Duncan corals are a super rewarding coral, with bright neon green polyps that move elegantly with the flow of your aquarium. They are a quick grower that is perfect for your first reef tank or your final dream tank! They are an LPS coral that has a hard stony base made of calcium carbonate, because of this it is important to maintain calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels in the tank so that the Duncan is able to create its skeleton. Calcium should be kept around 380-480 ppm, alkalinity should be kept at 7-12 dKH, and magnesium should be from 1200-1400 ppm. There are also several other trace elements that are important for coloration and growth including Iron, Potassium, Iodine, and many more, however unless you are not performing water changes and only replenishing your nutrients through dosing there is no reason to test for and dose these trace elements.
Overall Duncan corals are very similar to most other LPS and don’t require any special care, one thing to note is that they are quick growers and can soak up calcium and alkalinity at a higher rate due to their higher growth rate. But above all else the most important thing to remember is that Duncans like most corals enjoy stability and any change if fast enough can harm it. If you find that your parameters are wildly out of the recommended then you will want to change them slowly in order to not further stress out your corals. Duncans are photosynthetic and don’t require feeding but do love to be fed, they can catch left over mysis but will also readily accept coral foods like reef roids. Feeding them helps to make them grow faster and display better colors, but try not to feed more than two or three times a week as this can lead to nutrient issues and often time the coral will simply spit the extra food out leaving it to rot at the bottom of your tank.
