I need color. Suggestions?

[tomtoro]

The family said they want to see some colorful corals. Here's a pic of my tank and they're right. Everything looks flesh colored unless just the actinics are on. Then about 3/4 of them luminesce(word?)
Any suggestions for some more vivid colored corals that are somewhat easy to keep? I'm going out tomorrow, but not too many lfs' around here with anything fancy. I'd be willing to order off this site if there were some candidates. Softies are my favorite, but lps are o.k. too.
Thanks,
Tom

 

[dmjordan]

ricordias, zoanthids, sponges, gorgonians, yellow fiji leather

 

[freejury]

You might look for some red candy cane, red/green brains, yellow zoos, along with dmjordan's great suggestions. might find some orange sun coral too. Looks awesome in the lower light level areas

 

[krazekajin]

Yellow Figi Leather, and Red Sponges.
Keep your atintics on more and possibly get more atintics bulbs. They won't hurt and they will make your tank look prettier.
However, I like the look of your tank. What are its specs? Gallons, lighting

 

[oceana]

neon shroom. zoanthids in large colonys. monti cap. favias. clams. chalice ora green toad stools. pink and green hammer/frogspawns. its really endless.

 

[richarl5]

bright colored zoos and rics would be great additions!

 

[tomtoro]

Sounds like I'm just not looking very hard. I'll check out the corals you guys suggested. I'll check this site and see if they have some. I think I only need $80.00 to get the free shipping.
Thanks very much,
Tom
KrazeKajin,
The tank specs are:
100gal 18x18x72
50gal sump/ref
(3) 175watt MH 2 10000k 1 6500k
80watts of NO flourescent actinic
Good call on the actinics. Not nearly enough, but no room.
I have a 6 foot power compact fixture, but when I put the actinic bulbs in, they were too bright. Almost white, so I went back to the 4' NO 03bulbs
.
Thanks for the info and the compliment on the tank.
Tom
>>Yellow Figi Leather, and Red Sponges.
Keep your atintics on more and possibly get more atintics bulbs. They won't hurt and they will make your tank look prettier.
However, I like the look of your tank. What are its specs? Gallons, lighting

 

[isistius]

just by changing the kelvin of your bulbs will change the appearance of everything in your tank. on the low end of the spectrum, say 6500k, yo are copying the sun's natural color, yellow. as you move toward the higher end of the spectrum, say 12-14000k, you get an real nice, crisp, blue-white. and as you hit the top of the spectrum, 20000k you get a very blue appearance. but there are pros and cons. first and foremost, it's all about appearance. what YOU like and no one else. i have 15000k metal halides on my tank right now and LOVE them. but by increasing the kelvin you are sacrificing growth rate. remember, it's what you want.
you can add actinics, like mentioned earlier. make sure you use true actinic bulbs. they give off a very blue light. they also allow the corals you have in the tank now to possibly fluoresce. with just the actinics on in my tank, some of the corals really "glow" almost radioactive-like.
jmo.

 

[krazekajin]

just my next two cents.
I noticed that you have 1 6500K and 2 10K. You don't seem to have any SPS in your tank, so I would think that you really would not need the 6500K light. That is a very yellow light. I had the 20K in my 29g and it was beautiful. I then went to the 10K but I lost alot of my color. i think I am going to next with the 12K or 15K.
here is an idea. You could replace your 6500K with a 20K or 15K. If you like that look then you could replace your 10K lamps too. Just a though.

 

[teen]

you should do 10k in the middle, then 20k on each side.
then do what everyone else above said.

 

[1fast300z]

Man I think that tank looks great. I saw a really nice Green Brain coral that I loved at my LFS.. I think thats what kind of coral it was not to familar with corals.

 

[freejury]

If you dont mind something that can grow crazy fast, you shouldn't have any trouble finding some nice neon green star polyps either. This clump started out about 2"x3". Now its about 5x6"

 

[tomtoro]

I never thought of changing the lights. If I change the two sides to 20000k and leave the 6500, I can get a good look and still be able to grow some sps in the middle. I can take the $80.00 I was going to buy corals with and buy one 20000k now.
I did like the brain coral I saw and haven't seen the green star anywhere yet.
Thanks for the good suggestions,
Tom

 

[ma]

a green or blue carpet anenome

 

[tomtoro]

I saw a green carpet anemone today. Guy wanted 80.00 for it. I think that's too much, but man was it green.

 

[beth]

Ricordias are one of easiest and most colorful ways of adding an abundant of color to the tank. Zoos as well. Its a really nice looking tank, BTW.

 

[tomtoro]

Not a bad idea on the ricordias, Beth. I did buy one very green one, but once I brought it home, it looked flesh colored unless just the 03's are on.
I do have a nice zoo patch of green emeralds. I saw some amazing blues and oranges at the lfs, but they wanted $15 a polyp. We're talking maybe 150.00 for something of any size.
Maybe it is my lights, but still not sure what I need to change to. Maybe more powerful actinics.
I did buy a nice clam yesterday that's colorful from the top, but not so much from the front. Here's a pic of it:

Thanks for the compliment on the tank,
Tom