Coloration changes

[thegrimreefer]

A local reefer needed to get rid of his setup, and parted out everything. One thing I walked away with was this coral. It was bright irridescent green under his VHOs. His story was that he got this coral "in an IMAC raffle after Mr. Anthony Calfo himself fragged it with a saw."

It went from mixed VHOs to my 250W 14K Hamilton. It's maybe 8" deep in a 125. And it's completely changing colour. I have no idea what it's going to end up looking like. Any thoughts, anyone? They don't darken just before croaking, do they??

Close up of the above shot...

-Ron

 

[reefmarker]

Too much light. Put it at the bottom and maybe under some shade. It may already be a little "sun" burned already.

 

[wrightme43]

I had this same question the other day. The answer I got from Kevin Po as I understood it is, different tanks, different enzymes, different levels of elements, different lighting spectrum, differernt coloration. It looks good and healthy to me.

 

[CarlaW]

Grim, is that you?????
I have to agree that putting lower in your tank might be the best option here. See what happens after about 2 weeks, and if you want to move it up, do it in about 4" increments. Good luck!!!

 

[thegrimreefer]

Ummm... Yes, it's me. I don't know who else I'd be. The lovely and talented Mrs thegrimreefer hasn't screamed or called the police, or knocked me silly when I walked in the door, so I have to assume I'm me. That certainly doesn't mean I'm who YOU think I am, however.

I posted that question over 7 weeks ago, never got a comment until now. At some point I did move that coral down to the bottom, and it has lightened considerably. I also don't think it was in any kind of trouble at the higher positioning, just darkened as a protective measure against the light. I'll likely settle on it somewhere in between.

 

[CarlaW]

Obviously you are not the one I thought, sorry bout that, didn't mean to tick you off.
Good luck with your coral.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

I agree with Kevin/wrightme43... the coral is fine. Darkening is not a sign of excessive light either. Quite the contrary. The 250 watt halide would indeed be excessive if it were not such a heavy (near useless ) weight of blue (14-20k K) for coral growth. Please do not move the coral areound... at all. Quite stressful to most any coral.

Different tank... different lighting... just needs time to adjust. It's a fine and hardy coral (Hydnophora sp.).

 

[thegrimreefer]

Obviously you are not the one I thought, sorry bout that, didn't mean to tick you off.
Good luck with your coral.

No worries at all, it never even occurred to me to BE ticked off.

Anthony, the 14K is temporary until the new lights come in (supposed to ship, once again, today. We'll see.) They'll be 10K, a bit better, I think.

Thanks, all!.

Ron