TORCH Corals..................TRICK or TREAT?

James5214 · Oct 18, 2022

And my hammer

Aspect · Oct 18, 2022

I can't keep any LPS, but I have the next best thing: Weeping Willows

EpisodeMnH · Oct 18, 2022

They’re overall prolly my favorite coral, but I currently don’t have one at all in the tank. Reason being that they’re too aggressive and I simply don’t have the real estate to place one without it stinging something since I have a 32.5 gallon nano. I could potentially give one it’s own corner in the sand, but that’s out of the window too since I have a Pistol Shrimp that will knock over and move any frags on the sand. I think that’s what killed my last Torch was the fact it was constantly touching the sand cause of him lol.

So I made up for it by having a Euphyllia side of the tank since the other 2 can touch without issue. Got 2 Hammers, a Frammer, a Frogspawn, and looking to top it off with an Octospawn.

Floyd- · Oct 18, 2022

I have a single torch, Id love more but man are they expensive at the moment. A tiny single head was about $150!

Lbrdsoxfan · Oct 18, 2022

Trick, my n&p numbers trend too high to keep them alive me thinks.

boxsterm911 · Oct 18, 2022

Treat, they doing better than other euphillya, maybe I found the best location for them?

shivamerlin · Oct 18, 2022

While torch corals are some of the most mesmerizing they can also be a challenge. I've got a torch coral about a year ago and a few months ago it started to curl up it's polyps.
I put it from the upper area in the tank (180 PAR) down to the sand (about 110 PAR) a few weeks ago and lowered the flow but as you can see in the picture after all the changes the polyps are still curled up.

It used to look like this:

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thank you.

kevgib67 · Oct 18, 2022

shivamerlin said:
While torch corals are some of the most mesmerizing they can also be a challenge. I've got a torch coral about a year ago and a few months ago it started to curl up it's polyps.
I put it from the upper area in the tank (180 PAR) down to the sand (about 110 PAR) a few weeks ago and lowered the flow but as you can see in the picture after all the changes the polyps are still curled up.

It used to look like this:

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Are your clowns trying to be hosted by it? I’ve heard of euphyllia being stressed when that happens.

ADAM · Oct 18, 2022

My tank system is maintained for the sole
enjoyment of my TORCHES!!!

They can be tricky at times but no reef tank or coral type comes without some challenges.

jasrivas · Oct 18, 2022

LeftyReefer said:
Before shot

After shot. My torches grow way faster than anything else. the digi grows fast too.
As you can see, that duncan dwarfed both torches at the time, now both torches are much larger than the duncan, and my green torch grew large enough that it is now stinging the duncan, which is now showing tissue damage on the side of the green torch. The green torch is also now stinging the digi. I've fragged it a few times already too. Going to have to frag the dragon soul soon too.

Still, I love torches and can't stop adding more....
here is my new NY Knicks, purchased a couple weeks ago from a fellow R2R'r.
and a couple recent cuttings from my green torch.

I'm curious, how long apart was the before and after picture taken?

ADAM · Oct 18, 2022

Lbrdsoxfan said:
Trick, my n&p numbers trend too high to keep them alive me thinks.

What are your parameters?

Saminpa · Oct 18, 2022

I’m a fan of them in my tank!!!

LeftyReefer · Oct 18, 2022

jasrivas said:
I'm curious, how long apart was the before and after picture taken?

about 8.5 months +/-.
before was taken late Nov. 2021
after was taken early Aug. 2022.

shivamerlin · Oct 18, 2022

kevgib67 said:
Are your clowns trying to be hosted by it? I’ve heard of euphyllia being stressed when that happens.

Good point but not really, the smaller one gets close sometimes but remember, the issue of curling up started when the coral was still further up and away from the clowns.

HB AL · Oct 18, 2022

Thriving, only wierd(good) thing is the more expensive ones are growing new heads like weeds!

NewReefAdventure · Oct 18, 2022

I would love them - but I'm scared. Between how troublesome I've heard they can be and the space it sounds they'd need, just sounds scary to add. Plus they're pricey and I'm not a very risky person. The movement they would add I really would like though.

jasrivas · Oct 18, 2022

LeftyReefer said:
about 8.5 months +/-.
before was taken late Nov. 2021
after was taken early Aug. 2022.

Wow, mine don't grow that fast. How do you get such fast growth? im thinking my problem is low ph what do you keep yours at?

Kristopher Conlin · Oct 18, 2022

jasrivas said:
Wow, mine don't grow that fast. How do you get such fast growth? im thinking my problem is low ph what do you keep yours at?

From my experience different torches grow at very different speeds. I have a torch I got in 2018 that went from one head to three in four years. And I have another I got a year ago and it's going on 6 heads from one already.