Question for JDA regarding sensitive acros

[Miami Reef]

I’ve seen a few post of yours like this:

There are some acropora that will start to suffer with po4 and .1 and no3 and 5. Some will die if you double this. Some do not mind or care at all. You CANNOT lump all corals in together with these kinds of discussions.

Can you name me some of these finicky acropora species/names?

I’m looking to try some difficult acropora to see if I can keep them in my tank.

Yes, I like challenges. I keep my nutrients low btw.

I’m specifically looking for acropora that won’t thrive in higher nutrient tanks (in your opinion).

 

[Miami Reef]

@jda

 

[jda]

Most smoothies - RMF Red Gecko is a good one along with the 10k and 20k Lokani, skinny love. Purple Monster. Pink Panther. Most true solis. Most efflos. Most true hyacinths tables - these can grow for a while, but colonies are different. Ice Fire Echinata. Many spaths. Real ORA Pearlberry is in this class for me, but there are so many fakes people get mad at me for notion of it either being more difficult or them having a fake.

If a coral has been around for 10+ years and is still a few hundred dollars for a frag, that is a good place to start.

Most don't need to be have super low waste products, just the notion that higher levels of waste products are good for "coral" is wholesale inaccurate. Most of the threads where I post this are wanting to offer some nuance that not all coral are the same.

Each of these has exceptions. In general, smoothies care for water around NSW, but Hawkins is pretty easy and so are most of the dragons. There are also some Rainbow Tenuis that are quite hard for folks who keep higher levels of waste products - around me, RMF Lucky Charms comes to mind where many have failed with it with no3 and po4 at higher levels.

Lastly, I don't care about getting a frag from .75 to 1.5 inches. I want to see colonies. I think that we all know that frags, teen-moms and colonies all have different levels of care, but I don't consider a coral to show it true colors until it hits 4 to 6 inches.

I feel that some of these need super high light, as well... but we can leave this out for now.

 

[RockBox13]

This man @jda knows his stuff. I’m very proud of this hyacinthus that was a maricultured piece the size of a tennis ball when I placed it there. I’m really partial to table Acros like the efflos, solis, plana, and the deepwater tables like a lokani, granulosa or my favorite the caroliniana!

 

[areefer01]

I don't understand the efflo coral. I have one pushing 12" across and my phosphate is 1.7 ppm.

 

[RockBox13]

I don't understand the efflo coral. I have one pushing 12" across and my phosphate is 1.7 ppm.

Beautiful

 

[CBonito]

This man @jda knows his stuff. I’m very proud of this hyacinthus that was a maricultured piece the size of a tennis ball when I placed it there. I’m really partial to table Acros like the efflos, solis, plana, and the deepwater tables like a lokani, granulosa or my favorite the caroliniana!

Beautiful, and I totally agree! Tabling growth form Acros are one of my favorites.

 

[RockBox13]

I don't understand the efflo coral. I have one pushing 12" across and my phosphate is 1.7 ppm.

It’s pretty tolerant of higher light even though it comes from deeper parts of a natural reef. It just gets better looking with more light, up to a point of course. Yours reminds me of the Greg Carroll Ultimate Efflo right off the page of Reef Builders feature on it! https://reefbuilders.com/2014/01/23/ultimate-efflo/

 

[areefer01]

It’s pretty tolerant of higher light even though it comes from deeper parts of a natural reef. It just gets better looking with more light, up to a point of course. Yours reminds me of the Greg Carroll Ultimate Efflo right off the page of Reef Builders feature on it! https://reefbuilders.com/2014/01/23/ultimate-efflo/

Thanks. I was not aware of their normal reef habitat. Appreciate the information.

 

[jda]

We saw efflo out of the water at low tide and inches below the water during the rest of the day. IME, there is nothing deep about deepwater acros, or any acropora... nearly everything that we have in our tanks are collected in one breath.

This is not my photo, but it looked something like this:

 

[areefer01]

We saw efflo out of the water at low tide and inches below the water during the rest of the day. IME, there is nothing deep about deepwater acros, or any acropora... nearly everything that we have in our tanks are collected in one breath.

This is not my photo, but it looked something like this:

Thanks for the information. Now it gets me thinking about how are table acroporas normally placed in home aquariums...

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Interesting thread and idea. Would be keen to see how your experiment plays out.