Torch Coral

[tfrad]

Hello all,

I've had my torch coral for a bit over two years now and its never really fully opened up similar to where i see videos of big sweepy tenticles and i'm not quite sure why. Oddly enough it seemed like its since split or at least splitting.

Timeline and parameters of my tank are as follows.

20 Gallon AIO with just filter floss lots of live rock and pondmatrix, 9Watt UV light. Siccie Pump running tide setting from 5% to 20%. the flow in the tank seems quite strong to me but I don't really have any experience on what is light as opposed to strong. Kessil A360x starting at 7am ramping up for 4 hours of light intensity at 75% about 8-10" from water surface and then ramping down. total photo period is about 10hrs my tank is getting a little bit of direct sunlight but the torch doesn't see much of it. 3mL/day of all for reef auto dosing 1mL 3 times a day.

The tank has been very stable (at least in my opinion) for at least a month or two now. I had a very bad/weird algae problem for more than a year that I finally got control of.

I've got a Dersa Clam that seems to be very happy and opened up in the middle of the tank. Along with a montipora cap, Acans, rockflower anenomes, an orange sps type coral that i have no idea what it is. Nothing is really growing all that fast and I'm assuming its due to the low nutrients Phos/Nitrates but I can't raise them and i'm afraid feeding too much is just going to lead to another algae battle that, again I feel like i finally got control over.

Parameters:
Salt 1.026 refractometer calibrated with solution heated to tank temperature
Alk - 9.3 Hannah
Calcium - 480+ Salifert
Magnesium 1500+ Red Sea
pH 8.0 - Salifert
Phos 0.0 - Hannah
Nitrates 0.1? Salifert

I think perhaps the biggest problem I may have is not really understanding my kessil 360 and how to set it, how to properly set the flow, perhaps its not extending the tenticals because theres not enough light or too much light? I'm not really sure. I see huge tanks on youtube that are heavy sps with tons of flow and torch corals that seem to be thriving.

 

[TX_REEF]

my best guess would be too much light. kessil a360s are quite powerful, especially for a tank that size. perhaps try turning down the intensity and see how it responds. It would be best if you could buy or rent/borrow a PAR meter, generally I'd expect torch corals to be happy at 200 PAR, with higher potentially causing polyp withdrawal.

zero or near zero P and N are also not ideal for LPS corals, or most corals in my experience. Growth in my frag tank took off only when I raised and maintained N and P. You can use brightwell neophos and neonitro to accurately increase these without overfeeding

neophos: https://amzn.to/4amoTi7
neonitro: https://amzn.to/408uDra

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Also to add, some just don't have long wavy tentacles. If your paramaters are good (i'd increase your P if hanna shows 0.) then other than that play with your light settings/flow. I know personally my dragon soul tamer loves more flow. Its tentacles are the longest of my torches because it gets the most flow.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

4 hours of peak lighting is very low, my tanks are 10-12 hours. Give them light and you will see them grow