Blue Tort coloration question

[david8956]

Can not get the deep, rich color out of my Ora Blue Tort I see from some others. Mine is about 1/2 way down, almost directly under an Aquaconnect 14K (250 watt) that is 5" off the surface. Flow is very good, Ca always around 450, alk always around 9.5 dkh. No nitrate or phosphate on Salifert kits. Run carbon and phosphate remover 24/7 through a reactor. Auto top off, sg at 1.026 (refractometer) 20 gal water changes done every other week. Most corals in my tank are light in color, recently added more fish and started feeding them a little more. This Tort is almost a light lavender color with real bright light blue tips. Growth is great, probably one of my fastest growing corals, just prefer the deep blue color. As a comparison, I included a photo of the other side of my tank showing a Rose Millie & a Nathan's Green Millie. Both of these are colored fine.

Any suggestions on getting this Tort to turn deep blue?

Tort:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/david8956/OraBlueTort4-26-06.jpg
Other corals in tank:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/david8956/OraMillies4-26-06.jpg

[shelburn61]

heh, I just asked the same question. It seems intense light and low nutrients are the problem... http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=831106


Where did you find the AC 14k BTW?

[david8956]

I saw that thread, but didn't want to post there as you were asking about 10 K bulbs. My frag looked a lot like the color of the one JB NY posted when I got it, you see what it looks like now. I also noticed in that thread Mike NY posted his which looks almost exactly like mine.

(BTW - we have a LFS here that "specializes" in sps, he stocks Aquaconnect bulbs. If interested this is his contact info, you can check prices and see if he ships)

http://www.ichthythings.com/

[jackson6745]

Pull the phosban for a while.....do you really need it? Does Po4 stay in check without the GFO?

[dilligaf_biker69]

I know this may sound silly....but I had the same thoughts about my torts and blue Milli's...about them not coloring up as good as I hoped.....they were real high in the tank and under the 250 MH reefluxs....one day I fragged a piece and put it under the 175 reeflux in my frag tank and was surprised at the bright colors....so I went back to the colony and lowered it in my display....baaam....there was the colors I was looking for....so try lowering the piece in your tank...I may not get as awesome growth but thats already happened..at least now I can enjoy the colors too.....

[shelburn61]

Once mine grows out a little, I'm going to move it down too.

On the other hand, Leishman's tort (bottom of link above) is pretty blue under 400w. I think higher nutrient levels may be compensating for the intense light though.

[david8956]

jackson6745 - I thought about that, but if it were the GFO causing this wouldn't all (most?) of the Acro's be affected ? I'm kind of concerned about pulling it as I just increased my bio load and the Regal LOVES Hikari Mysis shrimp and I have always heard those frozen foods can have a lot of phosphate in them.

dilligaf_biker69 - if it were only that easy. I just don't have anyplace with less light I could put this coral unless I put it all the way down in the sand bed.

[shelburn61]

Unless you have detectable PO4 the phosban isn't going to make much difference either way. Nitrogen is much more likely to be a limiting factor.

[dilligaf_biker69]

Im not saying lower light but just the way u look at it....like if u look at it more of a straight on or look slightly down at it...

[jackson6745]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7254815#post7254815 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shelburn61
Unless you have detectable PO4 the phosban isn't going to make much difference either way. Nitrogen is much more likely to be a limiting factor.

Please explain, thanks

[shelburn61]

The light color is obviously from lack of zoox in the tissue. Zoox consume N at much higher rates than PO4. I can't remember the ratio but most tanks take up N so quickly that it is unlikely that PO4 is the limiting factor for zoox growth.

[shelburn61]

.

[easttn]

If you like blue torts call Travis at Upscales. I did a reefclub order last year to split shipping.
Tort (http://www.upscales.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=360&step=4)

Or

Contact Serdar at PhishyBusiness, RC sponser. His may be a Hoek.

They are as blue as you can get. Very forgiving too.

[arconom]

david8956

What ballast are you running the SE AC 14k's?

[david8956]

easttn - the problem isn't buying them that color, it's keeping them that deep blue once I get them.

arconom - I run all IceCap ballasts for my halides and VHO's.

shelburn61 - maybe I don't understand what you are saying. I have good growth, just can't keep the deep blue color. If the tank was "nitrogen limited" wouldn't growth be very slow ?

[DaddyJax]

Hey David, glad to see the regal in some of the pics. You have seen my Torts and the colors they have. I can tell you that at first they started to lighten up with the AC's but since has actually grown faster and become more rich in color. I also agree with removing the phosban. I believe that it is stripping more than PO4 especially when no PO4 is there to remove. Alot of the BB vs Sand has brought about the need for detritus and other stuff that we have tried so hard to remove. I believe that with a good skimmer and weekly WC's is the best. Too much filtration has proven to cause the symptoms in corals you are describing. Just my $.02.

Btw I don't want to give the Mod back;)!!

[sonofgaladriel]

Add some more fish ;) I bought an ORA blue tort that looked just like yours when I brought it home. After about 3 weeks in my heavily stocked tank, it turned a very deep and rich royal blue throughout.
Your pictures are very nice. Could you share a full tank shot? I'd love to see it.

[david8956]

Add some more fish
Yeah, I just did that a couple of weeks ago. I'm also going to stop running any GFO for a little while to see what difference that makes.
Could you share a full tank shot?
Sorry, I don't have a full tank shot, but I do have a couple of end shots (You can see the Tort in the middle of the second pic)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/david8956/Rt.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/david8956/L.jpg

[sonofgaladriel]

That is beautiful!

[shelburn61]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7275909#post7275909 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by david8956

shelburn61 - maybe I don't understand what you are saying. I have good growth, just can't keep the deep blue color. If the tank was "nitrogen limited" wouldn't growth be very slow ?

I'm just saying the zoox would probably use up all the available N before lack of PO4 became a problem. Since GFO only removes orthophosphate there should still be plenty of organic PO4 around fill the need.