Possible to avoid certain coral colors?

[Raul-7]

I will admit, I've never kept a SPS aquarium but I'm falling in love day by day with the beauty. And I'm currently in the research phase.

Montipora, Acropora, Torches, etc. I can envision an aquarium with a limited amount of coral species, but would make it up with species richness. By having multiple corals of the same species, it would create a greater visual impact than having a salad bowl of one-off's of different species.

Now don't this as flaming anyone, I know we all have different goals. But is it possible to make an aquarium with only reds, oranges, blues and purples; while avoiding green and yellow? To me it seems very difficult as it seems most corals are not pure colored, they have a variety of different colors. And green seems to be ever present in a lot of corals to one degree or another.

But I must ask, is it possible? Are there certain species I need to avoid?

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Sure, you could definitely do that, but it depends on the type of coral. With acros, they come on all sorts of colors. So for instance, if you only want purple, you could get corals like Garf Bonsai or Copps Purple Stag. Green would probably be the easiest, because corals of that color tend to be the cheapest.

 

[Alexraptor]

Potentially yes. But it's important to keep in mind that most corals have the potential to morph color if conditions compel them to do so, and sometimes the change can be quite radical. I've had pure yellow Montipora digtata morph into a deep red base color with green polyps.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

I will admit, I've never kept a SPS aquarium but I'm falling in love day by day with the beauty. And I'm currently in the research phase.

Montipora, Acropora, Torches, etc. I can envision an aquarium with a limited amount of coral species, but would make it up with species richness. By having multiple corals of the same species, it would create a greater visual impact than having a salad bowl of one-off's of different species.

Now don't this as flaming anyone, I know we all have different goals. But is it possible to make an aquarium with only reds, oranges, blues and purples; while avoiding green and yellow? To me it seems very difficult as it seems most corals are not pure colored, they have a variety of different colors. And green seems to be ever present in a lot of corals to one degree or another.

But I must ask, is it possible? Are there certain species I need to avoid?

With acropora you can do any type and mix of colors. They come in solid color too. With torches, I doubt there’s anything but variations of green and yellow. Unless you’re ok with brown.

 

[Raul-7]

Sure, you could definitely do that, but it depends on the type of coral. With acros, they come on all sorts of colors. So for instance, if you only want purple, you could get corals like Garf Bonsai or Copps Purple Stag. Green would probably be the easiest, because corals of that color tend to be the cheapest.

But it seems a lot of corals have green in them? And that's one color I'm trying to avoid.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I think it depends on the Acro. For instance Copps Purple Stag is solid purple, no other color. Cornbred’s Maleficent is solid red. Oregon Tort is solid blue (unless you got a fake ). Maybe tell us the type of coral and color you’re looking for and we can give suggestions.

Personally I prefer corals with multiple colors, but single colors are available as well.

 

[Someshmuk]

Yes you can 100% avoid yellows and greens as you're the purchaser of coral into your tank.

Most LPS and softies and even montiporas do not color morph from lighting conditions as significantly as acroporas.

How much are you limiting your coral selection? 1 only or more?

If 1, your best bet is to select acroporas or zoanthids as they give you the most color flexibility understanding that lighting can directly affect the color composition of the acros. My pink lemonade is supposed to be pink polyped and yellow but it's encrusting edge is more of a lime green. And my red planet is all pale blue with red polyps.

 

[Raul-7]

Yes you can 100% avoid yellows and greens as you're the purchaser of coral into your tank.

Most LPS and softies and even montiporas do not color morph from lighting conditions as significantly as acroporas.

How much are you limiting your coral selection? 1 only or more?

If 1, your best bet is to select acroporas or zoanthids as they give you the most color flexibility understanding that lighting can directly affect the color composition of the acros. My pink lemonade is supposed to be pink polyped and yellow but it's encrusting edge is more of a lime green. And my red planet is all pale blue with red polyps.

I want to limit to only [reds, oranges, blues and purples/pinks] - the probably stick to acropora, stylophora, seriatopora, montipora - then maybe some LPS or softies at the bottom like torches, xenia[?], and toadstools.

But my main goal is to have 'streets' of the same species in groupings and avoid a salad bowl look.

But no zoas, I hate zoanthids.

 

[Someshmuk]

Everyone has their preferences! I’d stay away from Xenia as they auto frag and it’ll end up in parts of your tank you don’t want them in and they grow so much faster than any other coral.