Description
Luara’s Purple Polyp Acropora is a branching coral with a vibrant green base and bright turquoise growth tips. The polyps are purple as the name suggests. The exact coloration can vary depending on the type of light used. When given the right conditions, this is a fast growing coral that is hardy as well.
This Acropora originates from Australia, but it is now aquacultured by ORA. This means that it is grown in aquariums instead of being collected from the ocean. These kinds of corals have lots of benefits that we will talk about below. Acropora are one of the most common corals in the ocean, but this doesn’t mean they are the easiest to keep. Actually, they are one of the most difficult corals to keep, but with some knowledge and care (and some good equipment), you can keep them successfully. Let’s start with lighting. Lights are one of the most expensive parts of a reef tank, but they are important. Acropora need medium to high light, which translates to 200-300 micromoles of PAR. Giving this coral lots of light will encourage the best possible coloration. It is also best to give it a light temperature in the higher kelvin range. However, when first adding corals, especially Acropora, you need to acclimate them to your light first. Do this by starting them low on the aquascape and slowly moving them up over weeks. Acropora also prefer strong flow. You are much more likely to give too little flow than too much. So, give them everything you got! It is ideal to give random irregular flow.
Acropora get most of their nutritional requirements from a photosynthetic algae (specifically a dinoflagellate) contained within the coral. Because of this, you don’t need to feed this coral, but you can if you want to. Feeding can promote better coloration and faster growth. If you want to feed this coral, ensure that the food particle size is small enough for the polyps to eat. You can also dose phytoplankton if you want food that won’t dirty up your water. Possibly the trickiest aspect of keeping Acropora, especially for newer reefers, is the water quality. Acropora requires high levels of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium as well as stability with those parameters. Fluctuations can be bad news for this coral, so you need to be able to maintain these levels with dosing, a calcium reactor, kalk etc. For Acropora (and most other common marine aquarium organisms), keep your temperature 72-78 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep your nitrates at 1-5 ppm and your phosphates just barley detectable but not 0.
Care requirements
Purchase Size: 1 – 2″
Placement: Middle to top.
Lighting: Medium to high.
Flow: Moderate to strong.
Parameters: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, salinity 32-35 ppt
Calcium: 350-450 ppm
Alkalinity: 8-12 dKH
Magnesium: 1,250-1,350 ppm
More Information
There are lots of benefits to getting aquacultured corals like Laura’s Purple Polyp Acropora from ORA. To start, these corals are grown in aquariums. Most of them have been kept in aquariums for many generations of corals. This means that these corals are well adapted to aquariums life. They are adjusted to aquariums lighting, flow, and parameters. Aquacultured corals are also far less likely to carry pests and disease, though you should still dip them to be safe. They are also more sustainable!
