What makes a happy torch?

[BanjoBandito]

Here’s a picture of mine which is almost done splitting. The mouth split and is migrating. I never had it “retract” though. I just blast it with flow and leave it be as others have said.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

God, this hobby is impossible

It's only made impossible by sketchy advice haha

 

[BanjoBandito]

It's only made impossible by sketchy advice haha

Just cruise on over to facebook and look at some of those comments....SHEESH.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Just cruise on over to facebook and look at some of those comments....SHEESH.

Thank you but no thank you lol

 

[Ryde]

Here’s a picture of mine which is almost done splitting. The mouth split and is migrating. I never had it “retract” though. I just blast it with flow and leave it be as others have said.

So when splitting the mouth is cut in half?

 

[BanjoBandito]

So when splitting the mouth is cut in half?

It'll look like it's being split right down the middle, pulling itself apart. They'll either split or drop a bulb.

 

[ADAM]

•Does the flesh around the skeleton look to be receding?
•Any signs of pest damage?
•Do you run any type of carbon in the system?
•Have you stared dosing anything new to the tank?
•Have you switched brands of chemical media like GFO, Carbon, etc?
•What filtering media do you currently use?


Some pest will only feed on certain corals and certain strains of corals. I’ve had EEFW in the past that decimated my Indo golds but never touched my Master or HG torches and hammers.

If they were happy for months in location A and lighting and flow had not changed then location A along with light and flow are fine. Sudden change in ALK, PO4, Temp, are usually the biggest offenders of irritation to reiterate what many have said already.

 

[Ryde]

•Does the flesh around the skeleton look to be receding?
•Any signs of pest damage?
•Do you run any type of carbon in the system?
•Have you stared dosing anything new to the tank?
•Have you switched brands of chemical media like GFO, Carbon, etc?
•What filtering media do you currently use?


Some pest will only feed on certain corals and certain strains of corals. I’ve had EEFW in the past that decimated my Indo golds but never touched my Master or HG torches and hammers.

If they were happy for months in location A and lighting and flow had not changed then location A along with light and flow are fine. Sudden change in ALK, PO4, Temp, are usually the biggest offenders of irritation to reiterate what many have said already.

The flesh around the skeleton seems to be the same.

No signs of pest damage. What might that look like?

I run chemipure in the system at all times.

I haven't switched any brands other than salt.

My filtering media is filter floss..I think

My PO4 would always jump around a bit. I had lost two fish of mine and don't have to feed as much, so it is a lot more stable. I tried to keep my ALK around 9dkh over the past few weeks, it has increased ever so slowly to 10.4dkh

 

[Ryde]

I'm going to test here in a few, post the results and possibly water change after. I usually do a 3 gallon water change on a 32 gallon tank.

 

[rob_underwater]

Not sure if anyone mentioned temp? I was gone on vacation and had a large hammer start retracting and then died over a week or so. During the summer i tank was heating up to 80 at its worst. When i got home put a fan on sump and that helped pull the temp back to 77. Changes in salinity also can set them off in my experience!

 

[Ryde]

Ran some tests. Alk was reading 10.7dkh, PO4 on the other hand was reading .56, I ran a second test on PO4 and it was .22

It looks like a high PO4 thing. I don't know how it got the high anyway, but I'll do some water changes to lower it back down.

 

[Japoy013]

Well Im no expert on torches. I’ve only somewhat started making my torch garden last month but all I know so far is that I have to keep my magnesium up. I usually kept it at 1350ppm but now I’m at 1450ppm. I did have the torch on the right in the pic below for about 2 years now but the rest of the torches are about 2-3 weeks old in my tank. Most of the torches (21 tails, dragon soul, malaysian HG, NY Knicks, etc) are at the front right side of the tank where the par is around 180 par. The flow is random with 2 Jebao SOW-15. Sometimes the flow is calm and sometimes really turbulent. My hellfire and WWC HG is at the front dead center of the tank getting about 200-220 par with the same flow pattern. My alk sits at 8.9-9.1 dkh (used to be 8.0 before), cal 440, mag 1450. NO3/PO4 were at 15ppm/.15ppm respectively before and now at 10ppm/.05ppm. Salinity at 1.026.

Things Ive noticed.

