Acro ID

[JaaxReef]

Can anybody ID this species of Acro? It’s in about 220 par and growing fast and looking beautiful. Got a tiny one branch frag in in the $10 bin at the LFS as a brown test acro a year ago. It has grown a lot and has a nice blue color with green growth at the base. It also has green at the tip of corallites and polyps. Almost looks smooth like a deep water species, but seems to do well in fairly high light in my mixed tank. Really lucked out with it, but wondering what species it is (though any guesses on common trade names are welcome too).

Thanks!

 

[JaaxReef]

Can anybody ID this species of Acro? It’s in about 220 par and growing fast and looking beautiful. Got a tiny one branch frag in in the $10 bin at the LFS as a brown test acro a year ago. It has grown a lot and has a nice blue color with green growth at the base. It also has green at the tip of corallites and polyps. Almost looks smooth like a deep water species, but seems to do well in fairly high light in my mixed tank. Really lucked out with it, but wondering what species it is (though any guesses on common trade names are welcome too).

Thanks!

White light photo:

 

[lemonade]

Looks like A. Valida

 

[JaaxReef]

Looks like A. Valida

Could be!

 

[ClownSchool]

I bought this two days ago. They called it Blue Monster. Though I see a little polyp extension on the body, there isn’t any at the tips. Is that normal? And, does anyone have par light and flow advice?

 

[JaaxReef]

I bought this two days ago. They called it Blue Monster. Though I see a little polyp extension on the body, there isn’t any at the tips. Is that normal? And, does anyone have par light and flow advice?

Looks healthy to me! Polyp extension is a bit of a subjective mystery. You’ll hear all sorts of varied advice and what works in one tank doesn’t in others. Not sure there are any golden rules or any black and white advice to provide. Stability and leaving it alone once it has acclimated is the best advice I have. Ha!

As far as light and flow:
Have you had success with other acros in your tank before? I usually start them right where I want them in my mixed tank because the top of my rocks is no more than 250 par and gets a lot of varied water flow. As they grow upwards, they get more light. If you have much stronger lights, you might want to acclimate them starting in the sand or a frag rack with lower light for a bit and move it up a little bit every 1-2 weeks to see how it reacts.

 

[ClownSchool]

Looks healthy to me! Polyp extension is a bit of a subjective mystery. You’ll hear all sorts of varied advice and what works in one tank doesn’t in others. Not sure there are any golden rules or any black and white advice to provide. Stability and leaving it alone once it has acclimated is the best advice I have. Ha!

As far as light and flow:
Have you had success with other acros in your tank before? I usually start them right where I want them in my mixed tank because the top of my rocks is no more than 250 par and gets a lot of varied water flow. As they grow upwards, they get more light. If you have much stronger lights, you might want to acclimate them starting in the sand or a frag rack with lower light for a bit and move it up a little bit every 1-2 weeks to see how it reacts.

All my recent success has been with montis. I bought a hybrid and seen an increase in the number polyps and a little growth in the first month, so I thought I’d give the Blue Monster and a Walt Disney acro a try. My lighting is a mix of two LED fixtures - a Marineland lensed light for peak hours and a Fluval programmable. I only started reefing in March and now have three tanks, so I’m holding off until Christmas to really invest in lights. Then, if I can keep things growing, I’ll invest in a larger system to consolidate the three tanks sometime next summer.

 

[JaaxReef]

Update on the weird deep blue smooth skin Acro I bought as a single branch brown frag for $10 at the LFS. Probably my favorite mini colony in the tank now. Definitely not a Valida based on corallites and growth. Still not sure what it is.