Acan Coral Care Guide

What are Acan Coral

Acan coral are a large, fleshy LPS coral found in the upper 30 meters of the ocean. Acan coral are brightly colored and have a nearly infinite number of color variations. When it comes to Acan Coral Care, it is important to note that Acans typically eat at night. In the reef tank, acan coral will generally adapt to the time you feed.

Acan Coral Care - Temperature

When it comes to Acan Coral Care, temperature is a very easy answer. The commonly agreed upon temperature is the same as most corals, averaging at 78 degrees F. Acan corals can survive in a wide range of temperatures, all of the resources used for this guide agree that keeping the reef tank's temperature close to 78 degrees F is ideal for most Coral Care.

Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium

For Acan Coral Care, there is very little that needs to be done in regards to special alkalinity, calcium, or magnesium levels. Maintaining a stable alkalinity, within about 0.5dKh will be one of the greatest maintenance routines you can do for nearly all corals. After alkalinity stability, calcium stability within about 25ppm is also valuable for optimal growth. Acan coral need at least the standard calcium levels between 400-450 ppm. This level is optimal for most corals and should come as no surprise.

Nitrates and Phosphates

Though you don't want to be absolutely zero on Nitrates or Phosphates, you also don't want to be too high either. The ideal levels for Nitrates is between 1 and 10 ppm. Phosphates should be roughly 0.01 - 0.05ppm.

The reason for having some nitrate and phosphates in your tank is due to research showing that coral need nutrients to enhance their growth and coloration. Too much of either, however, will slow growth and reduce coloration.

That being said, there are comments from people such as EAT SLEEP reef on YouTube saying that their Acan corals respond poorly to phopshates above 0.10ppm. Their Acans would begin to shrivel up, making this a good note to keep around.

Acan Coral Care - Flow

Acan Coral prefer a low to medium flow. This allows food to flow to the coral as well as remove mucus and bad nutrients from the coral. Too much flow can cause the large, fleshy polyps of the Acan Coral to either stay retracted, be ripped off the skeleton. You want just enough flow to allow a gengle movement in the polyps and see feeder tenticles when food is present.

Acan Coral Care - Lighting

Propper Acan Coral Care requires moderate lighting. This includes high par options such as T5s, High End LEDs, and Metal halides. Often times, Acan coral are part of a mixed reef tank, which includes SPS coral. This means the light near the top of the tank is likely too much for Acan coral care. This is why Acan coral are generally found near the bottom of the tank.

Another note about Acans with too much lighting. Acans may grow and seem to thrive under high lighting, and may not even bleach. However, under lower lighting conditions, you will find that the coloration and response will likely be much better!

For more about the different types of lighting, see the Reef Stable Saltwater Aquarium Lighting Guide.

Acan Coral Care - Placement and Aggression

A guide to Acan Coral Care wouldn't be complete without mentioning their aggression. The sweeper tenticles of Acan coral can sting nearby corals. The sweeper tenticles that you may not see and are longer than the regular coral flesh can also cause severe damage and/or death in nearby coral of nearly any type. As such, the best placement tip for Acan Coral Care is to space these coral far from other coral.

In order to meet the lighting and flow requirements for acan coral care, many put these coral at the bottom of the tank, in the sand bed, or in caves. These are great ways to obtain lower flow and light in a mixed reef tank, allowing SPS coral to dominate the top of the tank. A note of caution is to make sure there is not too little flow or light in these locations. Also, ensure that the sand is not blowing around, irritating or burrying the acan coral.

The 6 inch Rule - Social Distancing for Coral

There is a rule with LPS coral, such as euphyllia and Acan Coral Care called the 6 inch rule. This means that there should be 6 inches between an LPS coral and any other coral. When the LPS coral is small, this may be easy to achieve. This can be quite difficult when all of the coral in your tank grow over the years.

Acan Coral Care - Feeding

Like many other LPS coral, Acan coral will thrive best when fed. These coral specifically enjoy meaty foods such as mysis shrimp. They will also eat standard coral food, such as Reef Roids.

Acan Coral Care - Stress

Though many coral don't tell you when they're stressed, Acan coral do. You will notice the flest retract and shrink close to the skeleton of the coral. This lets you know that something is wrong. The first items to look in to are flow, lighting, phosphates, and alkalinity. It is important to consider pests and aggression from other fish and coral as well. This is especially true for acan coral care as many fish are known to nip at the acan flesh.

Thoughts on Acan Coral Care from Tidal Gardens

For more information, watch this video from Tidal Gardens about both Acan Coral Care, and Fragging.

And for EVEN MORE information about Acan Lord Coral Care, check out this video!

Pests and Common Problems

Angelfish?

Angelfish are notorious for nipping at corals. The best idea is to prevent keeping both angelfish and Acan Coral in the same tank. Most Angelfish are not reef safe partly for this reason.

Acan Coral Care Guide - Cheet Sheet

Temperature

• Acan coral do not have a specific temperature. Roughly 77-78 degrees F is ideal.
• Acons prefer stable temperature (~0.5 F).

Alkalinity

• Focus on stability, maintaining within 0.5 dKh
• Most success between 7-8 dKh

Calcium

• Focus on stability, within 25ppm.
• 400-450ppm is the ideal range.

Magnesium

• Between 1200-1400ppm. Targeting 1300ppm.

Nitrates and Phosphates

• The below numbers are ideal, but acan can tolerate a range of nutrient levels.
• Nitrates: 1-10ppm
• Phosphates: 0.01 - 0.05ppm

Lighting

• Acan Corals tend to prefer the lower side of lighting intensity. Provided the PAR is at least 25-50, you should be fine. You may need to experiment with what the particular Acan coral likes best.

Additional Coral Care Reading:

• Reef Stable - Acropora Care Guide
• Reef Stable - Montipora Care Guide
• Reef Stable - Euphillia Care Guide
• Reef Stable - Zoanthid Care Guide

Conclusion

This guide will be continuously updated as I learn more about Acan Coral Care and coral care in general. If there is any information you would like to see that is not present, please reach out to reefstable.store@gmail.com and let me know! Happy Reefing!

References

• YouTube - EAT SLEEP Reef - Acan Coral Care
• Saltwater Aquarium Blog - Acan Coral Care Guide
• Animal World - Acan Lord
• Animal World - Acan Echinata

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About the Author

John Krenzer

John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.

Today, John maintains a 120 gallon mixed reef aquarium as well as a 210 gallon aggressive species aquarium. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.

John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.

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