SPS coloration

[ellebelle]

I know that different SPS look different depending on the person's tank - the parameters, the light, the placement of the coral, etc etc. I've noticed something really interesting about the SPS I put in my tank. Frags that have tan in them (i.e. tan bodies with blue tips) all turn green in my tank. Not brown - green. All of the SPS I have that don't have tan as part of the color (purple ones, yellow ones, pink ones) hold their color perfectly. But anything tan turns green. One of my orange acros has developed greenish tips on it and the polyps have turned a brighter green than they were when I got it. I have to assume it has something to do with the species of zooxanthellae that are populating my tank? Or maybe it is high phosphates?

Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[prattreef]

I don't have an explanation for you, but I don't think it is the zoox as they are largely brown and play little role in coral coloration beyond population density i. e. lots of zoox = brown coloration.

 

[jackson6745]

An old know it all from RC once told me that was from phosphate. Based on the same types of colors I have seen in higher nutrient reefs, I tend to agree with him.

 

[ellebelle]

Really? Because I thought at the one talk about coral disease from a two swaps ago, the speaker discussed different clades of zooxanthellae (A,B,C,D) and that they lended different colorations to corals.

For what it's worth, my yellow tipped wall hammer has also turned more green.

 

[ellebelle]

Rich, that was definitely my first thought and I am taking steps to lower my nutrient levels. But any idea why it would only affect some colors but not all of them? When I have had high nutrients before, everything has just browned out.

 

[prattreef]

When I have had high nutrients before, everything has just browned out.

= large overfed zoox population. Zeovit tanks etc. = super low nutrient levels = super low zoox population= unreal looking pastel colors.

 

[ellebelle]

Hmm. I'm not really complaining - one of my tan SPS has turned a really pretty aqua color - kind of a deep blue green with more vibrant tips. And my blue tort has taken on a pale green color in the body, but the tips are still the same bright blue and the polyps are still blue. If my SPS are going to be colored wrong due to high nutrients, I'd rather it be in a pretty way than a brown way.

 

[Josh]

Ummmm, tan has a lot yellow.

Yellow + Blue = Green

Maybe your lighting is overly blue?

 

[NYreefNoob]

Maybe your lighting is overly blue?

what i was thinking also. elle i am running or in progress of running my system with 20k mh for a month 14k for a month and 10k for a month to see something, i will say this. all of my corals look diff with each bulb, greens really strat to come out the higher the color temp, on to the low nutrient. since ive been running a low nutrient system my colors really have begun to pop.

 

[ellebelle]

I'm actually not sure what bulbs I'm running - I got a new fixture. The bulbs are a german make, I believe - but not Ushio. The light looks really white to me. but that is also a theory.