Influencing Acropora Color???

Shawnts106

Shawnts106

New member
I have got an opportunity to get some "factory direct" brown acros at a really really low price... and was wondering how long it would take to color them up?

I plan on putting them in my home tank, which has 440watts of VHO 2 (50/50) and 2 actinics and also 2 PC's duel daylight. 65watts that are on for 3 hours to simulate noon.


I have a ASM G2 on my 75gallon, and it is doing the job nicely!
and I only feed my fish every 2 to 3 days, a varity.

I have currently several montipora species that I got direct from the wild and colored up VERY nicely. and 2 acros, one yellow with a neon green base and lavender/blue tips and also a Blue Tortusa that is absolutely beautiful... a dark blue with green near the base and green polyps with sky blue tips... which is growing very nicely!

both acros have been in my tank for months and have shown conciderable growth...

I have other SPS too... and lots of LPS and softies

I am currently battleing a dino problem... but that doesnt seem to have affected the sps at all...

Doing frequent wc's and skimming dry....


BACK TO MY ORIGINAL QUESTION:
How long normally under general, average conditions will an acro color up?


Anything I could do to speed this process up?
 
What ever happened to all your fish (e.g. Achilles tang etc) that you had before? Didn't have have like 4 tangs in your tank at one point?
 
lol, sorry, no deal, I work at a LFS.

Yes I still have my tangs, 3 tangs

Achilles, Powder Brown and Regal.. all small, 3.5inches and under I would say..
 
What do the rest of your Acros color like?
How patient are you?

If you find it easy to color up corals, or they generally significantly improve once in your tank ... then it's a good plan.
But, if you don't want to maybe wait 6-12 months for them to take off, or struggle keeping amazing color when you get frags ... then I wouldn't bother.

There's a fair # of brown corals in the wild, and while I doubt they harvest many ... you never know.
 
I got a couple acro frag about 2 1/2. mths ago and they all look great now,but they are being hit with 2-250w. DE 12 and 14 k lighting about 12-14 inches off the water...they used to be brown and now we have red, green and a cool bright copper color...
 
These are not from FishHeads.

I cant say much about corals coloring UP in my tank, nor Down... just staying nice and colorful...

They are growing very good... I just recently had a euphillia problem, with a torch and wall hammer, but Ive got that under control now..


As far as Photo-Acclimation... would I acclimate them the same as I would if I had a MH system?


There's a fair # of brown corals in the wild, and while I doubt they harvest many ... you never know
Click to expand...
Yes, but now many brown acro species are there that wont color up in an aquarium???
 
Re: Influencing Acropora Color???

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7509937#post7509937 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawnts106
BACK TO MY ORIGINAL QUESTION:
How long normally under general, average conditions will an acro color up?
Click to expand...

A few months to a year to never.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7509937#post7509937 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawnts106
Anything I could do to speed this process up?
Click to expand...

Low nutrients & good lighting :)

If they are total brown outs without any visible pigmentation and dry looking tissue I'd pass on them.
 
hmmm

hmmm

I think some corals regardless of your efforts won't become brightly colored. I know some do, it's a crap shoot. I have had both experiences coloring up, and coloring down in my tank, mostly do to either the coral being in low light or unhappy for the later. I would say keep the corals you want to color up right at the top, after photoperiod acclimation ofcourse, and keep good flow, and nutrients down, you should have a winning situation on your hands then.

It's funny your mentioning this, cause I am thinking of doing the same, I keep buying expensive frags of hot items, Mayagi, Chip tort, Roab blue n red prost, cali and oregon tort, etc... But all are tiny 1 to max 3 inch now. I want a colony. I bought from Bluezoo aquatics a birdsnest, which at first was bleached and barely pink, which is now, 3 months later bright pink and green, very hot colors. On the other hand I also bought two wild mille colonies, 1 rtn'd for no good reason, other then my scribbled possibly munching on him. The other is doing fine, but no color change at all.

again a crap shoot.

good luck
David
 
Your best bet would be to blast them with a good 400 watt higher kelvin bulb with good PAR. XM 20,000K on a magnetic ballast, radiums on a PFO HQI, or Hamilton 14,000K's on a PFO HQI. Your best chance of getting those brown acros to color up is going to be in a tank with that kind of lighting.
 
If they are total brown outs without any visible pigmentation and dry looking tissue I'd pass on them
Click to expand...

I cant hand pick them, but even then, the place I am getting them from is a good place, and EVEN IF it is for some odd reason a just plain brown acro, or doesnt ever color up ... big deal, its cheap, and IMO a tank with NOTHING BUT SUPER COLORED CORALS just gets to looking more like a fruit stand or a water colored painting than an actual captive reef... browns and fleshtones snuck in every once and a while add to the overall natural effect IMO...




