Sold to me as Red Planet ..... ?

[ca1ore]

.... but I'm not sure it is? Any ideas?

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r680/ca1ore/05d5371d-d09d-48fc-8ad7-f07a3a7bb5b7_zps6hdqshc9.jpg (http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/ca1ore/media/05d5371d-d09d-48fc-8ad7-f07a3a7bb5b7_zps6hdqshc9.jpg.html)

[Peter Eichler]

THe tips look more purple or blue in the pic, are they red in person?

[ca1ore]

Definitely purple, though its only just started to produce points from the encrusting base so maybe it just needs time.

[Peter Eichler]

Not red planet and going to guess that's it's A. nasuta, though way too early for anyone to ID with confidence.

[SaltyWalter]

Defiantly not able to tell the exact species, but also doesn't look like a red planet by the looks of its color and growth. There's certain species that grow uniquely, A. hyacinthus (the red planet species) is one of them that I don't see this being.

[ca1ore]

Thanks chaps, shall attempt to be patient :)

[SaltyWalter]

Wait, you get this from TCR in CT?

[ca1ore]

Wait, you get this from TCR in CT?

Yes I did.

[Reefvet]

That could easily be Red Planet. RP and Green Planet both tend to encrust a large base before branching. Sometimes they do both simultaneously.

I've seen RP encrust with almost no red in the base and then grow out branches that have red corallites.

I saw a frag of RP that Chris Garrett had for sale. It was grown in his outside, daylight only frag tanks and it looked nothing like any RP I've ever seen. When I made that comment to him he said that's what everybody says.

RP is a coral that can be found in a lot of dramatically different morphs depending on environment.

[ca1ore]

I'm crap at identifying corals. Completely agree that part of the problem is that the same species can look completely different depending upon the conditions under which it is grown.

[Tweaked]

Looks like shades of fall coloring almost

[MHG]

Could be. Give it time. As long as you did not over pay, its still gonna be nice...

[ca1ore]

It was quite reasonably priced.

[Peter Eichler]

I've never seen blue or purple in red planet or shades of fall...

[SaltyWalter]

Acropora Austera (i'm pretty sure) for anyone wondering, I got one also :-)

Simon, look up blueberry limade acropora, I think in the right light you can get it to look the same.

[ca1ore]

Piece in question is quite low down in the tank. Not because I don't want to put it higher; I'm just out of space (well, other than for those two new pieces). It's growing nicely though and looks like it will be a nice addition.