Jestersix

Classroom Monti Cap Growout Invitation

MolaMola

Supporting Member
The following is a message from my marine science class. If anyone is interested in participating, please respond and if you attend the frag swap I can bring the frags there...
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Hello, reef tank people! We are in the second class ever of Marine Science at Sequoia Middle School. We are doing a coral frag growing experiment and invite you to repeat it.
We are investigating if Montipora capricornis of different colors will grow and twist together and what it will look like if they grow at different rates. Class #1 thought of this experiment and we glued the frags. We call the combinations:
mc2 (squared) = purple and red
mc3 (cubed) = purple, red, and green
The green one grows the slowest for us. We glued frags of mc corals to bases and put them in our frag tank to protect them from urchins. Of course you can grow the frags however you like and change the positions! Our teacher said some people take frags off in case pests are on the base. If you want to repeat our experiment and try to make yours grow together, please try to take a picture in the future or tell us your results by our teacher Ms. Horne at hornem@mdusd.org or another way. We will grow them out in 2 tanks at school if you want to compare with us.
This is a slow kind of experiment. It might grow slowly and some of us will go to high school after this year, but some will be in 8th grade next year and will tell Class #3 how to keep the experiment going.
Our teacher will attach the photos we took of the mc corals and what the frags look like so you know what we are doing.
Thank you,
Marine Science Class #2
 

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I'd be up for the challenge. Is there an end to the experiment or will it run indefinitely? We can do the normal 1 photo per month to judge growth and perhaps end it after 1 year.
 
Both my green and pink in previous tank grew fast, but differently. Green grew vertical, and pink horizontal. Most likely placement, maybe flow too, and lighting.
 
Very cool experiment, and super cool teacher doing this! :D

Glad to see there are some good tanks that could make sure this goes well. I couldn't don't it because I would feel bad if they ended up dying in my tank :D
 
I'd be up for the challenge. Is there an end to the experiment or will it run indefinitely? We can do the normal 1 photo per month to judge growth and perhaps end it after 1 year.
Just saw the class and they are very pleased someone will try their experiment. Monthly photo for a year sounds great! You can also stop at any time because I know tank real estate is at a premium.
 
@MolaMola am I the only one that is doing this great experiment? Here's my starting pic.

IMG_4297.JPG


They've settled in nicely and colored up. The red one I placed more vertically and the green more horizontal to see if that has any effect on growth too. My hypothesis is that since the green one is more perpendicular to the light that it will be able to absorb more light and grow faster. You said that in your classroom the green was the slower grower so if it out grows the red it would be an indication that my hypothesis is correct.

Do you have pics of your classroom ones for comparison?

This video gives a better idea of how they are positioned.
 
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I still have my MC^3 experiment... so far the red monti is growing over the green monti. By growing over, I don't mean shading it, you can see the red monti grows right on top of the green, kills and fuses with it - so much for a monti swirl. I think you'd have to start them far enough away from each other that one couldn't totally overtake the other; otherwise since the "top" monti wins by growing over the top of the other, you want to put your favorite monti higher up. The purple monti broke off and is growing back on the original plug and safely elsewhere the red monti can't reach it.
2eefa52111c13e282fdd1318977bd04e.jpg
 
Unfortunately, I moved my frag to a rack in the back and the frag slid off to the bottom and back of the tank upside down where I couldn't get to it.
 
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