How awesome to come across this! I received a small frag of pc rainbow acro from a friend a couple months ago. Mine is surviving, but not thriving. I did just this weekend add a good amount of flow it. Beautiful acro for sure!The original mother colony of which all true PC(Pro Corals) Rainbow acros descended from. Some of you may not know but at one point, years ago I sold corals under the Pro Corals name. I did it for a number of years but unfortunately had to step away due to health issues.
Concerning its origin, I received it in a sale locally from a reefer. It must have been 2005 or so. I was over at the sellers home to purchase some corals and there, amongst all of the beautifully colored corals was this drab, brown coral. I inquired about the piece and the seller gave me a bewildered look. He stated that he had had it in his setup for more than a year and it had done nothing. I relished the challenge. He gladly gave it to me, free of charge. The coral sat dormant in my setup for just under a year until I had a minor setback. Some corals began to bleach, the Rainbow acro did so completely. I thought about tossing the frag but by a stroke of dumb luck it disappeared from my system one day. I figured that my large blue tang had flung it about somewhere.
Fast forward to 2006 when I was moving my 225gl in-wall into the smaller 100gl rimless setup. I had cleared out all of the rockwork and was scooping up the rest of the sand. There, amongst the muck was the acro. To my amazement it had COLOR. Somehow, someway the coral had not only survived but added or somehow put out colors it had not previously possessed. I added the frag into my new setup and the rest is history.
Those who own it can attest to its durability and color. I have had it under MH, T5 and now LED and under all of these lights it shines bright.
I no longer sell to the general public, but do at times offer up corals to private collectors, especially those looking for corals directly from the source. Jim and I released quite a few nice pieces over the years and am extremely happy to see the companies name listed under just about every coral vendor.
The coral has been floating around the hobby and have rarely seen anyone replicate the blue base. I don’t know if that’s down to the environment or if people even have the real deal. I am growing an original piece of the coral in my latest aquarium and will post some pictures soon.
The picture below is from a number of years back.
Lugols Solution always did the trick for me, bringing out the blue hues in corals. And I’m general, the corals enjoys placement midway up the tank and heavy flow.
I know that some will ask, but at this point I do sell frags. Perhaps once my latest build has grown out and I need to trim back on some corals.
If there are any additional questions concerning the coral please let me know.
absolutely beautiful !
I have a question about your PC rainbow acro. I noticed in most of your photos the polyps are not really open. How often do they open? I ask because a friend gave me a small frag, and initially the polyps oped very nicely, but now they are almost never open. The color is still there, just no open polyps.
That’s as much polyp extension as I get out of that particular acro! Others have huge polyps, never seen it more open honestly…
Well that actually makes me have more hope for mine then, so thank you. I guess as long as it keeps color, it will be okay.
How fast does yours grow? I have only had mine a few months. I do see what looks like the start of some new growth, but seems very slow.
Mine has spurts! Grows well then stalls out! The joys of trying to keep everyone happy! Haha… it will settle in at some point then start growing well for you and me..
So you gave it some shade? Everything I have read say strong light, and strong flow. Maybe I need to move mine a bit. Though it does seem stuck to the rock it is on now.It's such an amazing coral. I've had mine for about six months now, and it's doing great. When I got it, it was all red, but giving it a shaded spot really brought out the colours in it. Even under whites, it looks great, though photos just don't do it justice.
Mine cooks under halides with zero shade! Sits in 500 par and my other one is in about 300 par.. both look the same and grow about the same.
I have LED's, the blues and violets are set at like 95%. The rainbow acro is currently sitting about midway in a 24" deep tank, but no shade, just pure light. Should I consider moving it? And if so, it is still very small, but I have tried to pick the frag up in the past, to no avail. I do not see where it is spreading down on the rock yet. Will it hurt if I use a little force to get it loose, so I can move it? It is my first, and so far only SPS. So I really know nothing about them. A friend just gave it to me, so I thought sure why not give it a go.
I really want to get it's full display of color rather than just one color on good display. So it sounds Like I either need to move it, or get some rock to provide it with some shade.
