Watch This Before You Get Montipora | Dark Side of Montis!

[@fuffoon]

Dude, it is still a beautiful coral. Very striking. Frankly, you just need a bigger tank!!! Eh? Eh?

[@josephposada1830]

Alex, You are impeccable as always. Thank You for these wonderful presentations. You are an awesome ambassador to this hobby

[@tampabayaquaculture]

You have one of the largest lepto's ive ever seen there. Love it.

[@tmac1072]

Love this. I still consider myself a newbie at the one year mark, but my goal is to reach the point where I have these kind of problems. My montipora capricornis is showing some good growth which encourages me that I'm doing things right and providing good conditions for my reef tank. I've learned a lot from your veteran insights. Thank you.

[@dR3ws3r]

Thanks for that. I'm new to the hobby and have never seen something practical (real world problem eradication) like this. Enjoyed the video.

[@leeleecee4689]

I am dealing with the dark side of the Pavona. I have a beautiful and huge colony of Green monti dig, well I had put a Pavona a bit to close years ago and now they are doing battle. I have found aptasia X works to bleach out areas of the coral that are trying to plate over to each other. I have been able to make barriers and just keep them at bay from one another and allow them to branch out in the opposite direction from each other.

[@opethmike]

I'd like to know - how many Reefdorks could Reefdork reefdork if Reefdork could reefdork reefdorks?

[@artistic_spaz3724]

Guess this is why you should plan your corals instead of impulse buying in your lfs!! Thanks for sharing!! I will certainly heed your advice

[@clarkeyscichlids7430]

Always love your vids! Please never stop! I love 3pm on a Friday. I do have a question though... We're you about to go to the beach in the 1900's? You just needed a handkerchief with a knot tied in each corner on your head 🤣

[@ReefDork]

🤣🤣

[@vincentlong6254]

I'm in the same boat in regards to removing Monti, I had taken their aggressiveness into consideration though, Most of my montis are digis and are on their own island, the Problem is they have grown so big and as a result, they are consuming massive amounts of alk and trace elements That I would rather be using on my acros, I have decided to sell all the colonies and use the real estate for slower-growing acro frags.

[@bencobb3433]

Cool video Alex, is a shame though as the tropic thunder is a stunning coral but needs must

[@aaronfoss8956]

Nerve racking.. good job!

[@finickybits8055]

Ok, but “all mouth and no trousers” caught me off-guard, and is hilarious good fun for us filthy Continentals!

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

Tropic thunder is my fastest growing montipora I have trained mine to out grow a frag rack and is now on the glass

[@pauldeacon8764]

Well done Alex, as always! 😀👍👍

[@ReefDork]

Thanks Paul, appreciate the support 🙏

[@markvargus6519]

This video has convinced me to avoid Montipora or any other plating corals. I don't care for the look and its clear that they can be very difficult to control if they start growing wildly.

[@allanguy1297]

I am using a latest version 1.02 reef delete to clean up rogue corals . This would work on the small bits left .

[@rudra7615]

That was no rescue mission, it was a demolition job! Keen to see what the rock will become.

[@jarich81]

Yeah, never put a Monti in the upper part of a reef. Learned the same hard lesson. In the lower third of a SPS/ Mixed Tank, their growth is much more manageable.

[@kc4lfe135]

I would Love some of that in my tank

[@alchemist604]

I hate my sunset and rainbow, I kept them at bay with death juice and now on separate islands, wonder if you could slowly eradicate with death juice on something this size…?

[@xisotopex]

so those pieces of the montipora are basically frags, correct?

[@twjr2855]

So probably best to put the montipora somewhere by itself on an island

[@enzomontini758]

Could you of removed the acros put the ttm rock in another tank and had more time to frag

[@ReefDork]

I really like the shape of the rock and I wasn't really bothered about the monti tbh

[@Flannery164]

Hello reef dork thank you for all the info you give us. I have my first monti and within a month it got a bunch of white fuzz all over it almost looks like cotton maybe not that thick but similar. Any ideas on what it could be? PAR is at about 100 and all parameters are fine. Only thing was my salt was at like .30 and I have since lowered it to .25. All my Zoas are doing great.

