EASIEST ACRO: Is there such a thing as an "easy" acro?

Is there such a thing as an "easy" acro?

  • YES (tell us about it in the thread)

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ArtisticReef

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Green slimer has always been a go to easy coral for me.
The bright green looks good in any system, imo
My old 120 green slimer. Stags are one of my favorite type of coral.
20211231_145637.jpg
Agreed!
 

firechild

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Is there such thing as an Easy Acropora? Not really… what grows well in someone’s tank won’t always do well in yours. In general yes there are coral from SPS that will grow at some alarming rates once they settle. The same can be said with Acropora species. There are some such as Red Planets, Fox Flames, Most “Staghorns” that will just wreck havoc in the tank as they grow.
Many fast growing Acros are labelled as easy but I find that the colour of the chlorophyll (Well, the algae) really determines how easy each coral is. Certain coloured algae needs a different lighting PAR to remain happy and healthy.

What corals are easiest? The green, Green algae and chlorophyll is often much easier to care for as it can be under less lighting. Red chlorophyll often needs more lighting to be “happy”.
There is no different coloured algae, there are golden brown zooxanthellae. The colours of the corals are produced by the corals themselves. Bright colours are not necessarily a sign of "happiness" and in fact a more bland, brown looking coral may grow significantly faster (a sign of being "happy"?) because it does not need to spend energy producing protective pigments. Bright colours make us happy, not necessarily the corals. What we do is over expose the corals to light so much that they are forced to produce pigments to protect themselves and limit the light available to zooxanthellae which would otherwise over photosynthesise and cause damage to the coral, for example by changing the pH within the tissue.
 

Alexraptor

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It's an interesting question to be sure. Here's my current experience.
This spring I took my first serious foray into Acro's and got a maricultured efflo and tenuis. About a month back I ended up moving my tank across the room, and unfortunately it disturbed the system a bit too much. My fancy monti's are dying or losing color, and the rest are looking a little pale, but my two acros still look perfectly healthy and happy, solid colors and excellent polyp extension.
 

Seascapes

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Finishing up acro topics for the week so let's keep it simple....simple acros that is!

Is there such a thing as an "easy" acro? Do tell.

In your opinion what is the easiest acropora there is to keep alive and healthy?


image via @gws3
xfIgV22.jpg
Lately I can't seem to keep any coral since I moved to Texas. Sent in for an icp test and my MG is low while my CA is through the roof although I'm not dosing CA. Phosphates have been a issue with nitrates. Any recommendations besides water changes would be helpful. My fish, and snails are thriving. Lanthum Chloride causes my low iron glass to fog up so I haven't been dosing it anymore. I've gotten so discouraged with keeping coral since I moved. I did change out my chiller, maybe some metals were leaching somewhere. The tank does look clearer. Anybody want a used chiller that needs a thermostat locally in texas? It chills up to 180 gallons.
 

BoriReefer

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I saw it was mentioned already. But the Tri Color Valida is one I’d say is quite hardy indeed. I’ve seen them come back from the dead as well from the tiniest speck that remained.
 

Kathy Floyd

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they're all easy acros if the environment situated for them is right. however, many are unwilling to accept any changes and things become very difficult quickly.
Beginners shouldn't be too hard on themselves as every acropora you see in a successful reef tank that same hobbyist has killed it twice trying to get to that point lol
Thank you for this post.
 

bnord

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Have a green star light stag horn that has lived through two major mistakes in my tank and I have fragged and traded more pieces of this thing than anything else. and hosts a clown goby to boot
And I know pocci is not in Acropora, but man oh man I wish somebody would’ve told me never to put it in my tank. You can peel back green star polyp and pull up Xenia but have yet to figure out a way to kill the pocci pest
 

Susan Edwards

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In my tank, poccilipora and birds nest. I did just lose a big colony but I have a ton of frags on the sandbed...
 

i cant think

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There is no different coloured algae, there are golden brown zooxanthellae. The colours of the corals are produced by the corals themselves. Bright colours are not necessarily a sign of "happiness" and in fact a more bland, brown looking coral may grow significantly faster (a sign of being "happy"?) because it does not need to spend energy producing protective pigments. Bright colours make us happy, not necessarily the corals. What we do is over expose the corals to light so much that they are forced to produce pigments to protect themselves and limit the light available to zooxanthellae which would otherwise over photosynthesise and cause damage to the coral, for example by changing the pH within the tissue.
I meant the chlorophyll, also the zooxanthellae is what gives the polyps their colour. You have red chlorophyll and green chlorophyll, the other colours are produced by the coral I agree there.

