Why does every blue tort I buy turn purple?

[johnnstacy]

Bought 2 more blue torts to punish myself. One even arrived kind of blue. They are both purple now. This has been killing me because I have been going back and forth on whether to go from 250 DE to 400W SE. Many have said that 250DE is plenty and I would agree partially because there are several corals in my tank that look fine under 250. Unfortunately they are my pinks birdnest, standard green acros, orange cap, etc. It is the tough colors that I can't get to do what I want. Most in this thread have said that they keep their torts down lower yet the post about 3 up from this one with the picture has his 6 to 8" from the top and he's running 6500K 400W! Man, seems like some of you just can't go wrong with your lighting......

 

[Big E]

There's just too many variables involved than just light. Here's my tort under 400w XM 20k's. I've had it mid level & now about 6" from the top. The color has never changed.
The original frag had the green inner skin but it went all blue as it grew. The growth tips are a lighter shade of blue.

I've put Reeflux 10k's over it & it has that same blue intensity as Servo & Pug's pics.

 

[drtango]

400w 10K XM right above this tort---it's really blue in person, this photo is "raw". Areas in the highest flow are "bluer"

John

 

[MaryAnn_W]

I have many Oregon torts in my tank. Ranging from a large colonies to frags and I see exactly what manderx was talking about. When they first came/come in after being out of the light for awhile they had a green tinge with blue base and they would progress to purple tinge then to the true popping blue tinge with and a blue base. After a week or so in the tank they would look like they were radiating a blue glow and be what I consider their classic color.

Also I notice when I scrape the bottom of the tank to take off the corraline the light is able to bounce up and the usual underneath areas that don't get as much light brighten to the glowing blue color like the areas that get direct light from above.

So atleast in my tank and in my opinion at this point it has everything to do with light. I know it isn't flow because I have tested that and that affects the growth structure. The higher the flow the more spread out and thicker the stalks become.

I will do some checks deeper because this has me curious. I keep my water parameters stable and keep records every day so I will do a cross check to see if I can find a correlation between color and any of the parameters I check for.

 

[NuclearReefs]

Have a picture Maryann_w?

Whats your tank specs?

 

[NuclearReefs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8100602#post8100602 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by johnnstacy
Bought 2 more blue torts to punish myself. One even arrived kind of blue. They are both purple now. This has been killing me because I have been going back and forth on whether to go from 250 DE to 400W SE. Many have said that 250DE is plenty and I would agree partially because there are several corals in my tank that look fine under 250. Unfortunately they are my pinks birdnest, standard green acros, orange cap, etc. It is the tough colors that I can't get to do what I want. Most in this thread have said that they keep their torts down lower yet the post about 3 up from this one with the picture has his 6 to 8" from the top and he's running 6500K 400W! Man, seems like some of you just can't go wrong with your lighting......

Dude,, Get a Iwasaki 6500 K bulb and marry it with a 20K xm in the same reflector over a Tort.. You will get your Blue and growth .... Run your 20K and hour on before and a hour off with no more that 8 hours total Halide photo period.... maybe only 5.5 hours on the iwasaki.....

 

[johnnstacy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8117742#post8117742 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NuclearReefs
Dude,, Get a Iwasaki 6500 K bulb and marry it with a 20K xm in the same reflector over a Tort.. You will get your Blue and growth .... Run your 20K and hour on before and a hour off with no more that 8 hours total Halide photo period.... maybe only 5.5 hours on the iwasaki.....

I have a DE setup. I'm not aware that I can put two DE bulbs inside the same reflector. So you think my Ushio 10K's aren't going to work to get the blue colors? To bright or not enough? I have raised my lights to about 15" off the water and another 10" to the torts. It is an experiment to see if the reduction in light intensity will help.

 

[DaddyJax]

I have a combo of XM 10k and 20k and my torts are very blue. No purple. When I had them under my AC 14k and a ssb they had green,blue and purple.

You can see a little green in this pic

 

[NuclearReefs]

Daddy jax,,, Same color in both pieces even with one being high and the other one low?

 

[DaddyJax]

No I pulled it down to get a good shot of it! I had it mid way and the one that is high is under 175w. The other was under 250w 14k at the time. I can say honestly that nutrients are the biggest culprit ime for the colors changing. Only when I went BB with a high fish bioload did I achieve the deepest blue. Even the pic in the sand was taken after I had my tank BB for two months and I had just put sand back in my tank a week before the pic. I went bb after a few months later when I upgraded to 2 larger tanks. The colors are exceptional. But I made it a point to have a higher bioload with the bb.

