Acro ok in middle of tank?

I purchased my first acro coral a week and a half back. it is brown with green polyps, but the polyps only are green with the moonlights. This normal?

anyway I had a dliemma. knowing I only have a standard 4bulb t5 fixture I put the acro on top of the tank however it doesnt sit flush and just doesnt look natural. there is a shelf mid tank that I would rather sit the acro on but is this to far from the light?

 

Yep. When you take a coral from one tank and put it in another, its not uncommon for them to brown out until they get adjusted to their new home. Give it time. If your tank is healthy, then the colors will come around.

Doesn't look like it from the picture and really the only way to know is to try it out. If it isn't happy there, move it somewhere else.

I've had corals that were high in one person's tank and they were not happy anywhere but in the middle of mine, even though the lighting an flow was the pretty much the same.

 

It would be fine on the shelf, move the softies elsewhere tho. The color question is common so the answer is yes it will probably color up some in the next 2 to 4 weeks.

 

This completely depends on the light requirements of the coral, the quality of your T5 lighting, how old the bulbs are, and other things as well such as water clarity and other tank conditions etc. It's fine to start it out in the middle but keep an eye on it, if it starts browning out more you will need to move it up. Do you have any idea what type of lighting and placement it came from? That might help.
Keep in mind that as the Acro grows it's growth form will adjust to the conditions in your tank (flow patterns and light sources etc) so even if it looks unnatural in one place it may eventually grow to look more natural.

 

ok. I moved the finger leather to the other side. (might just get rid of that all together. I found a plce on a higher self to the left in the picture, however this rock also shares its surface with GSP. is this ok?

 

Impossible to say for sure, GSP can spread like wildfire if they really get going, it may overrun the acro eventually unless you keep up with pruning it back.