I also have started something similar with encrusting montis on the right side.

I never liked the grafted ones. Looks unnatural. Yours looked amazing.

Yeah some of them can look a little funky. And a little too rich for my blood lol. I've got champagne coral taste on a beer budget so I've gotta try and re-create what I can!

What lighting were you using?

AI Vega (White: 8% Violet: 65% Green: 15% Red: 15% Deep Blue: 65% Royal: 65% UV: 50%) for 8hrs a day with 2 hr ramp times for sunrise and sunset supplemented with 4 39w ATI fluorescent bulbs (2 Blue Plus, 1 Aqua Blue Special, 1 Purple Plus) running for 6 hrs a day.

I really noticed a difference once I added the fluorescents back on. With the way monti caps out and the way leds produce light you are inevitably going to end up with some shadowing which leads to dead spots. The fluorescents extend about an inch and a half on either side of the tank which help to get me a much more uniform light coverage.

On that note though I am seriously considering scrapping the whole setup and running a 150w metal halide with 2 ai primes on either side. Let there be light! That's down the road though.

Wow, this is really fun to see! I'll look forward to watching a second grow-out now that these have been fragged!

Will be sure to get some before pictures. I unfortunately lost all of my original pics of the tank when my phone was stolen. I may or may not have cried. Not because I lost the phone but because I lost my pictures :-(. Needless to say I auto backup everything now the second I take shots.