Unhappy Torch

lauren_ash · Nov 23, 2020

Hi everyone, I have a torch in my 15-gallon tank that won't open up. I've had the little guy in my tank for a few months and it's never come out. At the store, it was open and looked very healthy (that's why I picked it) and I acclimated it they I do with all my corals but for some reason, it's not happy. All my other corals are doing just fine and I try to do 15-25% water changes once a week but nothing changes. I've had issues with algae over the last few months, but I finally have that under control. Water quality is good, and none of my other fish bother it (two clowns, a blue Chromis, and a tailspot blenny). I've also moved it a couple of times to test different water flows and light intensity but that doesn't seem to do anything. Please help!!

Doctorgori · Nov 23, 2020

yeah it’s a lil tricky because you don’t know if it’s in the right spot and still adjusting OR it’s still ticked.
Also I know You don’t wanna keep moving it to find out, so pick a low flow spot and leave it for a week and see.
it’s possible it’s still adjusting.
What kinda lighting and pumps or other specifics can you add?

lauren_ash · Nov 23, 2020

Doctorgori said:
yeah it’s a lil tricky because you don’t know if it’s in the right spot and still adjusting OR it’s still ticked.
Also I know You don’t wanna keep moving it to find out, so pick a low flow spot and leave it for a week and see.
it’s possible it’s still adjusting.
What kinda lighting and pumps or other specifics can you add?

It's been in that spot away from the heavy flow for probably 2-3 weeks now. This is the happiest it's been if I'm being honest. For tank setup, it's the Fluval sea aquarium so I have all the original lighting and filtration. I haven't had any major problems so I haven't changed much to the step-up besides changing around the 3-part filtration on the side, but I did that a while ago. The filtration has chemi-pure along with phosphate and nitrate reducer pads in one slot and the other has the pump that came with the tank. The lighting that came with is a high-output 14000K LED that has a moonlight setting. The pamphlet that came with the tank says it's the best for healthy coral growth but I'm not sure if it's only saying that for selling purposes.
I also rechecked the water parameters, and everything is where it should be. Nitrate isn't at zero but it's not high.

Doctorgori · Nov 23, 2020

I’m not sure about the light on the Fluval even though torches are not high light demand corals. More opinion needed I think.
14000K is just the color temperature; with 5000k being white and 20K being blue, so 14K should be sorta bluish white...

I’m not a big fan of those pads. They are ok but IME from a performance view not a good value, I’d say ask around.

lauren_ash · Nov 23, 2020

Doctorgori said:
I’m not sure about the light on the Fluval even though torches are not high light demand corals. More opinion needed I think.
14000K is just the color temperature; with 5000k being white and 20K being blue, so 14K should be sorta bluish white...

I’m not a big fan of those pads. They are ok but IME from a performance view not a good value, I’d say ask around.

Do you think if I switched up what I currently have in my filter it would help the torch open up? I don't want to get rid of the chemi-pure because it's worked wonders with my algae problem, but if you have any suggestions I could use instead of those pads I can look into it.

Doctorgori · Nov 23, 2020

chemipure is solid. I was thinking about those brown so called phosphate removal pads. Seems they dont do very much for long, but if it works for you no need to change.

As for current, torches, frogs pawns and hammers don’t need or like much direct current. Hard to explain or picture, but I sorta gently rock my Euphyllias. back and forth via a wave maker.. very slow pulse, random flow, say with a long pause every 2-3 seconds or more.
...hard to say what to do but my gut would say move it as little as possible and see if you can change the flow till it’s visibly happy