Coloured Acropora's

[montie]

I am in need of some help, i have started trying to keep acropora's. I see these lovely coloured acroporas in the shop, and thought they would look great at home. my first acro was a bright yellow colour after putting it in my tank it bleached, so then i moved it lower down from the 250w mh and it went brown. i have the usual conditions 0 amonia 0 nitrate 0 nitrite 450 calcium. after many questions asked i found out many things i done wrong, so i then pluck up the corouge to have another go making sure i didnt do any of the wrongs i did before, but my newly bought tri colour has gone brown (sigh). Seems no one in the uk has the knowledge to be able to help me with this problem, and after seeing some of you guys websites, that seem to have no problem keeping coloured acro's. I was wondering if anyone can help me

[ April 27, 2002: Message edited by: montie ]</p>

 

[Bodine]

IME its hit and miss as to coloration with acros. Many newly arived pieces I have seen are very brighly colored only to go "brown a
few weeks.
I think this is especially true with "wild" caught colonies.

Brigther lighting "may" help in coloration.

The best luck I have had in the past with acros keeping colors are cative raised or frags.

 

[Renae]

Is the lighting at the LFS you are buying from the same as in your tank? You may either be under lighting or over lighting depending on the existing lighting of the LFS. Also how are your bulbs... do they need to be changed? I know you posted your Calcium but what about your Alk. and PH?
Sometimes it is just time...You may find that your brown acro colors up in a month or so.
Renae

 

[montie]

my bulbs are pretty much brand new, i believe the ones at the lfs are 250w same as mine. i see some guys on the net keeping them, have 400watts which are rare in uk. the only thing i an think of which i dont have that some of you guys in usa do are dsb could this be a major factor? i have about <1" of live sand and was wandering is this factor might be why i cant keep them the same colours. also seeing them go brown after a week or so makes me wonder if they wouldve done the same in the lfs but they sell them so quickly you never see them brown

 

[scooterr]

Yeah, It happens. I don't think its anything you're doing (lack of knowledge, equipment, ETC) they just do that sometimes. Try some frags that you know have been in aquariums for a while. Or maybe buy a brown one and see if it colors up.

 

[jimmy n]

Wait it out.

Most corals that I put in my tank become a deep brown before turning into their ture colors.

Jim

 

[montie]

thx for your help guys. one thing i noticed though is that all the guys/girls on this board with 1000+ posts dont seem to either know anything about acros (which i find hard to believe) or just cant be bothered to help new people unless its to flame them. but for the people that did reply thanks for your help, it has restored my confidence a bit

 

[Anonymous]

I know how you feel, about the acro's. I too anted all the pretty colors, added some and they were brown

All of my parameters were fine, Ca 400, alk 3 meq/l, NH3 0 NO2 0 NO3 ), etc. After a couple of months some looked different. The biggest difference came when i added 2 4" VHO actinics. The colors are really starting to come out now.