ACRO experts only! :)

lbaskball45 · #1 12/25/2006, 05:01 PM

Can any one of you acro experts tell me what type of acro this coral is and if it is healthy? I am saving it from the LFS as it was surely to die soon just like a few other SPS that was in their tank due to low/no light. They were running 150watts of PC in a 72gal tank. I decided to save it. It is now under 150watts of metal halides.

The picturres arnt so clear. In person, it is cream color and has bright green dots everywhere. There is no polp extention though. The temperture on the tank is at 79.7F I bought it for $35.00.

Can anyone give me any advice? I am new to SPS, this is my first SPS coral. Thanks.

reefman77 · #2 12/25/2006, 05:08 PM

what are your perameters?
what kind of equipment?
What size tank?

lbaskball45 · #3 12/25/2006, 05:12 PM

Ammonia 0, nitriate and nitrite 0. Ph at 8.24 Phosphate 0. Dont know what the magnesium is. Calcium a little high 480. Alk high. Salinity 1.025.Running 3 powerheads. rated at 160GPH each. Also running an external XP Filstar powerfilter rated at 270GPH. 14gal biocube. 150watts of metal halide and 24watts of 03 actinic. Chiller. Temp at 79.8

saltycreefer · #4 12/25/2006, 05:16 PM

You sound good to go!Just get your Alk down between 8-9. That coral looks pretty healthy to me. You may want to position it low in the tank for a few days to acclimate to the brighter light. Good luck with a nice coral!

lbaskball45 · #5 12/25/2006, 05:18 PM

Thanks. It is in the mid portion of my tank. I will lower it. Hopefully ill get some polp extensions.

reefman77 · #6 12/25/2006, 05:19 PM

If you keep your perameters stable, you should be fine.

also, check for polyp extention at night when the light are off. not all healthy coral extend polyps durring the day but almost all healthy coral will display polyp extention at night

lbaskball45 · #7 12/25/2006, 05:20 PM

By the way I just found this white little tiny crab on the acro. He has a white body, except on his legs, he has small black dots. but his whole body is white. Hope he is not eating the acro. There doesnt seem to be any damage to the coral where he is though.

lbaskball45 · #8 12/25/2006, 05:22 PM

does anyone know what type of an acro it is? So I can read up on them.

reefman77 · #9 12/25/2006, 05:27 PM

I dont know about an ID but on the coral but if the crab isnt fuzzy,its good. If its fuzzy, then Kill it.

spankey · #10 12/25/2006, 05:29 PM

Sorry, I can't help you there. I will tell you if this coral holds that color it will be gorgeous. I love the peach/orange coloration. Looks similar to a tortosa. Search for a tortosa and see if you can find some various colors. I know there is blue and yellowish tort. Is there an orangish peach one? I can't tell you for sure, but I will try to look to!

Nice coral. Wish you were closer so I could swap the ton of sps I am tring to unload

.. Good luck and keep an eye on your alk and calcium. Good lighting is very important, however stable parameters are key to anyone's sucess.....

Spankey

lbaskball45 · #11 12/25/2006, 05:29 PM

no its not fuzzy...thanks for replying to my post. Seems like you and the other person are the only acro experts on this site..haha.. merry christmas!

spankey · #12 12/25/2006, 05:34 PM

Acro's aren't fuzzy, you might be thinking of Millipopora's. They are fuzzy. That coral resembles a tort though. Put it this way, it looks exactly like my blue tort except my tort is blue and yours looks peach.

Search out peach tort and see what you can find....

Merry Chrismtas also to you west coast reefer!

reefman77 · #13 12/25/2006, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by spankey
Acro's aren't fuzzy, you might be thinking of Millipopora's.

I think he is talking about the crab

lbaskball45 · #14 12/25/2006, 05:39 PM

thanks spankey

lbaskball45 · #15 12/25/2006, 05:43 PM

I think I got ripped off. I found the same acro as mine on the interne for 20bucks. Here is a link. They dont say what type it is but they say "peach and green acro" basically same picture as mine. http://www.coraldynamics.com/acropora2.asp

lbaskball45 · #16 12/25/2006, 05:43 PM

If you scroll to the bottom of the page you will see

palawan · #17 12/25/2006, 06:04 PM

Well, looking at the web page, it called for a 1" frag for 20 bucks. It looks like you got a small colony which usually go for 40-80 bucks at a local LFS. The coral looks like a Cerealis to me.

dvanacker · #18 12/25/2006, 06:33 PM

The color is strange. It could be that is the way the coral should look in which case you just got a good deal on a rare piece or it could be that it has shifted colors and is unhealthy from its stay at the LFS.

In either case you will find out....... good luck.

parshmar · #19 12/25/2006, 10:44 PM

That is not the same coral.

I think your coral is an A. yongei

jay24k · #20 12/25/2006, 11:30 PM

That is not a slimer aka a. yongei. That looks more of a tort shape but it's hard to say. Once it grows out, you can tell a bit better. I have a tort that is solid yellow so if it is similiar, it might color up well. Don't be upset if it greens up first. Most corals will go from uncolorful/brown to green to the true color.

For 35 bucks, it's a nice price imo from a fish store.

lbaskball45 · #21 12/26/2006, 02:22 AM

The color of the acro is not brown. It is light cream peach color. And lots of green spots. Reefman told me to check for polp extention at night, I am guessing my coral is healthy because there is polp extention at night. They are green polps. Thanks for everybodys input. I will read up on ceralis to see if that is what it is.

lbaskball45 · #22 12/26/2006, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by palawan
Well, looking at the web page, it called for a 1" frag for 20 bucks. It looks like you got a small colony which usually go for 40-80 bucks at a local LFS. The coral looks like a Cerealis to me.

Your right on the money, they wanted 40 for this. But since most of their sps were dying (flesh was comming off) I told them this was the only one I could take a chance on and got it for 35 bucks. As you can see it has many branches. Every branch extends to about 3-4inches.

lbaskball45 · #23 12/26/2006, 02:32 AM

Here is another picture. Hope this helps in figuring out what type it is.

lbaskball45 · #24 12/26/2006, 02:45 AM

Im learning towards acro A. austera. I found a picture of one on google, except instead of it having flourescent green spots, it has purple spots.

jay24k · #25 12/26/2006, 10:41 AM

Under the right conditions, I'm betting that it is not the right color. IME, that color usually is associated with brown corals, or not very good conditions. If I see a tanner/peach/brown coral, nine times out of 10 it is different. I had a piece similiar to that full frag that was tan that I received from a local reefer. It is now a completely different piece. I'm not saying it can't be peach but I think it will surprise you.