Shades of Fall

Shades of Fall is an Atlantis (ATL) Acropora strain with an autumn palette: a green body tipped in orange and pink, like foliage turning colour. The warm tips against the cooler green tissue are the signature, and the effect strengthens as more growing ends develop across a colony. It is a long-standing named strain that many keepers use to bring warm, seasonal tones into an otherwise blue-lit SPS display.

Care

This is an advanced Acropora for a mature SPS system only. It needs high light and strong, random flow, and it depends on alkalinity stability — keep alkalinity, calcium and magnesium consistent, test on a schedule, and make corrections in small steps. Nutrients should be low but present. Tip colour is a useful guide: if the orange and pink fade, check stability, nutrients, and light, then adjust one thing at a time.

Placement and growth

Mount it at the top of the rockwork in peak light and turbulent flow, fixed securely so it can encrust and branch at a moderate rate. It is peaceful, but it needs clear space so neighbours cannot shade it or sting its growing tips. New growth carrying the full green-to-orange-pink transition is the sign of a well-settled colony.

Identification notes

In the hobby this strain is often attributed to Acropora nasuta, but that attribution is unverified. It should be treated as a hobby identification only, and the coral is listed here simply as Acropora sp.