My Torch Coral: Is it ok?

Kerwin1721 · Sep 18, 2015

I'm concerned about my torch coral. It looked great when we first got it. It was wide open and flowing nicely. Now it has pulled its tentacles in and doesn't really look that good. What can I do to help it? It is located at the bottom of my tank. The only flow comes from the return and one powerhead located at towards the top of the tank. I am using a china made LED I picked up from ebay. My water looks pretty good:
PH: 8.0
Amonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10-20 - I am due for a water change tomorrow.
Here is what it looks like under the blue light and a pic of my tank with an arrow where it is located with the day lights on.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Shep · Sep 18, 2015

Maybe move it to an area of a little higher flow, that might help

ReefTankRebel · Sep 18, 2015

No it doesn't look good. Try movin it to more flow like he said or higher for more light. Hate to say it but I'd be thinking about ditching the led and going t5. LEDs are so hit and miss despite what people say, I know from experience. Good luck

RMS18 · Sep 20, 2015

Torches sometimes close up for unknown reasons and then reopen. Mine closed up recently for 3-4 days, then one day it was open like nothing ever happened. How long has it been in your tank? From the looks of it might need more flow and light. I have one on my sand bed and one in middle of tank both fully open and loving life. As far as the leds it's what works for you... I went from t5 to led and have better results, others hate leds. I can only say what works for me and would never talk bad about another method that works for others. I know some people who use the China leds and have amazing sps. I wouldn't ditch your leds yet, I'd learn how to use them and where to place certain corals.

ReefMadScientist · Sep 20, 2015

Alk, Ca, Mg, Phos parameters?

Kerwin1721 · Sep 20, 2015

Thanks for all the comments!

I have adjusted my return and the powerhead and moved the torch to the right side. The torch is getting more flow now and seems to look better when when the blue lights are on. I have noticed that EVERYTHING closes up when I turn the daylights on. The zoanthids, mushrooms and even the xinas close up and seem to try and hide. My LEDs are about 6-7 inches off the water and is at the lowest dimable setting. I'm thinking about raising the LED a bit. Along with the torch in question I have a purple torch that seemed to be doing fine but it has seemed to get far lighter. When we put that one in the tank it was a deep purple and now almost seems to be almost pink. My LFS said that one may have been "bleached" by the light.

Any suggestions on how high off the water the light should be?

RMS18 · Sep 20, 2015

Kerwin1721 said:
Thanks for all the comments!

I have adjusted my return and the powerhead and moved the torch to the right side. The torch is getting more flow now and seems to look better when when the blue lights are on. I have noticed that EVERYTHING closes up when I turn the daylights on. The zoanthids, mushrooms and even the xinas close up and seem to try and hide. My LEDs are about 6-7 inches off the water and is at the lowest dimable setting. I'm thinking about raising the LED a bit. Along with the torch in question I have a purple torch that seemed to be doing fine but it has seemed to get far lighter. When we put that one in the tank it was a deep purple and now almost seems to be almost pink. My LFS said that one may have been "bleached" by the light.

Any suggestions on how high off the water the light should be?

Looks like the lights are definitely to much... I would try 15-20 inches and start there. You basically have to accumulate them to the leds. Anytime I get a new coral I put my AI Primes in accumulation mode. It decreases my light by 30% and ramps up to my settings over 7 days. I have yet to have any issues with any corals except a plate coral which I'm still dealing with. I believe the corals should open up to light within 5-10 min not close. Does your lfs have a par meter you can rent/borrow? That was what I did to get my leds started.

Kerwin1721 · Sep 20, 2015

I never thought about asking or looking into a PAR meter. I will have to ask. My lights don't have any type of meter on them, only two switches and a dimmer for each set of lights. It came with no directions so I wasn't sure how high to start. Guess I should have started higher. I saw a few recommendations on here so I figured I would try them since it is my first saltwater tank and I was on a bit of a budget.

Here is the link to what I picked up:. http://www.ebay.com/itm/165W-Dimmab...e-Fish-Lamp-/251495773757?hash=item3a8e50f63d

RMS18 · Sep 20, 2015

Kerwin1721 said:
I never thought about asking or looking into a PAR meter. I will have to ask. My lights don't have any type of meter on them, only two switches and a dimmer for each set of lights. It came with no directions so I wasn't sure how high to start. Guess I should have started higher. I saw a few recommendations on here so I figured I would try them since it is my first saltwater tank and I was on a bit of a budget.

Here is the link to what I picked up:. http://www.ebay.com/itm/165W-Dimmab...e-Fish-Lamp-/251495773757?hash=item3a8e50f63d

I'm very sure those are the same ones a fellow reefer I meet has on his 55 gallon. He has a great sps/lps tank. He has had them for over a year and the cooling fan just died on 1 of the 2 units.. He replaced it with a fan from best buy for like 5 bucks. Raise those lights and watch the corals. Good luck

Kerwin1721 · Sep 20, 2015

Thanks!

Tab28 · Sep 20, 2015

Many LFS will rent you a par meter. They are expensive to buy. I never had luck with led. Too many variables for me. Water chemistry is enough don't want lighting to add more worry. T5 and MH is my speed. Lots of people have success with high end led units. The cheap Chinese ones i think is a crapshoot on quality. They generally just have a slide dimmer switch. So you have no idea on the amount of par being emitted. The better units you can actually control many aspects of the color and par. And place the ramp up dimming so it is automatic.