how long does it take acan lords to color?

[hobogato]

Picked up this colony of acan lords on a trip to see the parental units. it was listed as an "open red brain" and was a nasty rusty reddish brown color. Solid brown, no stripes at all, mind you. But for $60 for at least 100 heads, we weren't going to pass it up. BTW, they had the colony at the bottom of a tank with no halides and I think only flourescent lighting, VHO maybe. All of the corals were brown. So we've had the colony for a couple of weeks now. It's starting to get the typical lord stripes and the color has lightened significantly. Under T5 lighting only, it has kind of a bluish-green tinge to it.

Has anyone ever colored up a colony like this and about how long did it take? I'm feeding cyclopeeze and some other frozen foods almost every night. They are pigs! I'm hoping that this colony will turn out to be something very nice. Any other words of advice for getting this guy to look as good as possible? Right now it's at the front of the tank and getting more T5 lighting. I was thinking of moving the colony more to the center to get it more MH lighting. We are running 3 150W DE 14K
lights plus 4 80W T5s of various types.

 

[ianiwane]

That look likes an Indo colony. It might not ever "color up", there might not be anything for it to color up to. Probably its true color.

 

[ghostman]

With good tank parameters, you might see better coloration in a few weeks. I had one that turned a bright green after several weeks. I always fed meatier foods, as the cyclops was a little too small for them IMO. Mysis or Rods Food got great responses. IME, feeding helped growth, but not color.

 

[teen]

my aussies love krill. i notice the colors are awesome after a week of feeding compared to when i dont feed.

 

[nUgZ]

I agree with ianiwane. That looks like an Indo Acan colony. That might be as good as it gets.

 

[chillman]

your colony looks like an indo colony I have. I feed it mysis and cyclopeeze. I found it looked best color wise in a moderately shaded area of my 75 gallon tank with T5 lighting. It doesnt have the crazy popping colors of my aussie acans, but still had nice subtle coloring to it. Hope that helps.

 

[Lotus99]

My indo acan isn't very brightly colored, but it's still a great coral, and I love to see it feed.

I still think you got a great price on the coral, though.