Torch Closes After a Few Hours

[Marcus Rogers]

Hi all, I recently got a torch coral about 3 weeks ago. I notice it will open up when the lights come on at about 7am but then close by 11ish. The lights do ramp up but the coral remains open when the lights are at their brightest. I have a hammer coral that is doing great and stays open the entire day. My water parameters are also all constant throughout the day so I am not sure what else could be fluctuating or causing the torch to close.

After about 11, the torch will be visibly "shorter" and much more retracted for the remainder of the day.

 

[blaxsun]

It could very well be your lighting, but without knowing your PAR levels from 7am-11am it's hard to speculate. If your flow is good and your water parameters all fall within the acceptable ranges - then I'd definitely look at light. 9 times out of 10 it's an issue with light - because this is something the human eye can't detect. Unlike flow - which is easy to observe and water parameters - which is easy to test.

 

[Unitylover]

Hi all, I recently got a torch coral about 3 weeks ago. I notice it will open up when the lights come on at about 7am but then close by 11ish. The lights do ramp up but the coral remains open when the lights are at their brightest. I have a hammer coral that is doing great and stays open the entire day. My water parameters are also all constant throughout the day so I am not sure what else could be fluctuating or causing the torch to close.

After about 11, the torch will be visibly "shorter" and much more retracted for the remainder of the day.

maybe its just being fussy? ive heard of torch corals be picky. it should adapt

 

[cybrook1421]

Have you figured this out? My torch is doing something similar. My PAR is not enough to be bothering it (less than 100) so I don't think it is lighting.

 

[slythy]

Have you figured this out? My torch is doing something similar. My PAR is not enough to be bothering it (less than 100) so I don't think it is lighting.

My torches are all in 140-200 par. I found them to be much happier with elevated mag. I keep mine at 1400

 

[cybrook1421]

My torches are all in 140-200 par. I found them to be much happier with elevated mag. I keep mine at 1400

Right now the torch is at 65 par at peak time. I am slowly trying to increase the par since I had it so low for quite a while and didn't realize until I got a meter. I can get up to 160 with my current lighting at 100%. I am also trying to increase my mag but it is taking quite a bit of mag solution. Right now its around 1280-1300.

Kind of a follow-up question, how quickly do you think I can increase the par? I have been doing about 5-10% every week which equates to about 6-12 par.

 

[slythy]

Right now the torch is at 65 par at peak time. I am slowly trying to increase the par since I had it so low for quite a while and didn't realize until I got a meter. I can get up to 160 with my current lighting at 100%. I am also trying to increase my mag but it is taking quite a bit of mag solution. Right now its around 1280-1300.

Kind of a follow-up question, how quickly do you think I can increase the par? I have been doing about 5-10% every week which equates to about 6-12 par.

i think it depends on where it came from but i just plop mine in at that par. I dont think you are gonna burn them at 160 at all but if you wanna slowly increase over a week then thats fine.

just be mindful of the increase other corals will see too if you got mushrooms or anything that likes low par.

you can easilly increase mag by 50ppm a day. It does take a ton of solution. Just use a calculator to determines how much it needs