Question with Oregon Tort Color....

[Reeferhead]

BTW, I talked to my buddy, he's not 100% sure on where he got it but based on what he remembers and who he thinks he got it from (another buddy of mine who I know for sure has a legit Oregon Tort) I'm about 95% sure this is indeed the real deal. I'd be really interested to hear if anyone else out there has experienced this kind of extreme lightening with an Oregon Tort in a low nutrient environment and what they did to bring the color back.

TIA

 

[karsseboom]

Hey I have an idea,

I will ask Travis from upscales if this indeed is a true Oregon tort. He is the originator of this coral. If there anyone on this planet who would know the answer it would be him. If he says no, than its not.

 

[karsseboom]

Jut sent him an email with the pic you posted.

 

[Reeferhead]

Thanks Boom, I'm interested to hear his thoughts on this.

I'm not sure if this will help anyone or not because its a really horrible pic but here's the coral a day or two after I got it while in QT back in June 2011. Gives a sense of how it paled though


IMG_6392 by nickgrant79, on Flickr

 

[reeffreak75]

Did someone said Oregon tort!????lol...

This a true Oregon tort....blues tort ever..this is a picture from a store in Medford Oregon...the owner said this piece took about 3-4 years to get this big,and he's water quality is impeccable....

 

[ghostman]

I'm no expert, but I do not think it is an Oregon Tort based off of the shape of the coralites. Oregon torts have a more rounded edge on the coralite structures than the pics posted. That would be in addition to the color being way off as posted above.

 

[karsseboom]

Okay.....

Just talked to the founder of the oregon tort travis from upscales. I showed him your picture and he said.....IT IS AN OREGON TORT

He said it looks like you grew it from a frag and thats why the small uncommon growth structure confuses people. He also said maybe your tank is low on food cause it to become pale.

 

[Reeferhead]

Thanks Boom, color and growth structure are funny things when it comes to acros

I've cut my GFO in half, reduced my MH photoperiod from 9 hours to 6, and started feeding a bit more. We'll see what happens. I'll post up a updated pic in about a month.

 

[xcorallusx]

booya, I love it when people try to ID a coral under 3" lol

 

[JPMagyar]

Who know's . . .

Could be. . .

My personal W.A.G. is that this particular coral is photo-adapted to 400 watt MH lighting especially Radium bulbs and anything else changes it's characteristics significantly, but I have zero science behind that belief.


My original frag purchased in 2003 from Rick Souta of Portland, OR who got his frag from Shaun.

2007

2011

 

[JPMagyar]

 

[JPMagyar]

Hello all-

My name is Shaun Monahan and I imported the ORIGINAL Oregon Tort back in late 1998. It was originally a beige color. This is about the time the first 20k 400w Radiums became available, and this (then beige) coral was mounted about 6" from the water line, directly under the 400w 20k Radium in my store's (Waves Marine Aquaria) 150g display. Within a few days this coral started to develop the solid deep blue coloration it's well known for today.

This coral was imported from Bali - NOT the SOLOMONS or any other local- I cannot speak for the "other" torts, and where they've originated from, just this one.

This tort was starting to show some signs of RTN along the base, so Travis and I ended up trading some SPS. Once I fragged my tort, it ended up completely bleaching out then next day. So, Travis thankfully ended up saving this coral, growing it out, and fragging it to sell.

The rest of what Travis stated is correct, and to further clarify we have never been enemies- just very competitive. Also my website was ecorals... And Patrick Monaghan and I are not related.... And Steve Tyree and I used to do a lot of frag trading back in the late 90's....

And I hope this clarifies.

 

[Reeferhead]

Good stuff JP! Thanks for posting. I have a switchable ballast and an unused 400 watt Radium bulb on hand. I've never used it as I thought it was a bit much but if nothing changes with this coral in a month, I may give it a shot

 

[karsseboom]

Yes shaun was the importer and rick was one of the first few people to propagate it also, but it was travis that brought the coral to life.

 

[WickedBlue28]

How do I buy a frag of this?

 

[JPMagyar]

Rick has the most regular supply, but as I mentioned above this coral seems to prefer INTENSE MH lighting to keep it's deep blue color.


Oregon Tort from Oregon!

 

[aqua80]

JPMagyar your oregon tort is so nice (and your tank as well!), thanks for sharing.
Just read on your blog that in april you had problem with him, how did it goes since then ?
and do you know what happened ?

 

[karsseboom]

Rick has the most regular supply, but as I mentioned above this coral seems to prefer INTENSE MH lighting to keep it's deep blue color.


Oregon Tort from Oregon!

The dad is not running the shop anymore his some is and there just doing online sells. Shaun has a build thread in here and visits regulary. Upscales is an amazing shop probably the nicest in Oregon. There are some other popular Sps Travis propagated also.

Your tanks looks amazing...I have followed it for a while now.

 

[Reeferhead]

JP,

So what do you think is the reason for the lighter shade of your starting frag? Was it coming from a tank with less light? or did it lighten when you were acclimating it to your lights?

 

[JPMagyar]

Thanks for the complements everyone!

JPMagyar your oregon tort is so nice (and your tank as well!), thanks for sharing.
Just read on your blog that in april you had problem with him, how did it goes since then ?
and do you know what happened ?

I need to keep up with the blog more 'cuz it is interesting I think to look back on changes.

I broke my huge OT colony up because a couple branches started to turn pale. The pieces I saved are all doing well although the color seems to me to be not as deep navy as it was. Interestingly enough the pieces I am keeping downstairs which are under 400 watt Radiums and Super Actinic VHOs appear significantly darker than the colony in my display tank which now has 16 T5s and 4 150 watt Radium HQIs. However, it's still a little scary because some of the new growth has branches with few coralites that are paler than the body. Whatever is going on is very slow to take effect. As a side bar my Cali Tort seems to have trouble as well. It was a VERY fast grower, but it wiped in the spring and the pieces I saved are growing so slowly. SPS keeping . . . there's always something :spin1:

Your tanks looks amazing...I have followed it for a while now.

Thanks!

JP,

So what do you think is the reason for the lighter shade of your starting frag? Was it coming from a tank with less light? or did it lighten when you were acclimating it to your lights?

I started the frag low in my old tank which was acrylic with lots of bracing that interfered with the lighting. Based on that I think it is highly likely it was wanting more light, but truthfully that's just a guess on my part.


You don't have access to an Apogee PAR meter by any chance? I can say that my tort looks best when it's getting 700 umol/m2 or more. No matter what, I'm curious to see how your frag changes over time. I have had many, many corals that took years to change from brown pale frags into colorful colonies.



On a slightly different note I recently bought a small frag of cultured Hoeksemai. It looks really similar to my original OT frag so I'm hoping it will grow into one of the deep blue Hoeks. We'll see


Joe