Natural SPS color in reef

[ouyadi]

Just looking through this coral site,
http://coral.aims.gov.au/info/factsheets.jsp
If you look at a few coral there, I found the most sps coral in natural water only have boring color like brown, green, yellow or grey. Is it mean brown or green color maybe more health for coral itself since this is more natural looking? or what are the facts to make coral more colorful? I assume natural water should have much less NO3 and PO4 than our tank water and more light?

 

[Redrosetuscan]

On a reef most of the acros infact most sps do look brown. I think Mostly this is down to light as sun light is around 6500k so will make things appear yellow/brown. I am not experienced diver but think that sometimes cloudy days show colours off better, along with shading them out as you go over them. You then see the colours better.

That said one thing I have noticed on reefs is that for every hundred or so brown looking sps there will be one which pops from a mile off. Serious colours out there for example solid purple humilis amongst a hundred cream with blue tip.

Part of me feels upset at the thought of the most colourful corals being taken off reefs for our tanks, that said the initial point I make about sunlight and colour I think is more the truth. The ones which really pop on the reef are the ones which likely end up as LE frags down the line :lol:

The lights on a tank defiantly alter coral colour, however it's nice to look at them lights out to see if they really are colouring up or not :fun2:

 

[plyle02]

Yep, pretty close analogy, I would also mention as you go deeper in the water, the light spectrum begins to change too. Hence 30k and 20k Lokani for example, deeper species... Most acros thrive in shallow water, so it is to be understood that the sun, and the way it penetrates the water is probably about 6500k, on shallow water reefs. So, as you go deeper down under the water, the K begins to rise to a much bluer color. Given most modern reefers shoot for that 20k look, it is no surprise to see corals that naturally would fluoresce at 6500k to look much different than nature intended As far as I see it, not science, just a little experience... Best

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Yep, pretty close analogy, I would also mention as you go deeper in the water, the light spectrum begins to change too. Hence 30k and 20k Lokani for example, deeper species...

According to Veron, Acropora lokani is not a deep water acropora species.

http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0621

 

[Peter Eichler]

According to Veron, Acropora lokani is not a deep water acropora species.

http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0621

Very few "deepwater" species as the hobby calls them are actually from deepwater. It's a mostly nonsensical term that has somehow stuck. Deepwater and Japanese Zoanthids are other examples of this. Hell, half the times the species that the corals go by in the hobby are probably not even correct.

 

[Mylesweaver]

no the darker the color the more zooxanthellae in the tissue.so yes healthy.in a way.but this can be altered.

 

[Fredfish]

Just looking through this coral site,
http://coral.aims.gov.au/info/factsheets.jsp
If you look at a few coral there, I found the most sps coral in natural water only have boring color like brown, green, yellow or grey. Is it mean brown or green color maybe more health for coral itself since this is more natural looking? or what are the facts to make coral more colorful? I assume natural water should have much less NO3 and PO4 than our tank water and more light?

Possibly, but we don't really know that much about what constitutes a healthy coral.

Most coral can survive in a wide range of conditions from turbid to clear water, shallow to deep, low flow to [close to] reef crest...

I don't think that there is a simple way to define the 'ideal' conditions for any given coral.

I think it is a reasonable hypothesis that those tanks that have high light and brightly coloured corals, probably put the corals under more stress, because many of the bright colours are from proteins expressed to block reflect or fluoresce excess light. The expression of those protiens comes with an energy cost that could otherwise be available for other biological processes in the coral.

Who knows if that actually causes poor or even lesser health in corals.

 

[Amphiprion]

Just looking through this coral site,
http://coral.aims.gov.au/info/factsheets.jsp
If you look at a few coral there, I found the most sps coral in natural water only have boring color like brown, green, yellow or grey. Is it mean brown or green color maybe more health for coral itself since this is more natural looking? or what are the facts to make coral more colorful? I assume natural water should have much less NO3 and PO4 than our tank water and more light?

Some of those factor in (among others) and a lot of the rest is likely simply related to genetics. In wild shallow reefs, there are very, very vividly colored corals present naturally--the brown/gray/tan/green/yellow ones just seem to be more common in my experience. Coloration isn't necessarily the best health indicator and I wouldn't use it as a universal measure for every single piece of coral--even within the same species. In the end, if the corals are continually growing and have a color you are satisfied with, then they are likely at least mostly healthy.

 

[Setragni]

Coral reefs are just as colorful, but they do not have the blue lights top Pop the color. Look at super colorful sps at night. They look brownish.

 

[ouyadi]

Coral reefs are just as colorful, but they do not have the blue lights top Pop the color. Look at super colorful sps at night. They look brownish.

Well... That is a real good point...

 

[jason78]

I have been diving a ton in Okinawa. The only colors that really pop is the greens when it comes to sps. Most others are brown.

 

[Peter Eichler]

Toss some 5500k metal halides on your tanks and tell me how colorful your corals are then...

 

[kevensquint]

^ yup, all I need to do is change out my Radium for a ushio 10k and its already beige-ville in there. At the 6500k sunlight spectrum it would look like on an actual reef. Beige and brown mostly.