I was tired when writing that post so it didn’t really make much sense.

Also, there are no coloured zooxanthellae, in reality it’s clear but the chlorophyll gives it the colour.
 
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Mark Novack

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Millipora, Yongei, Formosa are all very hardy. I am finding the majority of the aqua cultured to be quite easy too. The Tenuis seem to be more sensitive. The smooth skinned ocean specimens are the most difficult.
 

Loosechangereef

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My experience with sps , yes there are easier acros,
But it comes down to a old , maintained aquarium with alot of flow
and placement,
Plus you can put a easier or hardy acros or whatever sps in a tank they dont like something and they will still die,
So yeah there are hardy or easier sps but condtions have to be ideal.And when there is something off in established tank temporialy they will be ok
 

Loosechangereef

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ooo
My experience with sps , yes there are easier acros,
But it comes down to a old , maintained aquarium with alot of flow
and placement,
Plus you can put a easier or hardy acros or whatever sps in a tank they dont like something and they will still die,
So yeah there are hardy or easier sps but condtions have to be ideal.And when there is something off in established tank temporialy they will be ok
ooo and i forgot to mention alk cannot be off temporialy,sps dont like spikes i dont care how hardy it is.
 

Loosechangereef

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ooo

ooo and i forgot to mention alk cannot be off temporialy,sps dont like spikes i dont care how hardy it is.
Thats why tank looses power temporialy, or your heater knocked out during water changes for a day or even salinity off a little , hardy and acros always survived ,
Thats why your alkalinity has to be spot on,you need redundency when inputing 2 part(thats why we are always looking for perfect doser.
Alk spikes arent forgiving,
 

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ooo

ooo and i forgot to mention alk cannot be off temporialy,sps dont like spikes i dont care how hardy it is.
My KH will go through the roof from 9/10 to 12/13 due to sand being lifted by my wave maker. My SPS couldn’t care less (Actually it seems they grow faster). I have acros such as Granulosa, Tortuosa, Millepora, Yongei and an unknown species (I have yet to ask for an ID as it’s not got the best of growth/colour - He’s been in my new tank for about a Month along with the Yongei, Milli and two other SPS). All of my acros reacted badly to a spike in temperature though, in fact I lost more acros due to the temperatures than I have due to upgrading tanks and having KH “spikes”.
I’ve grown my SPS better than I ever have before with the KH going up every so often than I have when I keep everything stable.
 

Loosechangereef

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My KH will go through the roof from 9/10 to 12/13 due to sand being lifted by my wave maker. My SPS couldn’t care less (Actually it seems they grow faster). I have acros such as Granulosa, Tortuosa, Millepora, Yongei and an unknown species (I have yet to ask for an ID as it’s not got the best of growth/colour - He’s been in my new tank for about a Month along with the Yongei, Milli and two other SPS). All of my acros reacted badly to a spike in temperature though, in fact I lost more acros due to the temperatures than I have due to upgrading tanks and having KH “spikes”.
I’ve grown my SPS better than I ever have before with the KH going up every so often than I have when I keep everything stable.
i understand your success, and thank you for sharing i mean if a piece of equipment in my expierence went bad a a doser dumped buffer in one day alk goes from 7 to 10, and you catch it in a day and correct it, acros will still suffer
 

Loosechangereef

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i understand your success, and thank you for sharing i mean if a piece of equipment in my expierence went bad a a doser dumped buffer in one day alk goes from 7 to 10, and you catch it in a day and correct it, acros will still suffer
plus i never had problems with temp spikes on my 120in 90s had haildes with a chiller,
and now i have a water box 50 gl with leds heater never failed in the on postion
Like i said only if it( heater got knocked out of power strip after W\C tank went to 70 degrees acros didnt suffer
 

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i understand your success, and thank you for sharing i mean if a piece of equipment in my expierence went bad a a doser dumped buffer in one day alk goes from 7 to 10, and you catch it in a day and correct it, acros will still suffer
If alkalinity goes down in my experience that’s when they begin to suffer, if it goes up (And I do admit, sand doesn’t just instantly drop a bunch of KH into the water) they don’t suffer as badly unless it goes out of the 10-12 range from the 7-8 range within a few minutes.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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