What was this coral?

[siege]

So, this thing is my "hero", the piece of "rock" in my collection I am completely and utterly enamored with, that I want to put in a focal point of my aquascaping efforts.

I'm pretty sure this was an acropora of some sort... anyone have any idea what variety?

I've read of corals picking back up where they left off, though I think the article was talking about "hibernating" or "senescent" corals waiting out a water condition change in the wild, and not completely dead specimens... IIRC it was about a reef off of the Spanish coast.

Any chance that, with the right "seed", I could get this thing growing/living with the same general sort of coral animal?

Should I treat it with anything first? Clean it up with some hydrogen peroxide or heavily diluted bleach or something?

No bananas, kids ate them all - hand for scale.

 

[siege]

More research on my part has revealed the difficulty in identifying Acropora, and that due to the sheer variety, further identification at this stage beyond simply "acropora" is functionally impossible.

However the other part of the question remains, is it possible to put an acropora that grows in a similar form on/near this one, and have any chance of it being colonized and re-invigorated?

 

[wantsummora acropora]

Waaay above my station.

 

[Rainblood]

The coral skeleton in your hand is dead. If you glue another acro on it - the new acro will eventually cover the old skeleton but the old skeleton would simply be a base…like a piece of rock. It’s not going to regenerate

 

[siege]

The coral skeleton in your hand is dead. If you glue another acro on it - the new acro will eventually cover the old skeleton but the old skeleton would simply be a base…like a piece of rock. It’s not going to regenerate

Okay, that's what I suspected, but I wasn't sure if someone knew of some methods or techniques that may have come about in the last few years.

So it'll serve as a base like any other rock that will eventually get overgrown, but there's no chance it will ever directly host an organism and be anything other than dead skeleton.