Yellow/orange Acropora

[Moonfruit777]

There are some crazy pictures of yellow and orange Acropora on the internet.

Maybe I am colorblind but I have yet to see a true yellow Acropora in person.
Online it is often hard to tell because everyone is using PS or camerafilters.
So I'm talking >yellow to the eye under blue LED< no cheats with camera filters or photoshop.
Not saying that gel filters or PS are cheating - not at all, as long as you use them to show the real color and don't make colors appear different.

Every coral I got offered as "yellow" turned out to be green under blue LED.
Some Acropora get pretty close under ~14k spectrum.
Even my tiny frag of (I think) a Acropra "pikachu" cytherea only seems to be a light green under 14k and definitely green under full blue.

Another Acro I recieved - a green tenuis with blue tips - had orange polyps. Hard to see but easy to spot with a gel filter. Unfortunately the orange color of the polyps faded away slowly :/

Corals I would consider to have a true yellow color are some LPS and Zoanthids.


I did read that older article stating that yellow is the easiest color to keep. Which I feel like is very unrealistic

So let me see some pictures of your true yellow Acros and Corals and post a short comment about what you think makes the coral yellow.

Any up to date tips on keeping yellow and orange colors in Acropora
e.g. light spectrum, trace elements, nutrients, feeding
are welcome of course



I will post pictures of the mentioned corals in a bit

 

[Moonfruit777]

Pikachu under ~14k Light (no filter)


Pikachu under full blue (with orange filter)


Orange


Tenuis the day after I got it (with orange filter)


Tenuis today (with orange filter) ; man comparing it side by side it does look really bad now

Maybe the color is bad because they are frags, hope they color back up when they start growing


This crazy orange Acro the day after I got it (with orange filter)


not so crazy orange Acro today (with orangefilter)



Now some examples of what I'd consider true yellow

The eyes on this chalice (no filter)


This hammer Euphyllia (no filter)

 

[Reeferdood]

There are some crazy pictures of yellow and orange Acropora on the internet.

Maybe I am colorblind but I have yet to see a true yellow Acropora in person.
Online it is often hard to tell because everyone is using PS or camerafilters.
So I'm talking >yellow to the eye under blue LED< no cheats with camera filters or photoshop.
Not saying that gel filters or PS are cheating - not at all, as long as you use them to show the real color and don't make colors appear different.

Every coral I got offered as "yellow" turned out to be green under blue LED.
Some Acropora get pretty close under ~14k spectrum.
Even my tiny frag of (I think) a Acropra "pikachu" cytherea only seems to be a light green under 14k and definitely green under full blue.

Another Acro I recieved - a green tenuis with blue tips - had orange polyps. Hard to see but easy to spot with a gel filter. Unfortunately the orange color of the polyps seems to fade away slowly :/

Corals I would consider to have a true yellow color are some LPS and Zoanthids.


I did read that older article stating that yellow is the easiest color to keep. Which I feel like is very unrealistic

So let me see some pictures of your true yellow Acros and Corals and post a short comment about what you think makes the coral yellow.

Any up to date tips on keeping yellow and orange colors in Acropora
e.g. light spectrum, trace elements, nutrients, feeding
are welcome of course



I will post pictures of the mentioned corals in a bit

https://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/

 

[Moonfruit777]

@Reeferdood Exactly the article I meant!

Don't really think that it tells the whole story about the yellow colors
I run nutrients pretty low... P always shows up 0-1 on my Hanna Checker so Po4 is somewhere between 0 and 0,02 (error range), NO3 is always <4 (red sea) and those are even confirmed by my latest ICP test.

Really interested to read what other people think and how they achieve success with yellow and orange Acros

 

[ctpeasy]

Hard to get pics of yellow. Tyree Pink Lemonade.

 

[Reeferdood]

To you supplement trace elements and aminos?
With low nutrients you might benefit from some amino addition..

 

[gatorbait01]

Here's some progression pics of my lemonade. It seems to stay consistently yellow with ease. The lemonade initially browned, but as it grew it became more yellow.

 

[gatorbait01]

Here's another I have that is more white/beige coral w/ bright yellow tips under blues. It has stayed consistently this color. Have no idea what it is. Looks kinda like a white version of a jf fox flame.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

JF Flame and Pikachu Acro are the only SPS corals I have ever really seen that showed true yellow colors. Lot's of lime green and orange's out there.

I got an Atomic Fireball frag that was sort of yellow but the thing has since browned out and struggled to do well in my tank

 

[madweazl]

Tyree' pink lemonade from a couple weeks ago (straight from Galaxy S9 with no post processing outside of cropping).

Lighting:
2 Kessil A360WE at 60% color
2 Blue+
1 Aquablue special
1 Purple+

Is it possible you aren't providing enough PAR?

 

[BigJim]

I agree on the pink lemonade being truly yellow under any lighting. Mine would look greener if my nutrients were elevated. There are a lot of acros that have a yellow highlighter color under heavy blue lighting but look more green under whiter lighting. I don't have a good picture of a sunset millepora, but I have seen many that were truly orange.

pink lemonade 012217 - Copy by Big Jim, on Flickr
pink lemonade 3 092817 by Big Jim, on Flickr

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Nutrients and the right light spectrum and intensity will be what helps give the best yellows. Here is my current favorite a few months after I got it. Nutrients are now readable, the yellows still great but bolder and the underside of the coral is a nice red as well as the polyps. I will have to get a pic of one of the pieces I am growing out.

 

[29bonsaireef]

Yellows and Oranges seem to come out best in high light (400-600)par range. Given tank is stable and params in check.

 

[gatorbait01]

I also have a asd milli that really holds its yellow/orange in both white and blue lights. It really pops under blues. It's probably at 350-400 par.

 

[Jeff Hall]

Walt Disney Acro always appears yellow to me.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

This is it after aclimating to the tank when the nutrients went to readable. The camera pics up a tinge of green in the yellow but it's not to visable with my eyes. I will get some updates pics of it currently. I am think it's a different species than the typical yellow and red polyp wolverine acro. It's more smooth skin and round coralites but its normally till to early to tell what it will do. For sure I would say it's a yellow acro because that hasn't changed much.

 

[BoomCorals]

Blue LED isn’t helping either to be honest. Yellow acros will look green often times under blue LED. Tyree pink lemonade is true yellow for sure. Banana Lokani as well. Copps 24k millie. Among a few others.

 

[mannyhernz]

Here is one i am growing that has the yellow you're looking for

Cellphone pic under 10k radion

 

[kevinl]

Picked up this tiny nub because it was pure yellow in color, you can see though the new encrusting growth is coming in green

 

[apt220]

Picked up this tiny nub because it was pure yellow in color, you can see though the new encrusting growth is coming in green

I don't think it's anything to worry about at this point. For a lot of corals/ Frags the edge of the encrusting is commonly a different color from the rest of the piece.