Acan use to have a lot more red, what's the problem?
- Thread starter delta410
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RandyO
Active member
Well, yes and no. It kept changing it's color depending on the lighting I kept it under. I was experimenting with it, and it looked pretty good under the intense 400w. But it was a false color. The coral was not expanding as much, and so the colors always look brighter when the flesh is condensed together. When a coral opens up wide, the color is spread out through the body more, and it will not be as bright. I didn't realize what I was doing to this Acan until I picked it up as saw two holes in the flesh in the area getting the most light.
That Acan was grown up from a 3 polyp piece, and I have a growth sequence of it over the course of a year. In that time, the color kept changing.
Here's the sequence.
http://hometown.aol.com/randyolszewski/page1.html
It looked the best under the pc lights. That was right after my tank cracked, so it was under intense lighting for about 2 months. Then I threw it under 2 pc lights while I setup another tank, and it looked great, but the way it was stretching for more light, I figured when I got the new tank setup, I'll blast it with light. 2 Months later, I nearly killed it.
This is what it looks like today
The big lord on the left.
It was fragged up in May 2005 to put different pieces around the same tank to see where it colored up the best. But I kept the large adult polyps intact. I've noticed Acanthastrea have different polyp stages, and juvenile polyps do not look the same as adult polyps. That can make it hard to find where the coral looks best, if you have some adult polyps here, baby polyps there, and Juvenile polyps up here, and they all look different. You never know if it's from lighting, or just growth stages.
Sorry fish, I did not think a reply was expected, I didn't see a question or anything.
Mine is not doing what yours did in the pictures, yours look like it's loosing pigments in the tissue, mine looks like it's gaining and just overlapping the red. That's why I don't think it's a light issue. Thanks for the pictures anyway, it narrowed down my choices.
RandyO
Active member
I don't think Acans are very happy in really warm water. My tanks never get warmer than 80 most of the year. A temp of 81F would be pushing it durring the summer. Though, I have more light over my tanks than I've ever had before. 2450 watts of MH, 1070 watts of VHO, and 322 watts of PC's. Hopefully the temps will still stay below 81.
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