Does this Micromussa look happy or stressed?

Strawberry · Oct 9, 2019

I recently started a reeftank and I am trying to find a happy place for this coral. I’ve read that they like low flow and light, but I turned the whites up to get a decent pic. One article I read said that they try to reproduce when stressed and another said when they’re happy. What do you guys think?

DMG Reef · Oct 9, 2019

I think it looks great. You are correct that acans do best in lower light/flow. My acans are in a corner of my tank out of direct light and they reproduce regularly.

Strawberry · Oct 9, 2019

Kattkrazie said:
I think it looks great. You are correct that acans do best in lower light/flow. My acans are in a corner of my tank out of direct light and they reproduce regularly.

Should I place it on the bottom of my tank? I’ve got it placed on a rock opposite from my wave maker. I’m sure it’s getting some indirect flow but not a lot. I’m just trying to make sure it’s right before I glue it down.

DMG Reef · Oct 9, 2019

Strawberry said:
Should I place it on the bottom of my tank? I’ve got it placed on a rock opposite from my wave maker. I’m sure it’s getting some indirect flow but not a lot. I’m just trying to make sure it’s right before I glue it down.

Acans can handle all light levels. But in my experience, putting rainbow acans up on the rocks, close to the light, made them turn orange. The rainbow colors returned when I moved them out of direct light.

So you can place them up higher as long as you aren't concerned with a possible color shift.

Strawberry · Oct 9, 2019

Kattkrazie said:
Acans can handle all light levels. But in my experience, putting rainbow acans up on the rocks, close to the light, made them turn orange. The rainbow colors returned when I moved them out of direct light.

So you can place them up higher as long as you aren't concerned with a possible color shift.

I will keep an eye on the color and keep that in mind. The rock it is on is kind of curved and creates a small shady area, I thought it’d be neat if it would cover. Thanks for your advice!

AdamB · Oct 9, 2019

That is true about rainbow acans turning orange if under too strong light. I had 7 various acans on sand bed of my 80 gallon shallow deep blue tank that turned to more orange under my 2 Al hydra 26’s. I’ve move them to the outside corners hoping not to have all orange acans... My acans have grown a lot and are plump for sure ..I would keep an eye on them and put them in a shadier place ..

Strawberry · Oct 9, 2019

AdamB said:
That is true about rainbow acans turning orange if under too strong light. I had 7 various acans on sand bed of my 80 gallon shallow deep blue tank that turned to more orange under my 2 Al hydra 26’s. I’ve move them to the outside corners hoping not to have all orange acans... My acans have grown a lot and are plump for sure ..I would keep an eye on them and put them in a shadier place ..

I don’t really have a lot of shade or overhangs, but I posted a picture where you can kind of see the plug on the rock. It’s shadier there than just in the open sandbed.

AdamB · Oct 9, 2019

Yes , I see it now. Don’t know what kind of lighting your running but if that’s it appears you picked a good spot if that’s the shadiest part. I have my acans on the front outside corners of tank where the par is less and hopefully acans will revert back to original color
I think color has to do some with what you feed too. I need to research more about that as well..

AdamB · Oct 9, 2019

More orange acans ..

Strawberry · Oct 9, 2019

AdamB said:
Yes , I see it now. Don’t know what kind of lighting your running but if that’s it appears you picked a good spot if that’s the shadiest part. I have my acans on the front outside corners of tank where the par is less and hopefully acans will revert back to original color
I think color has to do some with what you feed too. I need to research more about that as well..

I am using an AI Prime, still not really sure about spectrum and blues vs whites and all that Jazz. I am currently feeding mine reefroids and it seems to like it. It always has a good feeding response and I’ve heard that reefroids are easy for them to digest due to it being such small particles.

Steven Garland · Oct 13, 2019

From my past experiences with Rainbow Acan's above 150ish par,they loose the "rainbow" and turn red or orange. For my frags,optimal par for pristine rainbow was about 100-125.

Strawberry · Oct 13, 2019

Steven Garland said:
From my past experiences with Rainbow Acan's above 150ish par,they loose the "rainbow" and turn red or orange. For my frags,optimal par for pristine rainbow was about 100-125.

Does moving them to better lighting return color? I think this one was red and blue when I purchased it.

Steven Garland · Oct 13, 2019

In my experience yes. I also fed the daylights out of my colonies too. 2-3 times a week with LPS Max,ReefRoids and Red Sea Amino's A & B mixed in a shot glass and spot fed every polyp/head.

The Aquatic Arsenal · Oct 13, 2019

They look happy to me. Have you spot fed them at all? They do love that

Strawberry · Oct 13, 2019

Steven Garland said:
In my experience yes. I also fed the daylights out of my colonies too. 2-3 times a week with LPS Max,ReefRoids and Red Sea Amino's A & B mixed in a shot glass and spot fed every polyp/head.

I am only using reefroids but they have a good feeding response. I feed almost every day.