At FFExp they sell acropora that "will color up over ti
- Thread starter SCIronMike
- Start date
Acros are funny like that!
I'm gonna do my best to be accurate here but if you other posters see where I've left something out, please jump right in!
Acros are colored (and fed) by zooxanthelles that live inside their tissue. Often wild colonies will turn brown soon after being collected and placed under artificial lighting. Those zooxanthelles are reacting to the difference in the light spectrum, and they change their own pigment to best be able to gain nutrition from it.
Sooo once the colony has been returned to lighting that is suitable for it to "color up" it will return to its former color... or even change to entirely new one.
The only way to kinda insure a new acro will remain the same color as it was when purchased, is to match the lighting it was under at the store. And even then its not a sure thing.
A purple acro under 150watt metal halides, may turn deep blue under 400 watts.
You can do some searches and hear what lighting SPS keepers are having the most spectacular results with... or you can do your own experimentation.
Also I should add that new growth on acros may be lighter or even white. This is because the colony is actually growing faster than the zooxanthelles are able to fill it up.
This is the most color change I've experienced in my own tank. This cream colored acro millipora frag has been slowly turning more and more peachy with purple new growth. I've had it for 8 or 9 months I think. =)
Oh! I almost forgot the point! The point was, if you are willing to make the gamble you can get GREAT prices on brown colonies and maybe get lucky. If you are unsure of your lighting, it makes a lot more sence than paying top dollar for a blue colony, only to have it turn brown in your tank.
I'm gonna do my best to be accurate here but if you other posters see where I've left something out, please jump right in!
Acros are colored (and fed) by zooxanthelles that live inside their tissue. Often wild colonies will turn brown soon after being collected and placed under artificial lighting. Those zooxanthelles are reacting to the difference in the light spectrum, and they change their own pigment to best be able to gain nutrition from it.
Sooo once the colony has been returned to lighting that is suitable for it to "color up" it will return to its former color... or even change to entirely new one.
The only way to kinda insure a new acro will remain the same color as it was when purchased, is to match the lighting it was under at the store. And even then its not a sure thing.
A purple acro under 150watt metal halides, may turn deep blue under 400 watts.
You can do some searches and hear what lighting SPS keepers are having the most spectacular results with... or you can do your own experimentation.
Also I should add that new growth on acros may be lighter or even white. This is because the colony is actually growing faster than the zooxanthelles are able to fill it up.
This is the most color change I've experienced in my own tank. This cream colored acro millipora frag has been slowly turning more and more peachy with purple new growth. I've had it for 8 or 9 months I think. =)
Oh! I almost forgot the point! The point was, if you are willing to make the gamble you can get GREAT prices on brown colonies and maybe get lucky. If you are unsure of your lighting, it makes a lot more sence than paying top dollar for a blue colony, only to have it turn brown in your tank.
Actually, zooxanthellae are golden brown in color. Put something under lower lighting, and you will often have an increase in zooxanthellae (and brown color) in order to take maximum advantage of the lighting provided.
The accessory pigments are not zooxanthellae, but may very well function to either protect the zooxanthellae from too much light of certain wavelengths (like shading or filtering), or reflect light back to the zooxanthellae (from a colored layer beneath the zooxanthellae layer). Coral "coloring" is a fairly hot topic, and has only recently begun to get more attention.
Hobbyists have noted that (at least with MH bulbs) lower kelvin rated bulbs (like the 6500k) can cause rapid growth, but with significant "browning" or dulling of the corals. Higher kelvin rated bulbs like the 20K or radiums are noted for "coloring up" corals, but due to a loss of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) with the higher k bulbs, there is a noticeable loss of speed of growth (as compared to the 6500k bulbs).
At least, that's my understanding
Kevin
The accessory pigments are not zooxanthellae, but may very well function to either protect the zooxanthellae from too much light of certain wavelengths (like shading or filtering), or reflect light back to the zooxanthellae (from a colored layer beneath the zooxanthellae layer). Coral "coloring" is a fairly hot topic, and has only recently begun to get more attention.
Hobbyists have noted that (at least with MH bulbs) lower kelvin rated bulbs (like the 6500k) can cause rapid growth, but with significant "browning" or dulling of the corals. Higher kelvin rated bulbs like the 20K or radiums are noted for "coloring up" corals, but due to a loss of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) with the higher k bulbs, there is a noticeable loss of speed of growth (as compared to the 6500k bulbs).
At least, that's my understanding
Kevin
I've been to the store of Korallen Zucht (which means 'coral-breed', but he actually imports most of the corals). It is run by Thomas Pohl, who runs the company in the back of his sun-studio/piercing studio/tatoo shop!!
The corals are incredible, indeed. Apart from a large skimmer and 24/7 active carbon filtration, he uses the following:
- almost NO LR in the entire system! (I think this has something to do with the colors, as i'll explain later)
- 'his' trace elements
- his zeolites ('zeovit') together with special bacteria (zeobact) and food for the bacteria (zeobac)
- HQI or T5 (stinks, according to Thomas), he'd rather use HQI. On only one tank, there is a 1000 W next to 2 x 250 W, but all other tanks (show and grow-out) he uses normal ammounts of hqi
- Current normal to have with sps corals
- calcium/carbon dioxide reactor
Here in Holland, I only know one person who uses all these, and as I've installed that tank myself, I'm able to follow the experiences quite good.
This tank started with hqi, T5, Tunze streamers, quite large skimmer with ozone (5 mg/h), active carbon, live rock, fish and so on. Also, quite a 'normal' reef. Trace elements (by Grotech, www.grotech.de) were added. When the bottles of grotech were almost empty, they were exchanged with korallen-zucht trace elements. I did this change myself on a saturday. Exactly one week later, i visited the tank again. I noticed a huge difference in the colors of the corals! It was incredible!
