Chalice and Monti together in harmony?

[irahmatulla]

Hi there! I always enjoy seeing monti cap swirls from larger colonies, or when people glue them to mag floats and grow them off the back wall of the tank. I am getting ready to start a Sps domination tank, and am wondering how well it would go if I do very minimal bonsai style rocks with more plating texture on the back wall for textural and great color difference. My questions is I guess, can you grow a tabling style acro off of a wall, or even a chalice? Or I have seen GSP and zoa's growing up and across a back wall, could you take something encrusting, such as a non cap monti, or chalice and glue several frags to the back wall and have them grow together? Anyone with experience, or photo's to share? I am looking for something a little more unique than your typical sps tank.

 

[frantz]

I've not tried it, but here is my concern. Weight. When stony corals attach to rocks they can actually grow into the pores of the rock. Glass won't have that structure. I know nature does some pretty amazing things so I won't say it can't be done, but I feel as the colonies grow out they will fall down. Also, how do you plan on keeping the color/life in lower colonies? Seems like only the edges and top plate will get light. Though, I think the idea itself sounds very pleasing to look at! Maybe some more experience knows ways around it.

 

[irahmatulla]

Frantz;791464 wrote: Also, how do you plan on keeping the color/life in lower colonies? Seems like only the edges and top plate will get light. Though, I think the idea itself sounds very pleasing to look at! Maybe some more experience knows ways around it.

I understand some of the lower colonies may have die off towards the furthest corners that will be shaded. However, I feel that if planned properly and the lower colonies are faster growers or higher colonies are added later on success could be had. I also think growth patterns are what would change success. Monti cap would have to go a little bit lower and as it swirls out I am thinking some chalices colonies could be cut in half and then glued to the back so they plate outwards. (it is my understanding that most chalice grow slower than monti). And then same with a small to medium sized colony (or two) of tabling acro at the top. The shade did concern me, that is why I was curious if I could somehow just get a chalice to grow all on the back wall. The tank I am considering this experiment has almost the entire back wall encrusted with coraline algae. I wonder if that would be enough texture/calcium to anchor to? But the possibilities and pro/cons are what I want to hear about that is why I put this in general discussion.