Ice Blue Leptastrea: A Hardy, Eye-Catching LPS Coral

The Ice Blue Leptastrea is a great choice if you want something colorful, a bit different, and not overly demanding. Its encrusting growth and glowing blue polyps make it perfect for filling in bare rock and creating contrast against greens and reds.

Place your Ice Blue Leptastrea on stable rockwork or a frag rack where it can slowly spread. It’s an encruster, so give it a bit of space away from prized neighbors you don’t want it to grow over.

Lighting, Flow, and Placement Tips

Leptastrea generally prefers moderate conditions, which makes it forgiving for mixed reefs.

• Lighting: Moderate PAR (60–120). Too much light can wash out the blue; too little and it may brown out.
• Flow: Low to moderate, random flow. Enough to keep detritus off the surface, but not so strong that polyps stay retracted.
• Placement: Mid to lower rockwork is usually ideal. Start lower and move up slowly if colors dull.

Tip: If the coral looks pale or recedes at the edges, drop it to a shadier spot and reduce PAR gradually.

Feeding and Long-Term Care

Ice Blue Leptastrea will survive on light and nutrients, but feeding boosts growth and color.

• Target feed 1–2x per week with fine particle foods (reef roids, powdered coral foods, or very fine mysis).
• Turn off flow briefly, gently baste food over the colony, and restore flow after 10–15 minutes.
• Keep parameters stable: alkalinity 8–9.5 dKH, calcium 400–450 ppm, magnesium 1300–1400 ppm, nitrates 5–15 ppm, phosphates 0.03–0.1 ppm.

Watch for tissue recession around the edges, which often signals swings in alkalinity or salinity. Stable, moderate conditions and occasional feeding will keep your Ice Blue Leptastrea glowing and slowly carpeting your rockwork.