are stony corals as brightly colored in the wild?

[Reefski's]

i am not a diver yet.

when our corals are collected are they as colorful as they are under artificial light?

Carl

 

[Amphiprion]

Most of the corals you see in the wild pale in comparison in regards to color. You will, however, occasionally see a brightly colored individual--but most are varying shades of brown.

 

[Reefski's]

so when our corals are originally collected they are brown and only color up in our tanks under artificial light?

the reason i need to know is that i am planning a tank that is lit with sunlight in a greenhouse and maybe a bit of supplemental artificial light.

Carl

 

[samsfishnchips]

Amphiprion,

don't quite understand your response?

Carl,

first thing first, we are "trying" to imitate the ecosystem the corals came from ( with artificial light, flow, filtration, chemical, etc.). when you do that you can only get so close

short answer, coral are more colorful when they are collected in the wild, when they are keep in the aquarium they change a bit, or completely lose their beauty

its not rare to lose a piece, plain can't keep it alive (top of my head carnation), beautiful blue -> brown...

ex.
"Wild colonies seem to need lots of blue spectrum to hold their phosphorescent qualities, and we recommend that the corals should be kept under 20 K Halides to represent their best colors."

sam

 

[imbuggin]

color

color

I have seen beautiful very purple acro's in Fiji while diving at 110-130 feet down. The color may be there, you just may not be able to see it in the natural light at different depth and or angles.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7369128#post7369128 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amphiprion
Most of the corals you see in the wild pale in comparison in regards to color. You will, however, occasionally see a brightly colored individual--but most are varying shades of brown.

Right, but most of the ones in the wild that are brown are never collected. The ones that aare more colorful, and more likely to sell, are the ones that get collected.

 

[ScallopKing]

As I am a diver, color wavelengths are absorbed by the water the deeper it gets, typically reds first, then blues and violets after that. Without a light down there or very shallow everything looks colorless almost. Shine a light and WOW it's red! Corals in the wild are just as colorful in some places I think.

 

[adtravels]

agree red looks black/ brown at below certain depths,
eg scarlet hawkfish= black hawkfish and blood looks very wierd.
We must not forget these creatures did not evolve to be looked at by us in aquariums. We are just lucky they they look nice in our tanks.
Also the actinic light is what makes our corals look greener than they are, under daylights around 7000k most of your green corals look brown, just like the ones you see inn the ocean.
Thats why without actinics the coral looks less impressive anyone agree?

 

[marine_freak]

Color is there in the wild just harder to see due to filtration of light by the water column.