Leptoseris Coral
Take care of Leptoseris Coral
This is still a pretty new type of reef tank coral called Leptoseris. It is a small polyp-rocky coral. Most people call them “wrinkle coral,” but coral lovers always use their official name. There were not many colors of Leptoseris when they first came out, and they were very pricey. However, they are one of the corals that grow the fastest. Many people have worked hard to spread the species, so there are now more Leptoseris corals for sale. Most of the time, other hard corals are brought in more often than Leptoseris. This is very important. The rare color morphs that were first added are now easy to find because farming has been going strong for a long time.
The first Leptoseris corals that were found were all different shades of orange. They ranged from fully orange to orange bodies with white spots around the mouths. In the past few years, there have been more color changes on the market. Most people have the bright yellow 24K Leptoseris. It will be interesting to see if the colors change again in the future.
Leptoseris corals look nice because they glow. It’s possible for some corals to be a nice color in natural light but not glow under artificial light, which makes them look dull. Leptoseris corals, on the other hand, have some of the strongest light, especially in orange, yellow, and red, which aren’t seen very often. From far away, Leptoseris corals look almost like metal because of the small pinstripes that run through them. As they grow, the coral plants cover the rock’s surface, creating a bright and lovely scene.
Where You Can Get It
Along the tropical seas of the Pacific, near places like Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef, you can find leaky starfish.
The Lights
We saw at Tidal Gardens that Leptoseris does best with light levels that aren’t too bright or too dim, usually between 75 and 125 PAR. This helps the plant grow and look its best. Even though Leptoseris can live in a variety of lighting situations, it does best when the light is steady. If the light is too dim, the coral will look dull, and if it’s too bright, it will burn.
Too-bright of lights are likely to blame for coral that is dying or getting lighter, but there could be other reasons as well. It’s best to give the coral less light at first until it’s clear that it needs more. It is safe to grow Leptoseris with as little as 40 PAR PAR of light, but the colonies don’t look as bright as those growing with more light.
It’s important to know that Leptoseris doesn’t change color when the lighting isn’t right. Its color stays the same, so a colony with a lot of different colors won’t change all of a sudden.
It’s best to use a mix of about 12,000K lights for this job, like ATI Blue Plus and Coral Plus T5 bulbs. A lot of people like this mix because it makes Leptoseris glow so beautifully. The coral also looks better when it spends a lot of time under artificial lights.
30 to 50 PAR for low light; 50 to 75 PAR for medium light
High Light: Anything brighter than 75 PAR
The flow of water
Leptoseris coral grows best when the water flow is low to medium. To keep the coral clean and trash from building up, it’s important to have the right flow. It’s important to find the right balance, though, because too much flow can hurt the coral. Keep an eye on the coral and change the flow as needed. As it grows, it may need different amounts of water to move through it.
Feeding
Leptoseris corals get most of their food from the sun, but you need to be careful when you feed them. To feed them nitrogen, you can give them amino acids, small zooplankton, or fish. They don’t eat that quickly. Giving corals small amounts of light and nutrients in the water is best because they get most of their food from those sources. Don’t expect results right away.
How clean the water is
The amount of phosphate and nitrogen in the water is a good indicator of how clean it is. Corals do need some of these things for food, though, since photosynthesis doesn’t give them enough. Reef plants can lose their color or die quickly if the nitrate level gets too high. There may be algae blooms when there are a lot of phosphates in the water.
If these two numbers are too low, too, that can be bad. For example, Leptoseris can have trouble in systems that use too much carbon or GFO. At first, the corals may look small and thin before they start to die. Nitrate and phosphate levels that are easy to find are better for Leptoseris than ones that are hard to find. This is because they can live in systems with a lot of nutrients without any problems.
The Science of Water
The corals, called leptoseris, are rocky and grow very quickly. Calcium, pH, and magnesium are the three main chemicals that their bones need to grow.
When it comes to saltwater, calcium is one of the key ions. The ocean has about 425 parts per million (ppm) of calcium. Corals get calcium from the water as they grow, which makes their body out of calcium carbonate.
But alkalinity tells you how much calcium is in the water. The most changes happen in alkalinity when these things happen in real life. pH should be the only test you do. When you’re out in the wild, the water is about 8 to 9 dkh acidic. But some tank owners like it when it’s between 10 and 11 dkh. Some people think that brittle coral grows faster in water with more calcium and pH.
You might not be able to change calcium and pH because they change each other. The amount of alkalinity in your body can drop if you take a calcium tablet. Because these two ions talk to each other, this is the case. When calcium and pH levels aren’t stable, it could be because of low magnesium amounts. It has the same chemical make-up as calcium and can bind carbonate ions. In general, this makes alkalinity chemicals in water easier for living things to use. The seas have about 1,350 parts per million of magnesium.
Coral Aggression
Leptoseris need a lot of space because they grow quickly and can get in the way of other corals. Also, about-inch-long brush stalks are sent out.
Spreading
Leptoseris grow very quickly, and they are easy to split up with a band saw or bone cuts. We use gel super glue from the dollar store and add more when we glue them down because it can be hard.
This species does best in a tank that can hold its fast growth while still having room for other corals to grow.
