Indo vs. Non-Indo Lords

[nmprisons]

I was under the impression that there was no way to tell the difference between the two just by looking at them. Am I right? If not, how can you tell?

I recently picked up a small colony from somone for an increadibly reasonable price and it is unlike any lord I have seen (deep burgundy with some blue accents around the edges of the polyps). I assume it is probably Indo, simply because they are more common, but I have both Indo and non-indo Lords and I really can't see any structural differeance between the two.

 

[djmuzzi]

no structural difference. there are some really beautiful & exotic looking indo lords also. Non-indos require very specific husbandry to thrive though. colder temps, much lower salinity & higher light.

 

[nmprisons]

I am not totally convinced that they need higher light and lower salinity ... where does that belief come from? I would be very interested in hearing more. My investigation seems to indicate that lords from Japan are also found in deeper water and so prefer low-medium light, just like their Indo cousins. Why lower salinity?

 

[djmuzzi]

The salinity there is around 1.022 as opposed to Indonesian waters 1.025-1.026. they grow well under low light but the best coloration comes from halides on the upper blue spectrum. Information comes from people who collect & specialize in selling Japanese Acans.

There are widespread accounts of people investing lots of money on these Acans only to have them slowly loose there polyps over time because of improper tank conditions. Happened to me at first until I modified my tank parameters accordingly.

 

[nmprisons]

Wow, so if my reef is mixed, do I need to drop my salinity just for my non-indo lords?

Is there a happy medium so that my other corals remain happy? If I am at 1.025 now, how slowly do I need to transition?

 

[djmuzzi]

Best thing to do is ask the person you got them from what their tank conditions were like & what type of growth/ how long they had them. If they were running the same salinity as you & had no problems, you should be ok. If you do need to decrease the salinity, I would spread out the drop over 4 day's time.

 

[ironman2]

I agree with the lower salintiy. I have over 20 different colonies of indo and non indo lords and micros, they all grew very fast and had great color. I started experimenting with raising my salinty. I usually kept it at 1.023 . I gradually raised it to 1.026 and started noticing some of the lords not puffing up and eating as good. mainly my japanese and micros. however my blastos all were doing better than ever? I made the mistake of not monitoring my salinity for over a week and could tell something was majorly wrong with my acans. I checked the salinity and somehow it had gotten up to 1.030. I gradually lowered it back down over a weeks time and everyday you could see the acans getting better as the salinity dropped. AS for light I think they will survive under most lighting as long as they are acclimated to that light, however you will get different colors and growth rates depending on your lighting, and it makes a big difference whether its a indo or non indo acan or micro.