what does brown really mean?

[beachroadbum]

Hey Now all,

When an acro turns brown...does this mean it isn't healthy? What if the acro just doesn't need to shield itself from UV so it stays brown...is this a bad thing?

Has anyone see acros while diving? Do all shallow water acros have vivid colours because the PAR is so intense from the natural sunlight?

thanks!

take care,
Jared

 

[jay24k]

Brown means ugly to me . If brown stays in my tank more then 4 months, it is traded or given away

 

[ClownReef®]

Ive seen acros when snorkling before, and yes, shallow reef corals have bright, intense colors... IME, acros go brown when they are not getting enough light, but it can be due to other issues like high nutrients....A coral will bleach sometimes faster if its been blasted with too much light rather than less light..

 

[jay24k]

Also some acros are just brown period. I've only had 2 brown corals. A brown digi with purple tips that I'm giving some more time however I still think is brown. And a piece I got from online that is greenish brown.

 

[ClownReef®]

Every brown coral has the potential to become colorful..all it needs is some TLC and it may even surprise you..sometimes browns can turn into amazing pieces.

 

[beachroadbum]

thanks

thanks

hey now all,

thanks for the replys. When an acro turns brown under low light is this because the zoox all rush together and become very dense seeking light hence the brown?

Ok so when a coral that is in another tank full of colour and in another tank brown...it is safe to say the brown acro isnt as happy? Lets try approaching it that way.

take care,
Jared

 

[jay24k]

Not true about brown having potential. It is like saying a blue coral has potential to be a red. Some corals are just brown. Nothing wrong with it at all. However many browns can be colored up if it's natural color was not brown.

Brown doesn't always mean happy but generally if many corals in your tank that aren't supposed to be brown are, then yes, I would say something is not right. They might still grow but not color up.

 

[ClownReef®]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7056211#post7056211 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jay24k
Not true about brown having potential. It is like saying a blue coral has potential to be a red. Some corals are just brown. Nothing wrong with it at all. However many browns can be colored up if it's natural color was not brown.

Brown doesn't always mean happy but generally if many corals in your tank that aren't supposed to be brown are, then yes, I would say something is not right. They might still grow but not color up.

Im gonna have to disagree.. Its either color or brown..not red or fuscia..LOL... Every brown acro has the potential to color up again..the browning of SPS corals is due to inadequate lighting and an overabundance of symbiotic algae..

 

[tsquad]

Yeah, but just as a red acro is naturally red, a brown acro may be naturally brown..

 

[parkavenuereef]

My blue acro which usually is smurf blue was brown after major water issues.. after lots of light and clean water and stable conditions it got back to smurf blue better than it did when i bought it.. then i has a phospate issue these past few weeks and it got slightly less blue and browned a little.. not with phosphate back in line and clean clean water i am sure it will blue up again.. I added more light time too to my actinics.. 10 hours of vho's and 6 of 800W halides.. i am sure it will bounce back better than it ever did.. and this coral was very brown before it bounced back! have faith!

 

[ClownReef®]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7056339#post7056339 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tsquad
Yeah, but just as a red acro is naturally red, a brown acro may be naturally brown..

..Well, thats true..LOL

 

[Brewen]

Someone told me when they are pulling the acro's from the ocean their thoughts are brown will not sell. So only the most colorful will sell and are harvest from the coral reef. So JMO given proper care and light plus water parameters's time a stable system. You should bring back out the true color.

 

[Redfish]

MOST of the acros on MOST reefs are brown in nature. That is my experience. In places like the Philipines, maybe one acro in ten is colored in most areas. This includes shallow water areas.

I do not believe all of the corals are naturally brown and have no hope of coloring up. Quite a few probably would color up. Some, however, are and forever will be brown.

 

[dbrown]

Maybe our tanks are the only true coral reefs left. Possibly 100 years ago the reefs may were as colorful as our tanks but years of fertilizer run off and phosphate leeching into the waters have browned them out.

 

[jay24k]

That's what I was stating. Just because it is brown, doesn't mean it was naturally a colorful piece. Some just look like "crap"

 

[MCsaxmaster]

Folks that keep tanks but have never been to the ocean often get a really, really skewed idea of what corals in nature are like or should be like. Easily 90% or higher of all corals (including Acropora) in nature are brown with no potential to be what we would consider colorful at all. The idea we get in captivity that all corals are supposed to be pretty colors is sort of like taking a poll in the NBA of average height and concluding that all male humans should average 7 ft. tall or something.

First, a coral must have the genetic capacity to produce a lot of some pretty pigment. Like I said, at least 90% of most species (100% of some species) don't have the necessary genes to do this. Secondly, we have an idea of why some corals produce some pigments, but no idea why they produce other pigments. As such, how could we possibly expect to replicate this color in captivity if we don't know what causes it, except by dumb luck?

cj

 

[ClownReef®]

I dont know.. The Mayan riviera reefs colors are so bright and vivid..while jamaica is a deathland..and the Great barrier reef..well, we've all seen the pictures. I guess coloration is a geographical issue..Some reefs have crazy colors while others are brown forests of coral..

 

[RichConley]

The problem with this whole thing, is we really dont know what nature is supposed to look like. Coral reefs as a whole are pretty screwed up right now, and have been for as long as we've had the technology to monitor them.

Now, the acros in the carribean are brown, but are they supposed to be, or is it a side effect of all the mess that the carribean is (urchin populations, etc all out of whack.)

 

[ClownReef®]

It depends on where it the caribbean.. For example, the reefs in Mexico are VERY protected, ive snorkled them a few times and they are breathtaking..On the other hand, if anybody has ever seen the jamaican reefs, they are a joke..its a wasteland..due to collection and other issues..

 

[MiddletonMark]

And most of the color I've seen in the Caribbean comes from sponges, fans, non-photosynthetic corals, and the like ... while some corals had nice coloration - IME there was more brown/gold than not [Bonaire] for actual photosynthetic coral colors.

Just my experience - and I should note, I may have 15 hours underwater there - but that's just one set of reefs, in one ocean. Dunno if the Atlantic is comparable to the diversity of coral found in the Pacific - nevermind when we're talking mainly about Genus/species hardly [or not] represented in the Atlantic.

Just my take, but I'd generally agree with Chris' take.