Oregon Tort placement

[mcoomer]

Hi all,
I've got an Oregon Tort frag that's been in the tank for probably 9-10 months. It's encrusting the rock very nicely and has shown some very slow growth but I'm worried. The color appears to be slowly feeding from a deep blue to lighter blue. I don't see any tissue loss so I suspect that I simply need to reposition it. My question is more light or less. Currently it's located about 12" under the surface (20 total from the fixture) and and slightly right of being directly under the lamp. Lamp is 250W 20K Radium with Bluewave 7 HQI ballast driving it. Finally, the bulb is about 6-7 months old.

Any advice on repositioning this coral appreciated.

Mike

 

[Jabrams]

Less.

Less would therefore cause it to darken up. Your bulb is aging, have you also thought of replacing it in 3 months?

 

[lolgranny]

+1 on less.

 

[Justdrew]

On ORA's website their Oregon tort is one of the only corals listed as HIGH light. Almost all of the other ones are listed as Medium-High. I have my Oregon tort right at the top of my rocks and it is showing deep dark blue. Everything I have read and seen shows deep blues and dark purples like higher light to keep their dark colors.

Drew

 

[Jabrams]

What is the age of your bulb justdrew?

 

[iap]

I keep mine pretty high under 409w radiums..nice dark blue

 

[Apisto]

I have mine as high as any coral in the tank, under 250w Radiums, and it seems pretty happy there.

 

[toothman]

I have a very healthy oregon tort, it is 6", it seemed to do better and grow better when I fed the tank a lot. I tend now to feed less and do more water changes and many other corals are doing better, the oregon tort however has slowed its growth considerably. I use a frozen cube food that makes quite a cloud of fish mush in the water and think it really helps sps health.

 

[mcoomer]

I ended up moving the coral last night. I have a very nice Cali Tort so I took a cue from that and moved the Oregon Tort to the same level in the tank. It's about4-6" higher in the water column than it was before. Because the rock structure is more open at that level I think it will get better flow there as well. We'll see.

Mike

 

[jstuver]

Saw this post and thought I would ask, I got a colony of Oregon blue tort from a fellow reefer and it was really blue in his tank. I have had it for about a month and it has turned more of a purple. I have a 75g tank with a 400w halide(14k) with 2 54w t5 fixture for extra blue/purple. The tort was really blue in my tank as well until recently and it's turning a more purple. Is it getting too much light?

 

[prospectclmt]

My OT frag is about 6" under a 150w 14k Phoenix. Nice deep blue. It does seem happy where it's at.

 

[mcoomer]

Saw this post and thought I would ask, I got a colony of Oregon blue tort from a fellow reefer and it was really blue in his tank. I have had it for about a month and it has turned more of a purple. I have a 75g tank with a 400w halide(14k) with 2 54w t5 fixture for extra blue/purple. The tort was really blue in my tank as well until recently and it's turning a more purple. Is it getting too much light?

Really hard to say why it's changing colors but you might try moving it down a few inches to see if that makes a difference. As long as the coral is healthy you can play with the placement and see what effect that placement has on color, polyp extension, and general health of the coral. If it's a relatively new addition to the tank I'd probably leave it alone for now and let it settle in. It may not be completely adapted to your tank.

Mike

 

[mcoomer]

Happy to report that the coral is apparently enjoying it's new neighborhood. Color is coming back nicely.

Mike