ID on an SPS - Blue w/ green coralites (pic heavy)

[Myka]

This is the fussiest Acro in my care. :hmm4: It likes very high flow, and very high light. It turned grey-brown shortly after I bought it and didn't grow. After a year it finally acclimated to my tank and started growing with the new growth being sky blue with the last few coralites on the branch tips having the green edges. Now the base color is sky blue from where it is mounted to the tips. The coralites are still grey-brown except for the very tips, and the edges of the coralites are green just at the last 1" of tips.

Sept 2009, a week after I bought it and already faded A LOT:

August 2010, shortly after it started growing:

Nov 2010:

Sept 2011:

Dec 22, 2012 (you can't see the green coralites in my photo):

Sadly, my return pump wouldn't restart on my last waterchange and I forgot about the tips of the Acro sticking out of the water so I do have some nice skeletal photos as well... :furious:

 

[Frick]

I am thinking Acropora exquisita which tends to be fussy.
http://coral.aims.gov.au/speciesPages/species_metadata/0902/view#

 

[Frick]

Dub Post

 

[Myka]

Yeah, I think you're bang on. The Corals of the World looks really close, and then a Google search comes up with many photos of quite identical corals (that could of course be mislabeled haha). I haven't found much information on exquisita, and it seems I'm doing fairly well for color (comparatively). Thanks!

 

[Frick]

Yeah, I think you're bang on. The Corals of the World looks really close, and then a Google search comes up with many photos of quite identical corals (that could of course be mislabeled haha). I haven't found much information on exquisita, and it seems I'm doing fairly well for color (comparatively). Thanks!

I'd say you are doing pretty good. The worst think you can do to it when it starts to look nice is move it or try something different. Keep it where it is. Looks great.