Now, the owner also has installed a zeovit-filter, and adds zeobact and zeofood. Unfortunately, i haven't seen the tank since, but as she (yes, a female reefkeeper!) lately told me, the colors were even brighter!
The 'trick' of the zeovit, combined with zeobac and zeovit is, according to Thomas, to lower the levels of nutrients quite heavy. Apart from that, only very few trace elements are added. In Germany, quite a few reefkeepers did quit adding trace elements at all! For myself, according to the manual of Grotech I should add 7 ml to my reef daily, but I only add 1 ml, as this is the lowest rate I can set my dosing pump to. When the nutrient levels are elevated, zooxanthellae grow too fast, and the protective colors of the sps corals fade away, so the coral would appear dull brown.
Most European aquarists use hqi bulbs of about 10.000 - 13.000 K with supplemented blue by PC, NO or t5. The common experience is that with more blue hqi, of say 14.000 - 20.000 K growth decreases and colors also decrease.
The last months, corals like those on korallen-zucht.de are also imported to the Netherlands. In the past, they were really hard-to-get, but when one knows who imports them, and knows when new shipments arrive, you can really pick out corals like the ones on korallenzucht. Past tuesday, there was quite an 'interesting' import from Bali, which also had quite a few maricultured corals like A. echinata and A. granulosa.
As promised: the LR: most people in Europe have 'brick wall' reefs, also stacked tanks full with LR. I like to experiment as much as possible, and my previous tank was only small (say, 40 G), so in order to have room for corals and fish, I built the reef as open as possible, I did the same in my new tank. Most (German) reefs with really impresive sps colors have only very little LR. For myself, I have a 140 G reef, with only 300 W of hqi and 48 w PC blue. Even on the bottom of my tank, the colors of sps frags are impressive:
.
The rest of my tank also has some nice colored sps: front view of the left side:
View through the side glass:
Tanu
www.tanu.nl (needs update: new tank isn't even mentioned!)
www.zeewaterforum.net (the dutch reef forum)
[/url]
The corals are incredible, indeed. Apart from a large skimmer and 24/7 active carbon filtration, he uses the following:
- almost NO LR in the entire system! (I think this has something to do with the colors, as i'll explain later)
- 'his' trace elements
- his zeolites ('zeovit') together with special bacteria (zeobact) and food for the bacteria (zeobac)
- HQI or T5 (stinks, according to Thomas), he'd rather use HQI. On only one tank, there is a 1000 W next to 2 x 250 W, but all other tanks (show and grow-out) he uses normal ammounts of hqi
- Current normal to have with sps corals
- calcium/carbon dioxide reactor
Here in Holland, I only know one person who uses all these, and as I've installed that tank myself, I'm able to follow the experiences quite good.
This tank started with hqi, T5, Tunze streamers, quite large skimmer with ozone (5 mg/h), active carbon, live rock, fish and so on. Also, quite a 'normal' reef. Trace elements (by Grotech, www.grotech.de) were added. When the bottles of grotech were almost empty, they were exchanged with korallen-zucht trace elements. I did this change myself on a saturday. Exactly one week later, i visited the tank again. I noticed a huge difference in the colors of the corals! It was incredible!
Now, the owner also has installed a zeovit-filter, and adds zeobact and zeofood. Unfortunately, i haven't seen the tank since, but as she (yes, a female reefkeeper!) lately told me, the colors were even brighter!
The 'trick' of the zeovit, combined with zeobac and zeovit is, according to Thomas, to lower the levels of nutrients quite heavy. Apart from that, only very few trace elements are added. In Germany, quite a few reefkeepers did quit adding trace elements at all! For myself, according to the manual of Grotech I should add 7 ml to my reef daily, but I only add 1 ml, as this is the lowest rate I can set my dosing pump to. When the nutrient levels are elevated, zooxanthellae grow too fast, and the protective colors of the sps corals fade away, so the coral would appear dull brown.
Most European aquarists use hqi bulbs of about 10.000 - 13.000 K with supplemented blue by PC, NO or t5. The common experience is that with more blue hqi, of say 14.000 - 20.000 K growth decreases and colors also decrease.
The last months, corals like those on korallen-zucht.de are also imported to the Netherlands. In the past, they were really hard-to-get, but when one knows who imports them, and knows when new shipments arrive, you can really pick out corals like the ones on korallenzucht. Past tuesday, there was quite an 'interesting' import from Bali, which also had quite a few maricultured corals like A. echinata and A. granulosa.
As promised: the LR: most people in Europe have 'brick wall' reefs, also stacked tanks full with LR. I like to experiment as much as possible, and my previous tank was only small (say, 40 G), so in order to have room for corals and fish, I built the reef as open as possible, I did the same in my new tank. Most (German) reefs with really impresive sps colors have only very little LR. For myself, I have a 140 G reef, with only 300 W of hqi and 48 w PC blue. Even on the bottom of my tank, the colors of sps frags are impressive:
The rest of my tank also has some nice colored sps: front view of the left side:
View through the side glass:
Tanu
www.tanu.nl (needs update: new tank isn't even mentioned!)
www.zeewaterforum.net (the dutch reef forum)
[/url]
Tanu":2iz2yox5 said:
Tanu,
Very interesting! I understand Thomas' explanation, but if his products actually reduce "nutrients," might it also contribute to water clarity? Or, not knowing what the products actually contain, might it make the corals more sensitive to light (similar to many drugs humans take)?
I like the results, I'm just curious about the mechanism(s).
Kevin
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