1. My alk raising from 8 to 9 dkh in a matter of week didn’t cause any effect. I know before though that when I did water change with higher alk than the display tank, it caused BJD on a couple of the torch heads. I think because it was a sudden increase.
2. The torches were happier at higher magnesium levels. I found them more expanded.
3. I actually killed an aussie gold torch because I was moving it around to different locations. I was overthinking that it had too much light/too little light, too much flow/too little flow until it did a polyp bail.
4. Torches can withstand turbulent flow. Some actually like that kind of flow but some doesnt.
5. With regards to temperature, Ive kept my tank between 79-81F with no ill effects. Although some of my friend’s torches bleached out when his tank went 84F. He believes that the temp was the cause.
6. Not sure about nutrient levels. My NO3 is between 5-15 ppm and PO4 between 0.03-0.15 ppm. Didn’t really notice anything.
7. I don’t feed my torches anymore. I used to feed them brine/mysis but theyre ok without feeding. I read that feeding them big chunky food can cause indigestion hence infection that can cause BJD.
8. Fish biting of the torch tentacles tips off doesn’t really damage the torch but they’ll look ugly without the tips. Fish biting the mantle part of the torch can sometimes be fatal. It can cause an infection that can make the torch receed or cause a BJD. Happened to one of my dragon soul torch.
9. Not sure about proximity between torches. Mine are all close to each other for now but not sure what will happen when they grown out.
10. Not sure about changing to a different salt brand can cause something bad unless different alk levels.

 

[Japoy013]

Well Im no expert on torches. I’ve only somewhat started making my torch garden last month but all I know so far is that I have to keep my magnesium up. I usually kept it at 1350ppm but now I’m at 1450ppm. I did have the torch on the right in the pic below for about 2 years now but the rest of the torches are about 2-3 weeks old in my tank. Most of the torches (21 tails, dragon soul, malaysian HG, NY Knicks, etc) are at the front right side of the tank where the par is around 180 par. The flow is random with 2 Jebao SOW-15. Sometimes the flow is calm and sometimes really turbulent. My hellfire and WWC HG is at the front dead center of the tank getting about 200-220 par with the same flow pattern. My alk sits at 8.9-9.1 dkh (used to be 8.0 before), cal 440, mag 1450. NO3/PO4 were at 15ppm/.15ppm respectively before and now at 10ppm/.05ppm. Salinity at 1.026.

Things Ive noticed.

1. My alk raising from 8 to 9 dkh in a matter of week didn’t cause any effect. I know before though that when I did water change with higher alk than the display tank, it caused BJD on a couple of the torch heads. I think because it was a sudden increase.
2. The torches were happier at higher magnesium levels. I found them more expanded.
3. I actually killed an aussie gold torch because I was moving it around to different locations. I was overthinking that it had too much light/too little light, too much flow/too little flow until it did a polyp bail.
4. Torches can withstand turbulent flow. Some actually like that kind of flow but some doesnt.
5. With regards to temperature, Ive kept my tank between 79-81F with no ill effects. Although some of my friend’s torches bleached out when his tank went 84F. He believes that the temp was the cause.
6. Not sure about nutrient levels. My NO3 is between 5-15 ppm and PO4 between 0.03-0.15 ppm. Didn’t really notice anything.
7. I don’t feed my torches anymore. I used to feed them brine/mysis but theyre ok without feeding. I read that feeding them big chunky food can cause indigestion hence infection that can cause BJD.
8. Fish biting of the torch tentacles tips off doesn’t really damage the torch but they’ll look ugly without the tips. Fish biting the mantle part of the torch can sometimes be fatal. It can cause an infection that can make the torch receed or cause a BJD. Happened to one of my dragon soul torch.
9. Not sure about proximity between torches. Mine are all close to each other for now but not sure what will happen when they grown out.
10. Not sure about changing to a different salt brand can cause something bad unless different alk levels.

Wasnt sure how to attch videos lol

 

[Ryde]

Well Im no expert on torches. I’ve only somewhat started making my torch garden last month but all I know so far is that I have to keep my magnesium up. I usually kept it at 1350ppm but now I’m at 1450ppm. I did have the torch on the right in the pic below for about 2 years now but the rest of the torches are about 2-3 weeks old in my tank. Most of the torches (21 tails, dragon soul, malaysian HG, NY Knicks, etc) are at the front right side of the tank where the par is around 180 par. The flow is random with 2 Jebao SOW-15. Sometimes the flow is calm and sometimes really turbulent. My hellfire and WWC HG is at the front dead center of the tank getting about 200-220 par with the same flow pattern. My alk sits at 8.9-9.1 dkh (used to be 8.0 before), cal 440, mag 1450. NO3/PO4 were at 15ppm/.15ppm respectively before and now at 10ppm/.05ppm. Salinity at 1.026.

Things Ive noticed.