[@ReefDork]

Forums and FB groups are better places to diagnose problems like this, but if your salinity was significantly off, that's probably the cause. I'm not sure what .30 refers to but if you mean 1.030 then that's way too high and you've done the right thing by bringing it down to 1.025 (as long as you did so slowly).

[@so_so_reef]

So if you could go back in time, do you think you’d have avoided the monti altogether or did you enjoy it whilst things were good? I feel like it’s nice to change things up every now and again anyway.

[@ReefDork]

It's a lovely coral and I definitely enjoyed it, but it only took 6 months or so to start being a problem so I won't make the same mistake again. Be a good coral to have on its own island.

[@bobpurcell3814]

Once you removed the coral, what do you do with it? General garbage with your trash?

[@ReefDork]

Managed to save a few bits but the rest went in the bin 🙁

[@svenvanderzwaag1012]

This is why just like gsp it is smart to put encrusting monti on its own rock

[@TomSounds]

Frag => sell => repeat

[@Eunos_FD3S]

As I always say “corals will only take over if you let it.” These “take overs” take months, if not, years. Not even GSP will have a chance vs a hobbyist with a solid vision and plan.

[@northeastcorals]

I couldn't agree more, you don't plant a nice garden & then not expect to have to do gardening! Like a garden, your mini reef will need tending to with pruning & weeding etc to look the way you want it to. Some corals grow faster than others but they all want to "take over" if they can.

[@Nippa1988]

Where did you get the cover from? I've got one the same but can't remove the center sections. That's an awesome feature to have have

[@ReefDork]

London Aquatic design - I asked for it specifically after seeing it on Prestige Reef...

[@magalimckay4685]

Have you ever tried growing montipora on the back wall of you tank?

[@ReefDork]

I have another tropic thunder growing up my weir 😢😂

[@elizabethwatson71]

Really cute accent, and I can understand most of the words. My real question is….are you on a time limit for how long the video van be? It seems as if you are trying to get almost all your words in a matter of minutes. Or a car full of fan-girls after a “Stray Kids” concert. If you don’t have any limits or constraints, please slow down. I’ve watched most of your vids, and if I need to take noted to take notes I have to pause the vid every few seconds. Thanks.

[@opethmike]

He seems perfectly fine to me.

[@dominicpowell3867]

So how do we get a some of that monti 👀

[@hotmehl]

Any updates on the acros that were showing signs of stress?

[@ReefDork]

They're getting worse...

[@MADTrollsReefTanks]

Did you frag the tropic thunder and sell them?

[@ReefDork]

Yep

[@scottyjackson6665]

Will a montipora spread if its on a rock surrounded by sand?

[@ReefDork]

Yes but it'll be easier to remove

[@brianredban9393]

Take that lepto off to it grows like a weed. I have a Jason Fox jack-o-lantern I can't give away

[@ThisIsMyUsername01]

did anyone else spot the little dogs head at 5:10 in the video?

[@chrisdonohue1607]

I leave all my corals grown into each other

[@MrDon967]

damn no graphic content warning heheh someone call peter

[@peterreid5315]

Don't mean to intrude on your business buy you should probably get that mark on your arm checked by a doctor.

[@ReefDork]

My left bicep? It's a birthmark...

[@peterreid5315]

@@ReefDork oh ok no worries.

[@dereks3207]

encrusting corals are THE WORST. never. again.

[@cclearlandscaping1931]

I know I keep saying but I still really want some of that monti can you send me some if I pay for postage please

[@ReefDork]

Probs not at the moment I'm afraid...

[@cclearlandscaping1931]

@@ReefDork okay thanks anyway 👍🏻

[@cclearlandscaping1931]

@@ReefDork okay thanks anyway 👍🏻

[@theamjadjamousable]

The foxface is so skinny man. 🙂

[@enzomontini758]

First