 

[johnnstacy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8118360#post8118360 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DaddyJax
No I pulled it down to get a good shot of it! I had it mid way and the one that is high is under 175w. The other was under 250w 14k at the time. I can say honestly that nutrients are the biggest culprit ime for the colors changing. Only when I went BB with a high fish bioload did I achieve the deepest blue. Even the pic in the sand was taken after I had my tank BB for two months and I had just put sand back in my tank a week before the pic. I went bb after a few months later when I upgraded to 2 larger tanks. The colors are exceptional. But I made it a point to have a higher bioload with the bb.

DE or SE bulbs?

 

[DaddyJax]

se

 

[NuclearReefs]

Cool,, looks awsome. :thumbsup:

 

[twon8]

Ive got a few torts,

here is the same, undervho actinic and 400w mh
first under reeflux 10k

then under xm 20k

and here is a different tort under 250wmh 14k and t511k.

 

[NuclearReefs]

I like that last pic,, Looks like my Tort .. Same color! :thumbsup:

 

[Covey]

We just had a club meeting today and I thought I would share what I noticed. All the blue torts(maybe a ORA blue tort) in the club were fragged from the same guy so it take genetics out of it.

Anyway different system, same frag, results:

1) The original colony, in a well set up BB system under Giesmann 13K 250MH. Mid way up, the tort has a green base and is farely dark purple.

2) Two 3" plus frags in another locals tank, in a Prodobio setup under 400W 20K XM. Low in the tank 4" off the sandbed in a 120G the tort is alot like the original with a little more blue in the tips.

3) My tank in a in a well set up BB system under 400W 20K XM, my tort is 8" from the bulb and it has no green and is mostily purple and blue. The blueist of the group.


Considering this is the same coral in different systems from what I've seen it is more a matter on how much light you give the coral. As in our case it didn't make as much difference to how you have you system set up. In tank 1&2 the coral looked more the same even though the system in 1&3 where more simular.

Make of it what you will that what I noticed today.

 

[johnnstacy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8119922#post8119922 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Covey
We just had a club meeting today and I thought I would share what I noticed. All the blue torts(maybe a ORA blue tort) in the club were fragged from the same guy so it take genetics out of it.

Anyway different system, same frag, results:

1) The original colony, in a well set up BB system under Giesmann 13K 250MH. Mid way up, the tort has a green base and is farely dark purple.

2) Two 3" plus frags in another locals tank, in a Prodobio setup under 400W 20K XM. Low in the tank 4" off the sandbed in a 120G the tort is alot like the original with a little more blue in the tips.

3) My tank in a in a well set up BB system under 400W 20K XM, my tort is 8" from the bulb and it has no green and is mostily purple and blue. The blueist of the group.


Considering this is the same coral in different systems from what I've seen it is more a matter on how much light you give the coral. As in our case it didn't make as much difference to how you have you system set up. In tank 1&2 the coral looked more the same even though the system in 1&3 where more simular.

Make of it what you will that what I noticed today.

This would make a great argument if it weren't for the fact that there are probably more people in this thread that say they are getting the outstanding blue color with their colony near the bottom. Some as much as 20" or more........

 

[IMPERATORFAN]

I know this was slightly OT, but is anyone else out there suspicious about phosphates having a tendency to bring out greens. I've noticed a gradual shift in many of my blue corals, including my Cali tort, towards more of an aqua/green color. I've been wondering about phosphates and maybe stronium causing this effect.

BTW, servo's comments and pics about 400w 10k Reeflux bulbs are spot on. It only lasted for about 2 months in my tank also. Color remains "good" for the rest of the life of the bulb. I think it's worth it to see those remarkable colors even if it's just a couple of months.

 

[manderx]

400w 10K XM right above this tort---it's really blue in person, this photo is "raw". Areas in the highest flow are "bluer"

John

not a tort. compare the sharp, ordered coralites on yours to other pics in this thread, which are rounded and more random. i usually don't believe in even trying to put a species names on most corals, but i think most people would call yours a formosa.

 

[twon8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8122313#post8122313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by manderx
not a tort. compare the sharp, ordered coralites on yours to other pics in this thread, which are rounded and more random. i usually don't believe in even trying to put a species names on most corals, but i think most people would call yours a formosa.

not sure on formosa, but agree its not a tort.