52 http://www.ultramarinemagazine.co.uk
Americans do. This may be due
to their having a better un-
derstanding of how the corals
will look when they grow-out
in their tanks, or a result of
starting with bigger frags or
colonies to start with and their
willingness to let them grow
to large sizes. This was appar-
ent even in the tanks that were
relatively new that I saw, in that
it was apparent that once the
corals grew-in, the look would
be both harmonious and pleas-
ing to look at. I don’t know if
this ability to match and harmo-
nise colours is taught or passed
along among reef-keepers in
Europe, but it is a hallmark of
many of the European tanks I
have seen.A curious development that I
discussed with several of my
friends in Europe is that despite
these beautiful tanks full of
healthy colourful colonies,
many Europeans complained
that they felt their corals were
not as colourful as those in
the States. Many told me that,
after looking at our corals on
the internet, they were sure
we were getting much more
colourful corals here than they
were. However, knowing that
the suppliers who supply the
US with corals also supply Eu-
rope with the very same corals,
I know this can’t be the case.
Also, these suppliers are not
likely to be giving their most
colourful corals only to the US
and not to Europe since, from
what I saw, we were both pay-
ing about the same for corals at
the retail and wholesale levels.
I therefore think this difference
in colouration or perceived
difference is due to several
reasons. Firstly, I think it may
be due to many hobbyists in
the US using significantly more
blue light than I saw being used
on European tanks (and much
of this blue light was due to the
increased use of LED lighting
and even specialised blue LEDs,
like ReefBrites, all of which can
enhance the colouration of cor-
als). The European tanks I sawA selection of frags in Italy notice their large sizeThe impressive large tank of Enrico Ometto in Italy full of large colonies that were grown from frags, but they lack the
coloration that is often seen in US tanksA assortment of rare and expensive fish in a US tank