Is this Acanthastrea echinata? If so, how to place it?
 

I have bought what I think (hope) is Acanthastrea echinata. Please see picture below. How does this coral grow and spread? Is it an encrusting type? I would like to place it in the centre of the picture below, with a view to it spreading out and encrusting the rock in this area.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ester/Acan.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...nplacement.png

Looks more like a lord to me. And they don't really spread and encrust. They grow by budding and expanding in a ball shape.

Thanks for your reply. The piece I have is about 2"x3" and is pretty flat. So should I look at place it horizontally on a flat surface, or could I put it on an incline (secured with epoxy) and let nature take its course?

Nice lord. You can place it in any of the two configurations and it will grow just fine.

I would mount it at an angle just like the rock and use reef putty to cement it in and give it a solid edge all the way around to grow on to.

Thanks for the replies.

Considering it will grow into a "ball" I'm having a re-think.

Location 2 - There is good, but not strong flow in this open area. Not much shading. Fairly horizontal ledge. About 18" below the water surface.

Location 3 - Also good flow, about 12" from the water surface and a little bit shaded. Again, a fairly horizontal ledge. This is my preferred location.

Location 4 - About 8" below the water surface. Quite a steep incline guessing is about a 60% (from horizontal) slope. Good flow, good light, prominent position in the tank. My concern here is will it rapidly grow and then sting the adjacent SPS corals (above and below)?

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Location2.png

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Location3.png

If you mount it in a hole and flush where the skeleton is tough a hard surface it will grow/encrust out wards. I'll take a pic of how I mount my frags.

KPK - pic would be great, thanks.

Bad pic and the lights are off. Started this tank a few months ago so there isn't any coraline or anything yet. This is how I've always mounted acans and it works great. Grows right over to the rocks.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psa09f9449.jpg

I've got all my acans on the sand bed, but if I had to pick from your choices I would say #2

That's another thing I've done. Mount them on a bigger rock on the sanded so they have surface to grow on. Not sure they'll get much bigger on the sandbed other than a big ball, but I really don't know

KPK - thanks for the pic. The rock the acan is on is roughly oval in shape, and is currently "filling" the rock to the edge. So I wherever it ends up, I will make a donut shaped ring of epoxy to ensure full contact between the rock and the reef, so there is a continuous and smooth connection all round.

Clay - thanks for your input. It will certainly brighten up that end of the tank.

I'm trying to find a picture of a mature colony - so I can visualise what to expect in terms of both shape and size...... anyone care to share?