Your best bet would be to blast them with a good 400 watt higher kelvin bulb with good PAR. XM 20,000K on a magnetic ballast, radiums on a PFO HQI, or Hamilton 14,000K's on a PFO HQI. Your best chance of getting those brown acros to color up is going to be in a tank with that kind of lighting.
Click to expand...

Stuckey, while this MIGHT be FACT, I cant help but argue... IME SPS, specifically Acros can be grown under ANY LIGHTING and if given good clean water and good flow can look just as good under a higher lighting system... Ive seen acros put under everything from NO to HO to VHO to MH... and all look beautiful...

Not saying that putting it under a MH or HQI bulb wont speed up the process, but rather that I can still get simular results under a "not so bright" lighting system.

but thanks for your imput.


Does Feeding Acros help with coloration, Ive got Oyster eggs, which is suppose to be a great SPS food, And Im wondering if this would acctually help pigs. or not... Could it possibly MAKE the color brown if given to much to eat?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7514803#post7514803 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawnts106


Stuckey, while this MIGHT be FACT, I cant help but argue... IME SPS, specifically Acros can be grown under ANY LIGHTING and if given good clean water and good flow can look just as good under a higher lighting system... Ive seen acros put under everything from NO to HO to VHO to MH... and all look beautiful...

Not saying that putting it under a MH or HQI bulb wont speed up the process, but rather that I can still get simular results under a "not so bright" lighting system.

but thanks for your imput.


Does Feeding Acros help with coloration, Ive got Oyster eggs, which is suppose to be a great SPS food, And Im wondering if this would acctually help pigs. or not... Could it possibly MAKE the color brown if given to much to eat?
Click to expand...

I completely agree about the lighting issue.

In theory, food can potentially help. After all, in wild, healthy reefs, the massive influx of food is what keeps the corals from doing what they often do in extremely nutrient deprived tanks. But, unless ultra low nutrient levels aren't an issue, it may not necessarily influence coloration. On the other hand, it can and will spur growth (and maybe coloration in some corals) and possible overall health of a colony. As far as the oyster eggs are concerned, I have heard that they contain elevated levels of phosphate. Whether or not this has been substantiated or not, I do not know. In any case, I would experiment with controlling nutrient levels, maintaining various mineral levels, and enhancing natural production of plankters (and maintaining at least a few fish in your tank ;) ). Those factors, IME, work well and yield relatively reproducible results.
 
thanks for the help.

I didnt know about the possibility of phosphates being in the eggs, how much?


What is another good food to feed SPS, Ive not had good luck with cyclopeeze or whatever its called...

what about daphnia?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7516908#post7516908 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawnts106
thanks for the help.

I didnt know about the possibility of phosphates being in the eggs, how much?


What is another good food to feed SPS, Ive not had good luck with cyclopeeze or whatever its called...

what about daphnia?
Click to expand...

Both are generally too large for most 'sps', though some will still be able to consume them. The best food are various larvae (produced by polychaetes, gastropods, etc in the tank) and bacterial aggregates found in established, healthy aquaria (i.e. those associated with fish waste and detritus).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7516908#post7516908 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawnts106
I didnt know about the possibility of phosphates being in the eggs, how much?

What is another good food to feed SPS, Ive not had good luck with cyclopeeze or whatever its called...

what about daphnia?
Click to expand...
Most food has phosphate in it, as most animal/fish flesh would contain phosphate. I would be shocked if oyster eggs, mysis, cyclops-eeze, or most such food [dead critter based] wouldn't contain any at all.
Some is higher than others no doubt, some too much so ... but I'd want to see phosphate tested next to some gauge of concentration/nutritional value to say much, IMO.


As for the sizes - if you don't have good response from cyclops-eeze, I would go for smaller particles [rotifers might be worth trying, or not] vs. larger [daphnia, from my memory, seem like they'd be larger].

In an of itself, IMO, the food a coral eats is not likely to be a major cause of coral browning - the problem is the food that the coral doesn't eat, that degrades water quality/etc.

All IMO, of course :)
 
All agreed, mark. Like I said above on the oyster eggs and elevated phosphates--that is just a claim. Nothing has really been substantiated empirically.

Yes, all foods, no, all living matter will contain phosphorus that will be converted to phosphates or other forms upon decay (or more appropriately, bacterial action). As to the varying levels of phosphorus that are contained within (and consequently incorporated into phosphate), that is yet to be determined.
 
For everybodys info, yes I did know that foods contain phosphorus, and yes I am aware of the above... just wanted to know exactly how much is in those eggs... but that doesnt matter, so nevermind......


I unfortunatly didnt get to get my acro's this week, but next week they will be here... long story.


Would you recommend feeding acros or just all SPS the eggs? daily? weekly? monthly?
 
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