ORA Premium Acropora Pack Journal

Bouncingsoul39 · Mar 21, 2019

I received this ORA Acro pack yesterday from Live Aquaria. I will use this thread to document their growth and color under the newer @noopsyche K7 Pro II LED lights. I’m was pleasantly surprised by the size of these frags. As you can see, they’re pretty large frags by today’s standards except for the Red Planet which is a 3/4” nubbin.
ORA Joe the Coral

ORA Marshall Island Blue Bottle Brush browned out in transit

ORA Red Planet

ORA Laura’s Purple Polyp

ORA Marshall Island Yellow Fuzzy Acro

ORA Hawkins Blue Echinata

There was supposed to be a ORA Purple Plasma in the pack but they pulled the wrong coral ended up with some ugly brown thin branch stag with green polyps. Not sure the name and I’ll just leave it out. They gave me a credit for it without much fuss nicely. A sweet bonus is that both of the Marshall Islands have super tiny little Acro crabs in them. The good kind. As my wife says “ I love the little things” and these are no exception. They’re about the size of half a grain of rice.

Bpb · Mar 21, 2019

I really like how large of frags ORA sends. Nice haul

DesertReefT4r · Mar 21, 2019

Very nice. ORA has always had great corals at a great price and you normally get a 3/4-2" frag. We used to see a lot of ORA corals locally but not any more which makes nomsense due to the low supply of wild collection, low price of ORA, and the quality of animals the ORA aquacultures.

BestMomEver · Mar 21, 2019

Nice!

Bouncingsoul39 · Mar 21, 2019

DesertReefT4r said:
Very nice. ORA has always had great corals at a great price and you normally get a 3/4-2" frag. We used to see a lot of ORA corals locally but not any more which makes nomsense due to the low supply of wild collection, low price of ORA, and the quality of animals the ORA aquacultures.

I've always thought they have a great product. I would've setup a site years ago and sold their stuff locally as well, but they are super strict with selling to brick and mortar only. At least they're were a couple years ago, the last time I inquired about it. I agree with ya though, this should be a prime time for someone to sell the heck out of ORA given the conditions in the coral market.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h · Mar 21, 2019

Bouncingsoul39 said:
There was supposed to be a ORA Purple Plasma in the pack but they pulled the wrong coral ended up with some ugly brown thin branch stag with green polyps. Not sure the name and I’ll just leave it out.

I vote document the random stag too...

Z Burn's Reefing · Mar 21, 2019

wow, those are good sized frags!

Bouncingsoul39 · Mar 21, 2019

S-t-r-e-t-c-h said:
I vote document the random stag too...

You got it:

I’ve got a set of cell phone filters on their way so I’m going to redo all the pics this weekend with more true to life color.

Bouncingsoul39 · Mar 21, 2019

This isn’t an ORA Coral, but I thought I’d also add it in to see how it does under the light. It’s a fresh cut Green Slimer about 1/2”.

Bouncingsoul39 · Mar 21, 2019

Current intensity settings on the Noop lights. The two blue channels currently at 80% will be bumped to 100% in 1-2 weeks depending on how the corals look. UV will remain at 100%. White and the Red/Green channel will either remain at 25% or get bumped to 30-35 depending on the corals.

Want to mention that I’m in no way endorsing these Noop LEDs in fact I currently have mixed feelings about them. This is just a fun project for me and my first foray into LED after years of being a diehard metal halide and T5 guy. I ended up on these mostly due to necessity and the lack of affordable available alternatives. I could’ve gone with a pair of Vipar Spectra or SB Reef Lights but these have piqued my interest with their compact design, affordable tank mount kits, and quiet operation.

Reefpuck · Mar 21, 2019

Some ORA corals are still must haves...despite all the fancy/expensive stuff out these days. Been meaning to grab a few myself.

Bouncingsoul39 · Mar 23, 2019

Color correction with IceCap 20K lens filter:

tautog83 · Mar 23, 2019

Nice I grew out yellow fuzzy in my last tank too was one of my favorites . Think you just inspired me to get a small ora pack next week

Ron Popeil · Apr 3, 2019

Looks like you received a free Purple Plasma there after all.

Definitely interested in seeing how these grow out for you!

Ocelaris · Apr 3, 2019

As much as I like little crabs, did you dip the corals? I got hit with monti eating nudibranchs after buying some wild colonies from a LFS. I even dipped them, but the eggs apparently got through. I would be hesitant to get a frag without dipping, as I assume the dipping would kill the crab, and I wouldn't want that either...

gtrider · Apr 3, 2019

wow those are some chunky frags! Congrats and i hope they thrive

Bouncingsoul39 · Apr 3, 2019

Ocelaris said:
As much as I like little crabs, did you dip the corals? I got hit with monti eating nudibranchs after buying some wild colonies from a LFS. I even dipped them, but the eggs apparently got through. I would be hesitant to get a frag without dipping, as I assume the dipping would kill the crab, and I wouldn't want that either...

No, didn't dip. I'm not willing to kill the Acro crabs. Also, the corals were drop shipped directly from ORA Farm to my door, so I'm going to trust that they are pest free. Taking a bit of a risk, I know...

Bouncingsoul39 · Apr 3, 2019

Ron Popeil said:
Looks like you received a free Purple Plasma there after all.

Definitely interested in seeing how these grow out for you!

Live Aquaria confirmed that it was not a purple plasma and I'm sure they sent my pic to ORA for verification since it was shipped directly from them. To me, doesn't look like ones I have ordered from them in the past at all in color, corallite structure, or growth pattern.

Will Wohlers · Apr 3, 2019

Ora is very strict on their protocols to keep pests out of their aquaculture tanks. They don't even let outsiders in specific areas because of possible pathogens being introduced. Being that the frags came directly from the farm they are 100% safe to not dip. I never dip ora frags from live aquaria unless it's a diversden purchase as those come directly from the diversden facility.

Bouncingsoul39 · Apr 4, 2019

Adding another ORA Original Acro, Pearl Berry, one of my all time favorites. Shipped from ORA farm, purchased through LA. Was the only one in stock at double the price of their normal Acro frags. The most I’ve ever paid for a frag but was worth it. Pleased with another large multi-branch frag.