Florescent in SPS

[fecgoh]

Need to double check with you guys. Base on your exp. if a normal brown Acropora turn florescent green in 2 weeks, is it getting enough light, too much lights or too much UV light?

Frankie

[Joe_P]

Hi Frankie,

My experience with acros turning from brown to green usually indicates that the acro is in the transitional colour change to something really pleasing to the eye...

My personal experiences are 2 colonies with such colour morphs....

1 eventually turned into a yellow acro after about 9 months and is now beginning to show bluish purple tips under stronger illumination...

the second one has morphed into a lime green...

IMO, lights will never be too much for acros as the more you pump in, the better the colours...

Yes, jus to mention, there are acros that remain brown no matter how much lights you dump on them....

[fecgoh]

Thanks Joe P!

I even have Turbinaria peltata change from a boring light brown to florescent green. Even a white Heteractis malu is now florescent green with blue tip. One brown Acropora millepora now have florescent green polyps!! My Acropora humilis remains brown. You might be right with this brown one. There is another light brown Acropora sp. that is now turning pink with purple tips!

Beside water quality, movement, light intensity and kevin, do you think UV contribute to this colour change?

[blueheaven]

actually, UV does have a significant role to play in the colouration of the SPS. other than producing UV protective pigments which determines the colour of the coral itself, UV also induces the protein in the cells and actually activates the fluorescence.

[Cookiemunster]

Actually UV protective pigments do not determine the colour of the SPS. Its the zooxanthellea that do.

The flourescence of the SPS from brown is due to anti UV pigments generated to protect itself from UV burns. By itself these pigments have no colour unless viewed under artinic light or light with strong 400 to 500nm wavelengths.

[Achilles Tang]

Actually, its a combination of the two.

The amount of zoox in a coral will determine the base colour (a lower count will give it a lighter colour, too much and its brown, too little and it's actually bleached), the polyps themselves may have a different colour and the growth tips (which exhibit a lot more of the anti-UV pigmentation) are usually brighter & more beautifully coloured.

IME, if your corals are growing fast, they are usually better coloured.

[fecgoh]

Thanks for the info guys!

On a side note, I do notice polyps that expand in day time have colours in them and those polyp that expand at night is white or no colour at all. This make sense since at night there is no light and the polyps dont need zoos there.