Acro frags are a different color from mother colony

[BlennyBabe]

I was looking at the coral prop tank at point defiance and noticed that all the frags of acropora we have are a light tanish brown with greenish polyps. The mother colony, which is in the same location just two inches away, is brownish and dark with purple tips. The frags have been in the tank for some time, they are growing and have completly encrusted the plugs they are on. They have the exact same conditions as the original colony, and I cant figgure out what would cause the color shift.

Anyone have any guesses? Ill try and get some pictures tomorrow. I didnt bring my camera to work today.

Thanks everyone!

Rachel
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[MCary]

Its all about the lights.

 

[clkwrk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7392218#post7392218 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MCary
Its all about the lights.

??? when the corals are all in the same tank? Including the mother colony .

Why would it be all about the lights?

 

[BlennyBabe]

Yeah, these corals are only inches apart. They are both recieving the same light,and pretty bright light at that. I guess it could be because the frags are a bit shorter than the parent, but three inches under 1000watt halides shouldent matter that much right? There are also some other frags of this corl mounted to the wall just under the surface. They are under 400 watts primairly, but wouldnt that be more intense than 12 inches beneth 1000 watts?

 

[BlennyBabe]

Yeah, these corals are only inches apart. They are both recieving the same light,and pretty bright light at that. I guess it could be because the frags are a bit shorter than the parent, but three inches under 1000watt halides shouldent matter that much right? There are also some other frags of this coral mounted to the wall just under the surface. They are under 400 watts primairly, but wouldnt that be more intense than 12 inches beneth 1000 watts?

 

[rkl303]

My guess is that when it starts to mature(gets significantly larger) more it may color up similar to its parent.

 

[clkwrk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7400542#post7400542 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkl303
My guess is that when it starts to mature(gets significantly larger) more it may color up similar to its parent.

There you go .......I have a few colonies that do this however I didn't want to be the only one who suggested that.

 

[an-sps]

my frags some times do the same thing. especial my pink milli, they turn almost brown but after awhile they lighting up. maybe something with stress or reserving energy to grow

 

[MiddletonMark]

From talking with folks with PAR meters - the difference of just a few inches in space can be significant in terms of light intensity they're reaching. Combine that with the fact that [IMO] we push many corals very close to their saturation point - just a small difference might be a big one for the coral.

I will add, I've cut one coral up in my tank into three pieces. One under the most light is blue/purple, dark and solid. Under a little less it's mainly purple/blue, w/ just a little lighter blue. The piece on my overflow is green/blue, a completely different color than the other pieces in my tank.

Some corals IMO are more likely to do this than others - but many IME can chance coloration from just a move across the tank. Same water quality/parameters - but placement-relative-to-light and flow can play a big difference too, despite the exact same water/tank.

 

[BlennyBabe]

Thanks Mark,
I will try moving some of the corals up higher in the tank and see if they turn back to the color they were. I have been wanting to do some suspension experiments so this is the perfect opportunity.

Thanks for all the help.