Yellow acro turned green. Lighting?

[powder_blue]

I bought a nice acropora aspera a couple of months ago and after about 2 weeks it went from yellow as a banana to green. Plenty of pe and growing like a weed but I bought it bc it was yellow and not green. I've heard thar lighting can do that. I am running and 6x54w sunpower on my 90. Bulbs are 4-blue plus, 1- coral plus and 1- purple plus. My params have been solid and i keep my alk around 9. Thoughts?

[sanababit]

Do you dose iodine?, i so, stop, how is your PO4? If its high try to lower it, my yellow corals get green when i dose or should i say overdose on iodine or my PO4 is present, good luck

Sana

[Spyderturbo007]

I remember reading somewhere that with lower light the will be more green and with higher light they will be more yellow.

[powder_blue]

No iodine dosing and I have it at the top of my tank so it's getting plenty of light. I use kalk in my ato along with randys 2 part.

[chessmanmark]

I have a Shawn Bennet yellow tort that is as green as green can be. The funny thing is that when I frag it the new frag grows in yellow. All under the same lighting so go figure.

[Spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by chessmanmark

I have a Shawn Bennet yellow tort that is as green as green can be. The funny thing is that when I frag it the new frag grows in yellow. All under the same lighting so go figure.

Mine is so florescent green that you almost need sunglasses.

[powder_blue]

I'll have to frag it and see if it works for me.

[EpicWin]

Probably lighting.

[allsps40]

IF it was a wild or maricultured sps them I would expect it to have a color change going into a captive system with artificial lighting. I got a few true yellow sps over the years and all either changed color on me to a more greenish or they died. All where maricultured . It is hard to keep the yellow in sps corals it can be done but you need good lighting, flow and low nutes.

[biggles]

Stag lower left when i bought it 5 weeks ago - straight off the reef and in a filthy new tank - yellow.



Today its green in a much cleaner tank, i think lighting plays a large role but who really knows for certain.

[franklypre]

looks healthy now, I'd say it's supposed to be green. I have 1 yellow acro that has yet to turn green, every other one has turned neon green.

[biggles]

Originally Posted by franklypre

looks healthy now, I'd say it's supposed to be green. I have 1 yellow acro that has yet to turn green, every other one has turned neon green.

Agree mate, it's polyps are fluoro green and it's growing well now that it's settled in. Very pale blue, almost white wild colonies are often dying purple colonies well on the way to bleaching and RTN. I have a frag of it as close to the halide as possible getting baked and it is only slightly less green but the whole thing is much more fluorescent and it is encrusting the plug very fast.

[flounderfish]

Looks healthier now. +2 on green being the original color.

[karsseboom]

I have had many yellow Sps over the years and when nutrients get higher they alway turn green. It's never anything else assuming lighting is the same.

[biggles]

Originally Posted by karsseboom

I have had many yellow Sps over the years and when nutrients get higher they alway turn green. It's never anything else assuming lighting is the same.

I too have had a few yellow colonies over the years and i would tend to agree with you if lighting variances are removed. I have also found that the finer delicate branching acros hold yellow more often than the thicker stag like sp. - just in my experience.
Most 'yellow' SPS i see in pics are more fluoro green than yellow but we as reefers tend to fudge on the color call due to wishful thinking.

[powder_blue]

It is def a maricultured coral and the store I bought it from had 12k halides. My ATI is more of 16-18k. Growth has been outstanding so it's definitely healthy. My nitrates have always been .5 and doesn't seem to move. Phosphates are always 0 but I don't have the $200 phosphate meter. Glad to gear what others have experienced. Thanks!

[MrHarvard]

This is completely normal for corals to change colors in different tanks. Lighting, flow, and nutrients will all play a major factor in this. I have a milli in my tank that i fragged and glued down only 12" away from the colony and a little higher and its a totally different color than the colony. I have several corals that are one color in my tank and another in other peoples. Maricultures are infamous for this and one of the reasons they are my favorite to buy. Its always exciting to see what they are going to look like when they color up in your tank. Since your not dosing iodine and your coral is healthy i would say this is the color its supposed to be in your tank.

[mpoletti]

Unless you're running lower kelvin lights, many times yellows turn to greens unless you basically have no excess nutients in your tank.

[Dave & Monica]

This is one of the best yellow to green topics threads I've come across, would like to see it continue. I have a yellow scroll coral turbinaria and it's the only yellow coral I've had luck with. Also got a strawberry acro, and the base has a nice yellow color. Both these corals didn't change with either lighting config of pheonix 14k's or ushio 20k MH - led supplements of natural white, and royal blues. Few months ago I bought some pink lemonade and it's green for me. Pink jade, and it's green too. Yellow and true red are hard to come by IMO.

[Constrictor6090]

Ya most yellow acros are going to turn green if moved under a higher kelvin bulb. I had a banana yellow millepora turn green by doing the same thing.

