A Red Planet?

[Nano sapiens]

Purchased this frag about a month ago from an online vendor and the pic below is from 3 days after I placed it in my tank. I've been looking through all the RP posts and most appear much more colorful and the growth form tends to look more like a Millepora or Prostrata. This frag hasn't changed much from a very light pastel orange, but I can now just barely make out a tiny bit of green on a few tips. The polyps are very small and don't extend much, both night and day.

For the SPS gurus, does this growth pattern and corallite structure look correct for a RP? Anything else that can be deduced?

 

[karsseboom]

Could be...I have seen them with growth structure just like that.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Thanks for the reply. Good to know this growth structure is seen in this Acro type. I'm seeing a subtle shift from orange to green (which makes the coral look light brownish right now), so that would also be consistent with RP coloration. Based on the 200 PAR or so that it is receiving, I'd expect it to eventually have a lot more green than red.

 

[whitemarlin]

I was told if red planet starts to turn green its not getting enough light.

 

[Ostentum]

Not sure if that's 100% accurate my red planet is getting about 450 par from a 400w radium and its definitely has green throughout the coral. Granted its only 2 inches at the moment. Once it grows out is when you start seeing the dominate pink and white. I had another in my old tank that was close to 7" and it did the same thing. Encrusted for 5 months before growing extremely rapidly and vertical at which time the colors shifted. Structure wise its hard to tell at the size. Could be a shortcake type acro or a Hyacinthus. You will have to wait till it grows out some

 

[BigAl2007]

I've had RP in a few different tanks and have seen some frags look VERY similar to yours. Remember that coloration is dictated by many factors including light spectrum and water conditions.

I found that my RP would (and are) all encrust for a few months after fragging and then start to really branch out more.

Fact of the matter is only time will tell for sure but once they get happy they tend to be fairly quick growers in most tanks.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Thanks, all, for your replies. This was a fresh cut frag with the base devoid of tissue. I expect it will take a while to regrow and start encrusting.