I am a big fan of tabling Acropora and one classic I dig is the Crayola Plana. This Acropora plana has a cream colored base, purple tips and green polyps. It is a beautiful mix of contrasting colors, worthy of its Crayola Crayon nickname.
The Crayola plana sports thin, dense branches and can exhibit a lot of polyp extension when happy. The coral requires moderate to strong lighting and will do fine when given the proper PAR under T5s, metal halides or LEDs. My colony receives 250 PAR and is thriving under a 400W 20K Radium bulb.
Frags should be placed in the top half of a tank and be given medium to strong flow. Growth will be optimized when the proper calcium (400-440 ppm), alkalinity (8-9 dkh) and magnesium levels (1350-1450 ppm) are maintained.
As for nutrient levels, I shoot for nitrates between 2.5 to 10 ppm and phosphates in the .03 to .07 ppm range. I do not use amino acids or any other coral food.
Personally, I have not noticed better color or growth with my corals after using aminos or coral food from a bottle. This has been the case for my 187 gallon tank as well as past tanks. My corals seem to do pretty well without that stuff. I think fish poop is beneficial for corals. One reason why I like to keep my fish fat and happy.
Overall, the Crayola Plana makes a great addition to a reef tank. Today it tends to fly under the radar versus other hyped corals but in my opinion it is a real beauty. Come on, a multi-colored table!
Additional Resources
If you would like some help with a new tank build, including help designing a custom aquarium, or help re-configuring your current setup then you can visit this page for more information. And if you are looking to add some equipment, I do sell GHL, Pax Bellum, Reef Octopus Calcium and Kalk Reactors and Royal Exclusiv products, including Dreamboxes, which is the equipment I use and recommend. I also sell Reef Brite metal halide and LED fixtures as well as Maxspect & IceCap Gyres.
As for additional insights and information, please explore my many other reef tank and SPS related articles as well as my YouTube channel. For an even deeper dive into reef tank care you can check out my Reef Keeping Master Class. This online course is an immersive and one of a kind educational tool designed to help reef aquarium hobbyists build and maintain a beautiful SPS reef tank. The course is a series of video presentations with some supplemental video from my YouTube channel. There are also quizzes to help students retain and understand the information presented in the course.
Need some frags…..I can help with that as well 🙂 Please visit my SPS Frag store to see what is available.
