oregon tort

[aznepydna]

I was the winner of one of the oregon blue torts this weekend at the coral conference. The coral is beautiful and survived the trip home without incident. What I forgot to do is check the light requirements for this coral. I would appreciate it if Kevin could fill me in. I bought a light rail at the conference and hung my 400 watt reef optix pendent from it. Thanks again for a wonderful weekend.

Andy Penza

 

[dfs/la2]

Aznepydna,


The Oregon Blue Tortuosa prefers a moderately high light level of at least 3 watts per gallon. Your new Reef Optix Pendant should be adequate for this coral. When adding a new coral such as your Oregon Blue Tortuosa to a well-established aquarium with existing corals, we recommend placing 5 to 10 layers of the screening material above just the one or two new corals during the first few weeks. The screen could be egg crate light paneling or fiberglass mesh. (Please place the new arrivals at the bottom, or bottom corner of your aquarium.) You would then remove one layer a day until the coral displays full coloration and appears to be fully expanded. You may then slowly inch the coral to its preferred location over the next month or so. This will ensure the existing corals in your tank will not become distressed and still allow you to acclimate your new arrivals slowly to their new lighting system.

We wish you the best of luck with your beautiful new coral. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Luci Z.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster & Smith

 

[DFS]

Andy,
Good to see you were able to win one of the auctions for the ORA Oregon Tort at the conference and frag swap over the weekend.

We maintain this coral in very shallow raceways in the farm under a DE 400 Watt 20K on a light rail. Oregon torts seem to tolerate a variety of lighting conditions, but really show their intense blue coloration under very strong lighting.

I have one 10" away from a 400 watt 20K halide in my office aquarium, and it seems to tolerate this intensity very well.

Like Luci stated you may want to acclimate this coral to your lighting, as it was in a bag for the journey home, which can be somewhat stressful. Your new addition is also going into different water chemistry and will be maintained under a different spectrum of light.

On a good note the ORA Oregon Torts seem to be somewhat resilient to light shock so I really don’t think you will have any issues at all, as we maintain them under pretty intense light from day one after acclimation into our QT system.

Enjoy your new coral; it’s an incredible frag!
Kevin