[Constrictor6090]

If you wanted it to get more of a yellow, you'd have to put it under an 10K-14K

[trueblackpercula]

Originally Posted by powder_blue

I bought a nice acropora aspera a couple of months ago and after about 2 weeks it went from yellow as a banana to green. Plenty of pe and growing like a weed but I bought it bc it was yellow and not green. I've heard thar lighting can do that. I am running and 6x54w sunpower on my 90. Bulbs are 4-blue plus, 1- coral plus and 1- purple plus. My params have been solid and i keep my alk around 9. Thoughts?

here is a quote from another thread on reef central that i think is very useful. it may answer your question as I had the oppiste problem. My greens were actual yellow lol
Yellows

"Highly dependent on Nitrate and PO4 levels. Of course all SPS colors are highly dependent on lack of N and P so I wanted to start with probably the easiest color to get, yellow. Yellows are sort of you baseline; yellows will tell you a lot about what is going on in your tank, what is needed and what is overdosed. Nitrate and/or PO4 reduction is most important, either through technical means such as nitrate/phosphate reducers or biologically through DSB, Carbon dosing and/or water changes and fuges. Basically, if you want to do SPS, I would suggest starting with an acropora that is yellow. If you can get it to say yellow for several months, you should be ready for something else.



Greens

Greens would be the next easiest color to tweak. Most green coloration can be achieved through the addition of an Iron Concentrate (Kents is what I use, however Iron is Iron). You must be very careful with Iron because it is also an Algae accelerator; this is why it is so important for you to get your yellows colors first (your N and P will be lowered).

Additionally, I use my yellows as indicators for my greens and blues. You’ll notice a deficiancy if your greens are brown color or they are paling in color. I start off by dosing Iron at about 1 drop per 50 usg twice a week and take note of what happens, color changes, Algae growth, until my yellow acroporas display a green shimmer (it wont be a solid green but a shimmer of a green/yellow).

Please note, a sign of overdosing is a darkening of tissue, when this happens you have added too much iron or too much iron is being added. Another sign of overdosing is Algae growth, stop immediately and possibly do a water change if necessary. Like everything else reef, go slowly.


Blues and some purples

This is mainly for blues but I have found is can also have an effect on purples. The supplement for this is Potassium Iodide Concentrate or Lugol’s solution, ESV Potassium Iodide Concentrate will also work; don’t just get something that says Potassium because that is a little different. Dosing should be done when blue colors become less intense. Again, using yellow corals as indicators, stop dosing when yellow corals display a green shimmer.



Reds/Pinks and some Purples

Primarily for coloring reds and pinks in Montiporas, Pocilloporas, Birdsnest, other Stys and Seriatoporas. The supplement is Potassium (not potassium iodide). If you are using a high potassium salt mix such as Oceanic, Tropical Marine Pro and you are doing regular water changes, you are more than likely not going to need to supplement this much.

For dosing you can use your monitporas, especially caps as indicators. Supplementing is required when Montiporas display slower growth and appear washed out to grey appearance. Indicators on Stys and Pocs are when they look like they have been exposed to air. Polyps are completely withdrawn and colors are light. Other indicators of potassium deficiency is when the pinks turn into a light brown and when acroporas loose their color and get lighter and pale. A major potassium deficiency is seen when tissue is lost, mostly starting from the base opposed to spotting (patchy look). And overdose can lead to tip burning so don’t mistake tip burn for new growth. Tips burns will be white with no polyps.



Purples

Probably one of the hardest coloration of all acroporas from my experience since it is a combination of several variables.

First and foremost is water clarity, which means Carbon and/or filter socks. I have also had good result from biological filters such as using cryptic zones, which produce seasquirts, sponges and other filter feeding animals. Zeo Sponge Power, which can be used in any system, feeds sponges. Sponges are great because they can filter a mass amount of water for better water clarity.

From what I have noted, increased water clarify will first effect SPS tips but not the complete base. I have seen nana and valida with really nice purple tips but brown/tan/white bases. I have seen the same nana and valida in another’s tanks, which met all other parameters with a full purple from base to tip.

Second being lighting. From my observations of my own tank and others, purples seem to love 420-440nm range light spectrum, those found in actinics and 20K halides. Some of the best purples I have seen are in tanks that have 440nm blue actinics (ATI Blue+, Giessman Actinic) or 20K Halides (Radium, XM 20K).

Third, supplements such as Iodide and Potassium (see blues and Reds/Pinks). Again, make sure your greens are green and yellows are yellow. Your blue should be bright with depth. Iodide will also help if you have tip burn.

These are just my observations through testing and I am sure in the future other factors will be seen and added. Please feel free to comment with your own observations, data is very important to moving forward.

Read more: http://************.com/2008/09/03/g...#ixzz2UznQGvWX"

[Dave & Monica]

Helps a little, I do have yellow in the scroll... This info lacks specific ranges, but goes with the eye test which is very subjective. I'll keep digging, but thank you for posting the quote.

Btw here is the link to the ref above

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2300076

[foo_dog]

I have p series and they ramp up and down from dawn-midday-dusk, during midday the warm whites and cool whites are super prevalent and I notice my corals that are suppose to be yellow look so much more yellow during the super bright mid day, then in the evening when its a much bluer coloring of leds...while they dont shift from yellow to green, I wonder if having crap loads of the white leds (which hit a lot of the needed red spectrum) helps maintain yellow color, as opposed to tanks that run a much bluer lighting tends to shift the color?