How can I stop a Monti and SPS war?

[Reef Pilot]

I have a Sunset Monti that is getting a little aggressive. It is running into a nice Bonsai SPS, and the SPS is losing. How can I stop it?

I have had SPS run into each other, and they just seem to form a border with no major harm, and each seems to respect the others space (unless it got there first). But this Monti is encroaching further on the SPS, and if I don't do something, I fear the SPS might will lose out.

I was thinking of getting something sharp, like a coral scalpel and try to scrape or chip off the Monti where it is encroaching. Will this work? Or are there better methods?

[reefermadness]

oh your Bonsai will lose. Encrusting montipora pack a punch. What I do is cover it with epoxy.

[Reef Pilot]

OK, thanks. I will try that, too.

[Reef Pilot]

Well, I did a little scraping and created a small "neutral" zone between them. Interesting how the the monti pulled in all its polyps, even inches away. I guess they are all connected inside and do communicate.

Should buy me a little time, while I plan a relocation for the SPS, or the monti. I also have a pink milli nearby that will soon be in conflict, too. I can't keep doing this, that's for sure, as bound to get many accidental frags as I run out of room to get in there.

I never realized these monti's can be such a menace. I should have placed this one somewhere else, away from any SPS. Lesson learned.

I do like the look of this Sunset Monti, though, very bright,... just need to find a better place for it.

[kien]

I'm with Darryl on this one. It sounds like a great opportunity to lay down a strip of epoxy between the monti and the bonsai. Allow the monti to encrust over the epoxy "buffer/neutral zone" and then take the epoxy off and sell it as a frag! Then lay down another one. That's what I do. You can even smother the monti where it is touching the bonsai and it'll just grow over the epoxy.

[Reef Pilot]

Yes, that is just what I was thinking, too, and will do that as my next step. I am just letting the slime/threads clear from the moat right now, and maybe do some more scraping before laying down some epoxy.

How much light do these monti's need? Right now this one (Sunset Monti) is near the top of a rock (prime SPS territory), and is nice and bright. If I remove/move it down lower, will it still retain its color? The reason I ask, is that I do have another Poker Star Monti lower down that doesn't get as much light, and really isn't very colorful, even though it is growing and expanding. Is that because of location, or just the type of monti?

[lastlight]

I used to use a dental pic in my 400 to keep a gap between colonies. Making frags is more work but it pays too.

[spit.fire]

Solution: bigger tank

[saltcreep]

Call Dennis Rodman....

[Werbo]

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=96724

I had the same problem and relocated my sunset monti to its own rock on the sand bed.
It has always been in the lower 1/3 of my tank (under 250W MH) and kept it's bright color.