Heart of the Ocean Acropora

[therman]

I was just reading your 40b thread on RC the other day. Beautiful tank!

It's pretty awesome that you can still find that and read about it. Would never be able to do that on social media...

 

[therman]

Both of those are great colonies. There’s a long list of SPS I wish I could still get my hands on today.

I do my best to hunt down a lot of old pieces/varieties too that I knew and loved. Just found one this week!

 

[jda]

You can still get all of these corals. You are just likely going to have to order them or make a special request since collectors, wholesalers and mari folks are cranking out rainbow tenuis now. Blue/white tenuis is still available on every wild collection sheet that I have seen. It isn't like the ocean doesn't have them anymore. Just remember that some of the reason why these have died out in captivity as care changed with lower/shorted spectrum, higher residual no3 and po4 to keep dinos/cyano at bay and smaller, less stable tanks are common. Captivity has selected some of these for limited hobbyists. It is not like they are not still beautiful or anything.

If you want them in captivity and not wild, you will have to seek beyond the internet. I have recently found some of the first generation of Tyree LEs (like back when he was not a joke) and it was a guy who has long lost the taste for participation in online stuff but had a wonderful tank. I met him through a friend. There is even some OG Leng Sy floating around Denver, but you usually have to go offline to find it too. Found some 20k and 30k too with real lineage. I even got some OG Purple People Eaters for a small softie tank that I started recently - I remember shipping these in thermos during the warmer months.

I still have not found any Soda Popinski for Tim, but I hope that he found some.

 

[djf91]

I do my best to hunt down a lot of old pieces/varieties too that I knew and loved. Just found one this week!

What did you get?

I’ve been looking for Acropora abrolhosensis for months now. The blue tipped variety with the cream/tan branches.

 

[djf91]

You can still get all of these corals. You are just likely going to have to order them or make a special request since collectors, wholesalers and mari folks are cranking out rainbow tenuis now. Blue/white tenuis is still available on every wild collection sheet that I have seen. It isn't like the ocean doesn't have them anymore. Just remember that some of the reason why these have died out in captivity as care changed with lower/shorted spectrum, higher residual no3 and po4 to keep dinos/cyano at bay and smaller, less stable tanks are common. Captivity has selected some of these for limited hobbyists. It is not like they are not still beautiful or anything.

If you want them in captivity and not wild, you will have to seek beyond the internet. I have recently found some of the first generation of Tyree LEs (like back when he was not a joke) and it was a guy who has long lost the taste for participation in online stuff but had a wonderful tank. I met him through a friend. There is even some OG Leng Sy floating around Denver, but you usually have to go offline to find it too. Found some 20k and 30k too with real lineage. I even got some OG Purple People Eaters for a small softie tank that I started recently - I remember shipping these in thermos during the warmer months.

I still have not found any Soda Popinski for Tim, but I hope that he found some.

From where? Livestock USA?

 

[djf91]

Some of the European websites still have amazing selections.

 

[therman]

What did you get?

I’ve been looking for Acropora abrolhosensis for months now. The blue tipped variety with the cream/tan branches.

It used to be called AV99 Voodoo, was a nice slow tight growing acro with deep indigo tips and fluorescent yellow in every corallite. They came in once in a while maybe 15 years ago. Haven't seen it available in a long time:

 

[Zaireguy]

Man that is a must have!!!

 

[Graffiti Spot]

From where? Livestock USA?

I used to order from him sometimes, no issues and I wouldn’t expect any to have come up in the meantime. I would suggest anyone with the correct system for imports to give him a shot if you don’t have your own permits.

I wanna see some updated hoto pics!

 

[Graffiti Spot]

It used to be called AV99 Voodoo, was a nice slow tight growing acro with deep indigo tips and fluorescent yellow in every corallite. They came in once in a while maybe 15 years ago. Haven't seen it available in a long time:

I remember this coming in figi boxes (or could have been Bali or both) a while back. The pink in the tank raised section on the left is sweet looking. Just shows how lots of these wild corals turn out even better once growing well in a tank.

What did you get?

I’ve been looking for Acropora abrolhosensis for months now. The blue tipped variety with the cream/tan branches.

Do you have a pic of this variant your looking for? I know of the green with orange/pink axials. All the deeper green with blue tipped images I see online look like a much different growing variant than the orange tip which gets thick very long growing branches. Very curious if the one your talking about has these large long branches as well.

 

[djf91]

I remember this coming in figi boxes (or could have been Bali or both) a while back. The pink in the tank raised section on the left is sweet looking. Just shows how lots of these wild corals turn out even better once growing well in a tank.



Do you have a pic of this variant your looking for? I know of the green with orange/pink axials. All the deeper green with blue tipped images I see online look like a much different growing variant than the orange tip which gets thick very long growing branches. Very curious if the one your talking about has these large long branches as well.

I actually picked up a frag of the green/pink tip variety, but yes my holy grail would still be the blue tip or something close.

.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I remember that article now. Yea if you can find some of that variant please let me know so I can grab a frag when I get going again. A second best to that coral would be the same color pattern on the acropora aspera. I love that coral almost as much.

 

[jda]

I started a auction thread on reef2reef for a piece of HOTO.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/heart-of-the-ocean-hoto-acropora-auction-end-08-02-2023.993151/

 

[jda]

One day left for the auction. For all of the people who write me for a frag when I do not have one, this is your chance.

 

[JCOLE]

 

[Kayvon]

How much light is everyone putting this under? Does it seem finnicky or about as durable as an acropora can be?

 

[IKD]

How much light is everyone putting this under? Does it seem finnicky or about as durable as an acropora can be?

Mine is around 250-300 and grows as hardy as other acropora I have like Fox Flame, Oregon Tort, Maleficent, Froot Loops, etc. It is a slow grower though

 

[jda]

250w HQI about 8 inches under the water from a fixture about 4-5 inches off of the tank. I have not measured in a while, but probably 600-750 PAR of MH for me... which is more in the 800-850 LED PAR range. They can handle some light, but they don't likely need it. It grows faster with more light for me - the frags on the lower part of the tank do not grow as fast.

 

[BCSreef]

300-600 under LEDs. For me it seems to grow a bit faster at the lower end. Although, could be flow related, etc. As IKD stated, seems pretty hardy.