Purple Pavona

Pavona cactus

Pavona often referred to as Cactus Coral is an easy to keep and fast growing SPS coral. These corals form thin plates as branches that are covered with polyps giving it a fuzzy appearance. Once established in an aquarium Cactus Coral is fairly hardy, but requires a moderate to high light level and strong random currents within the aquarium.

While much more forgiving of alkalinity swings than other SPS corals like Acropora and Montipora. One should aim to keep alkalinity stable as it will increase both the growth and colouration of Pavona.

As with all SPS corals our recommendation is to focus on keeping Alkalinity stable. Many people struggle to keep healthy SPS as they aren’t paying enough attention to their alkalinity, or they are trying to hit a specific dKH. We are less focused on the dKH of the water and more interested in making sure that it hasn’t changed since yesterday. When trying to lower or raise the dKH of our systems we always aim to do it as slowly as possible.