Torch Coral Help:lighting

hopkins6

hopkins6

Member
I bought a green torch coral about a week and a half ago. It was doing fine until about a day ago. The tentacles came in. It doesn't look too bad but it looks like it's on its way to dying. I have 2X175 10K metal halide bulbs. The coral is placed at the top of my tank, is it getting too much lighting, what is the problem?
 
hopkins6

hopkins6

Member
(In this pic, my actinic lights are on) The coral used to be a lot bigger than this. My friend used to have a torch coral, it started off big and then shriveled up and eventually died. I am worried because I don't want my money to go to waste. Thanks.
 
E

emeralcrab

Guest
What is your water levels? PH, salinity, ammonia, nitrite and trate? Temp? Also torches are listed in medium light catagory. Maybe try putting it down in the sand bed for a while, see how it does then SLOWLY move it up, how did you acclimate it? Did you acclimate it to you MH lights? There are a lot of varibles. Everyone will need more info to be able to help you.
 
psusocr1

psusocr1

Active Member
is that a hammer or a torch? my torch doesnt look like that, ive had mine for about 8 months and it splits all the time into new heads for me
 
hopkins6

hopkins6

Member
It is a torch. I don't know what my water levels are but they are fine because everything else in my tank is doing fine. I recently got another acropora and both of them are doing just fine. My fish are also doing great. I acclimated it with the canopy fliped up so that the light was facing into the room and not the tank. I also let it sit and get used to the temp for 20 min., replaced 1/3 of that water for my water for 30 min. and then did 2/3 of my water for 20 min. I have done all of my corals that way and none have them have died so far.
 
fishgeek01

fishgeek01

Active Member
IMO you have your torch to high up in your tank. I have a 75 with 2 150 hqi and mine is on the bottom and doing very well. It looks like yours has bleached because of the intense light it is under. I would recommend moving it down to the bottom then slowly moving it up until you have found a place where you and it are happy
 
hopkins6

hopkins6

Member
Thanks for the info. I will move it down today before my lights turn on. Does anyone know or have experience with the best current? I know you can look it up online but it always helps to hear a "first hand account".
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
Originally Posted by hopkins6
I bought a green torch coral about a week and a half ago. It was doing fine until about a day ago. The tentacles came in. It doesn't look too bad but it looks like it's on its way to dying. I have 2X175 10K metal halide bulbs. The coral is placed at the top of my tank, is it getting too much lighting, what is the problem?
The torch coral needs to be on the bottom of the tank with the skeleton buried about 1/2 way into the sandbed. It needs to be fed daily or at least every 2 days.
ps- Remember that when a coral dies, an animal dies. That is way worse than "wasting money." Just my lecture for the day :)
 
hopkins6

hopkins6

Member
Originally Posted by mudplayerx
The torch coral needs to be on the bottom of the tank with the skeleton buried about 1/2 way into the sandbed. It needs to be fed daily or at least every 2 days.
ps- Remember that when a coral dies, an animal dies. That is way worse than "wasting money." Just my lecture for the day :)
What should I feed it? and yes of course I don't want an animal to die, but if it did die, then I would be wasting money.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
You have to experiement with individual torch corals to see what type of food they like. Don't buy coral food sold in stores: it is way overpriced, contains preservatives, and isn't fresh.
Go to the grocery store and buy a few samples of fresh seafood. You can keep it frozen for months. I feed my tank squid, octopus, marine fish, shrimp, clam, crab,etc..
Make sure that you serve the appropriate sized chunks to the corals. For instance, a torch coral needs pieces about 1/4 of an inch long. Hope everything works out.
 
24aqua

24aqua

Member
is that a pink tipped frogspawn? my torch looks nothing like that, as for current mine dosent like it at all i keep very low current,and you can also cut your light hours down when i upgraded from pc to mh i went down to 5 hrs a day for 3 weeks and after that i went up an hour a week till i got back to normal hrs
 
hopkins6

hopkins6

Member
Originally Posted by mudplayerx
It is a torch coral with the tentacles drawn in.
Yes, it is a torch, just with the tentacles drawn in. And thanks mudplayer for the info about feeding them.
 
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