Acan Color Changes

[muzikalmatt]

So I know it's pretty common for some corals (particularly acans) to change color under different lighting conditions, sometimes for the better and sometimes worse. I thought it might be interesting to see some specific examples from everyone's tanks. Below is one of the more drastic examples from my tank.

Acan Echinata - The first picture is the coral as shown on Unique Corals' website when I purchased it from a live sale a few months ago. The second picture is the coral when I first got it in my tank and the last two are recent photos of the coral after it finally colored up. (The very last photo has the polyp lab filter on.) When I first got this one, I was rather disappointed as it didn't look much like the first picture. It stayed rather bland for quite some time but once I found a spot where it was happy the orange colors really started to come out and now it's one of my favorite corals.

I know this example isn't exactly comparing apples to apples as my lighting is much bluer than the vendor photo, but I was really surprised to see so much of the orange come out under the LED (Kessil A360WE). I'm guessing Unique was using T5's which brought out more of the purples and greens, but I really have no idea and don't have much experience on this front. I'm actually pleasantly surprised though and feel this is a change for the better.

Anyone have similar experiences to share?

 

[reef lover]

Neat! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Idoc]

That's a really pretty acan

 

[Jman76]

Cool acan! Mine are changing as well, not as drastic. Used to be simple green with white, edges are coloring a bit. Thought I was losing my mind haha

 

[Silverfish]

I noticed as well. It seems the subtle variation of my acan slowly disappeared and they all tend to look more orange. The longer I hv them though I’m starting to see more colors.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Cool acan! Mine are changing as well, not as drastic. Used to be simple green with white, edges are coloring a bit. Thought I was losing my mind haha

Nice! I really like the orange and blueish acan in the back left. Almost looks like Miami Dolphins colors.

 

[AdamB]

The 8 acans I have also changed more to an orangish color except for 1 that is purple/ green that one gets less light than rest.I have them under 2 hydra 26 hd in an 80 gallon deep blue tank. My blues are at 100% violet is 80%. Whites at 16% . One of my acans was rainbow in color than turned more orange. I ask my friend at reef shop what he had his hydras set up on and i matched his light setup so I don’t understand why they changed ? Would like to know as most of my acans look the same now!

 

[Silverfish]

So if you are able to figure it out please pass that info along. Perhaps the colors can be seen at a very particular setting and using a very close up shot.

 

[Sipec]

.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Under my gen1 radions, they always shifted color. Under the gen3s, not usually.

 

[SpeakerToAnimals]

Mine also turned orange (used to be red). I moved it into the open where it's getting more light. It looks happier. I hope the red comes back.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Mine also turned orange (used to be red). I moved it into the open where it's getting more light. It looks happier. I hope the red comes back.

That is a great looking coral and a great photo! Love acans!