Polyp Extension - to much light?

[pathos]

you need some actinic light

 

[Gatortailale1]

I second the actint need. Plus could be that your LFS has them under different kind of light so they look more colorful at his shop. Unless you have same kind of light as the vendor who grew out the frags, it will be hard for them to retain the same color.

Gator

 

[North Bay 101]

Greetings,
All of SPS corals are turning brown. I got a Montipora Digitata about a month ago. It had purple tips that I thought would look great in my tank. Within a week the purple was gone and all that can be seen are the polyps that are at full extension all the time (day and night). I added a purple acropora this last week and I can see a color shift all ready. Added a yellow cup coral today, are these doomed to become brown also??

Tank is a 46bow with a single Iwasaki 400watt pendant (vertical). All of the corals are growing quickly. I have a Acropora Millipora that has doubled in size in 8 weeks. My main question is in keeping the colored corals the color that I buy them. I saw an earlier post that said brown=healthy but I want color.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Carpentersreef]

What are your calcium, magnesium and other test levels? How many K is your lamp? How far from the light are your corals? With my acro, purple equals growth. Is your growing milli ALL brown?

Mitch

 

[North Bay 101]

Thanks Carpenterreef,
Calcium 440, Alk 9-10, Mag unknown,I add Kent Essentials for trace elements weekly.
Lamp K is 6500K. Lamp is 26" to the bottom of the tank, bulb is vertical.

 

[North Bay 101]

Sorry, forgot about the Acropora Millipora. The newest growth is cream in color and the polyp extension there is about 3/16" or so.

Thanks

 

[chris_h]

When I said brown=healthy, I did not mean that purple, green, or blue is unhealthy. What I meant was if the coral has a color it is healthy, and if it is white it is probaly unhealthy. If your corals are growing they are healthy. The color change is just the coral adapting to your tank.

Are your sps tank raised or imported? If they are tank raised they are much more likely to keep their color. Imported corals usually change colors to adapt to artificial lighting. If you want to be sure to get a coral the will keep its color, get a tank raised coral that has been grown under lights that are the same as yours.