Acropora's are one hardy coral

[Borderjumper]

LOL! I want the "little" pink one in the middle of the first row

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

- taking a deep water acropora and putting them at the same depth might show that extreme changes in conditions are enough to ... well, do them in.

Tony, isn't that what we do already? That is what so cool, you introduce a deepwater species like lokani or granulosa etc, into shallow water (our tanks) & intense light and they turn bright colours they don't normally at depth. What's even cooler is they thrive in the new conditions.
(ok maybe not in Tony's tank but that is a whole other topic)


Here is an example from my tank. Is this bright enough for ya'?

[Mikee]

Now thats a dream tank .

[Delphinus]

Well, Ok, it may have not been the best example. I was trying to find an example of extreme changes. Mainly what we're seeing here is SPS in their native natural environment and drawing conclusions about hardiness. Hardiness to me is about boundary conditions - a hardy animal has wider boundaries than a .. a "non-hardy" animal (for lack of a better way to put it). I'm not so sure that most acroporas have a very wide tolerances to environmental conditions. We know what ranges tend to be ideal, but knowing what those parameters are and being able to replicate them to encourage good health and growth doesn't mean they are necessarily hardy.

My own lack of success with acros notwithstanding. My particular example shows, if anything, that there are parameters outside of the "big 8" (ie.: Ca, Alk, NO3, PO4, pH, temperature, lighting, water movement) that can have an effect as well. Luckily for most, it tends to not be an issue though.

Just my $0.02. It's not that I'm trying to say they're impossible to keep, rather the opposite, in fact for most it's quite possible to replicate ideal conditions without a low tide! But seeing their natural environment versus an artificial environment introduces many variables that it's really not possible, IMHO, to really replicate a natural environment, but we do our best and come reasonably close in most cases.

[Snappy]

I guess my point is that I think a lot of people shy away from sps thinking it is harder to keep than it really is.

[Delphinus]

Fair enough. In that case I would agree. For the most part, it's a science - ie., there is a fairly deterministic formula for acheiving success, and it's simply a question of following that formula. Whereas there are other facets to the hobby where it's more of an art.
It's all easy.