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Originally Posted by clown shrimp  what do you need to successfully keep plating montipora coral? besides the bright light. |
Clown Shrimp in my personal opinion Monitpora Capricornis Plating Corals are some of the best SPS Starter Corals. Having an established tank (the longer the better) is a great step in the right direction to maintaining these species of Coral but but it is not a necessity. I have personally kept thriving Montipora Capricornis Corals in as little as one month. But please do not follow this as gospel since I have been in the hobby for quite some time and have tons of experience at maintaining Nano Reef Aquariums which require just that much more detail and caution then their larger counterparts. If I can provide you with a few recommendations toward their care process required for this species it would be the following.
1. Lighting: Although this particular species of Coral can survive under moderate lighting such as V.H.O. Lighting (Very High Output such as T5) you want your Coral to thrive. So as a recommendation Metal Halide Lighting is the way to go in my personal opinion. Just remember that there definitely is something as too much light so you have to be judicious when selecting the appropriate equipment for your lighting requirements. Take into considersation your overall Aquarium water volume, physical measurements such as depth and width, and also consider a chiller since Metal Halide Lighting has the associated affect of raising water temperatures especially in Nano Reef Aquariums.
2. Water Flow: No the key to success is definitely going to be strong to medium randomized flow. Montipora Capricornis Corals are extremely succeptable to display signs of Tissue Necrosis should a large piece of food or ditritus land on it and not be able to be removed by the passing current. This is also essential to allow nutrients to be passed over the polyps of the Coral from the water column. Even though the majority of their food source is going to come from the process of Photosynthesis and their relationship with the symbiotic algea within the Coral alittl extra feeding will never hurt. I personally use Cyclopeeze.
3.Water Parameters: Definitely maintaining your water parameters is something that I shouldn't have to remind you but for the sake of covering all our bases I'll go over that once again. Definitely make sure that your water temperature and other parameters such as Calcium, Phosphates and Alkalinity to name a few. As always the more prestine the water quality the better for all types of Corals. One major compenent to keep an eye one is Phosphates. If they are too high they will bond with the Calcium within the water and chemically lock the Calcium that that the Montirpora Capricornis and other SPS LPS Corals will not be able to percipitate Calcium which means no growth of extremely degraded growth.
Hope this helps if you need more information just let me know.