BoomCorals
2500 Club Member
I wanted to start a little segment for fun that would spotlight different corals, the story behind them, and in depth information about them. To start, I figured I'd spotlight the coral I get asked about the most - "Cliff's Acropora". It's a very unique looking acro and has a small backstory as well.
To start, let's take a look at the coral up close and personal. This coral is one of my favorites and I just love the colors. The base grows pink and green, while stalks are green with some yellow hues. The corallites are purple and new growth on the tips is a hot pink color. The polyps themselves are a very dark purple.
The coral is a fast grower, and once encrusted really starts to take off. Here you can see a frag I glued to this plug about 16 days ago, and it's already quite encrusted.
This coral can handle a variety of lighting. My frags are kept between 230-350 par under LED SB Reef Lights. This includes the two frags above. The mother colony (pics below) in my personal tank is kept under SB Reef Lights as well, but here it's getting closer to 400-450 par. So in the end 230-450 is a pretty big range. Under higher par the purples will get deeper and stronger, but under the lower end you'll see a bit more of the greens and yellows come out. For flow it is like any other SPS, it thrives under a lot of turnover. I wouldn't put it 4" in front of a powerhead, but it can take a ton of flow.
Here is a full 32 F stop image of my mother colony.
The story behind the name of the coral is pretty simple. It was named after the reefer who discovered it. But, you won't find this information on google! As it was told to me, it was a wild piece found by a Wisconsin Reef Society member named "Cliff". He started fragging it after some years and then more people grew it and fragged it. And that continued. If you ask most Wisconsin Reef Society members they'll tell you they know what Cliff's Acro is. But outside of the state, very few have heard of it or even seen it.
At this point my mother colony and my frags are all many many generations aquacultured as the coral has been in this area for many years now. The coral itself is quite hardy, and is great even for beginners. In one specific case it was the sole SPS to survive a local member's tank crash. It seems to thrive in a wide variety of parameters, and everything from ULNS to "dirty" waters with higher nitrate and phosphate.
That's all I have for you on "Cliff's Acropora"!
To start, let's take a look at the coral up close and personal. This coral is one of my favorites and I just love the colors. The base grows pink and green, while stalks are green with some yellow hues. The corallites are purple and new growth on the tips is a hot pink color. The polyps themselves are a very dark purple.
The coral is a fast grower, and once encrusted really starts to take off. Here you can see a frag I glued to this plug about 16 days ago, and it's already quite encrusted.
This coral can handle a variety of lighting. My frags are kept between 230-350 par under LED SB Reef Lights. This includes the two frags above. The mother colony (pics below) in my personal tank is kept under SB Reef Lights as well, but here it's getting closer to 400-450 par. So in the end 230-450 is a pretty big range. Under higher par the purples will get deeper and stronger, but under the lower end you'll see a bit more of the greens and yellows come out. For flow it is like any other SPS, it thrives under a lot of turnover. I wouldn't put it 4" in front of a powerhead, but it can take a ton of flow.
Here is a full 32 F stop image of my mother colony.
The story behind the name of the coral is pretty simple. It was named after the reefer who discovered it. But, you won't find this information on google! As it was told to me, it was a wild piece found by a Wisconsin Reef Society member named "Cliff". He started fragging it after some years and then more people grew it and fragged it. And that continued. If you ask most Wisconsin Reef Society members they'll tell you they know what Cliff's Acro is. But outside of the state, very few have heard of it or even seen it.
At this point my mother colony and my frags are all many many generations aquacultured as the coral has been in this area for many years now. The coral itself is quite hardy, and is great even for beginners. In one specific case it was the sole SPS to survive a local member's tank crash. It seems to thrive in a wide variety of parameters, and everything from ULNS to "dirty" waters with higher nitrate and phosphate.
That's all I have for you on "Cliff's Acropora"!
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