1. My alk raising from 8 to 9 dkh in a matter of week didn’t cause any effect. I know before though that when I did water change with higher alk than the display tank, it caused BJD on a couple of the torch heads. I think because it was a sudden increase.
2. The torches were happier at higher magnesium levels. I found them more expanded.
3. I actually killed an aussie gold torch because I was moving it around to different locations. I was overthinking that it had too much light/too little light, too much flow/too little flow until it did a polyp bail.
4. Torches can withstand turbulent flow. Some actually like that kind of flow but some doesnt.
5. With regards to temperature, Ive kept my tank between 79-81F with no ill effects. Although some of my friend’s torches bleached out when his tank went 84F. He believes that the temp was the cause.
6. Not sure about nutrient levels. My NO3 is between 5-15 ppm and PO4 between 0.03-0.15 ppm. Didn’t really notice anything.
7. I don’t feed my torches anymore. I used to feed them brine/mysis but theyre ok without feeding. I read that feeding them big chunky food can cause indigestion hence infection that can cause BJD.
8. Fish biting of the torch tentacles tips off doesn’t really damage the torch but they’ll look ugly without the tips. Fish biting the mantle part of the torch can sometimes be fatal. It can cause an infection that can make the torch receed or cause a BJD. Happened to one of my dragon soul torch.
9. Not sure about proximity between torches. Mine are all close to each other for now but not sure what will happen when they grown out.
10. Not sure about changing to a different salt brand can cause something bad unless different alk levels.

This was a good read with a lot of personal experiences. I'm taking note on just about every bit.

I think my increase in alk wouldn't have done anything as it happened slowly. I keep my temperature at 78F. My PO4 is reading high setting at .56-.22 or something like that. My clown don't bite the tips any. Any thankfully no BJD.

 

[Hincapiej4]

Our Duncan's recently retracted for no apparent reason for a few days, and since they're usually the least finicky corals in our tank we were concerned. All of our tests showed no major fluctuations in parameters, and other than a green hair algae prob right now, nothing else seems out of whack. We just kept an eye on them, but left them alone, and slowly, like only a few more tentacles out per day, it came all the way back out. It's looking super great right now, about as fully open and 'happy' as possible. Leaving them alone when theyre retracted, unless there's obvious signs of injury/infection/tissue recession/brown jelly/etc, seems to be best. Especially if nothing else in the tank is in distress.

Say it louder for the people in the back. LEAVE THEM ALONE. the last thing you want to do when diagnosing is touch them.

 

[e3pillereefer]

Guess I'll leave mine alone too

 

[ADAM]

Ran some tests. Alk was reading 10.7dkh, PO4 on the other hand was reading .56, I ran a second test on PO4 and it was .22

It looks like a high PO4 thing. I don't know how it got the high anyway, but I'll do some water changes to lower it back down.

Water charges won’t due much for PO4 like it does NO3. Most PO4 is bound to the rocks and sand. GFO, Phosguard, etc would be best to mitigate the issue. **But you want to drop the PO4 level slowly, drastic changes in PO4 will upset corals just as bad. I know with Rowaphos (PO4 absorbent) when I change out the media I will usually see a little drop in ALK initially so be mindful of that if you test after adding similar products. Most usage/dosage instructions include that info when the product can interfere with test results so read the entire instructions… I may have learned this the hard way

With the variance in test results I would check a few more times throughout the day.

 

[Ryde]

Water charges won’t due much for PO4 like it does NO3. Most PO4 is bound to the rocks and sand. GFO, Phosguard, etc would be best to mitigate the issue. **But you want to drop the PO4 level slowly, drastic changes in PO4 will upset corals just as bad. I know with Rowaphos (PO4 absorbent) when I change out the media I will usually see a little drop in ALK initially so be mindful of that if you test after adding similar products. Most usage/dosage instructions include that info when the product can interfere with test results so read the entire instructions… I may have learned this the hard way

With the variance in test results I would check a few more times throughout the day.

I would be able to just add the phosguard correct? Or would it go down to quickly? Thanks.

 

[ADAM]

I would be able to just add the phosguard correct? Or would it go down to quickly? Thanks.

I would start with a quarter of the recommended amount and monitor for a couple days, move up to half... and so on. If you are limiting food input along with added PO4 remover it could drop more rapidly than anticipated at the full recommended dose. It will be a learning curve to what you need from week to week until you test and find the amount you need for your specific circumstance. *If you're like me, you'll probably want to grab a Hanna Checker if you dont have one already one for PO4, likely grab an extra pack of reagents since you will likely be testing more than normal while you find the balance using PO4 remover.

https://www.hannainst.com/phosphate-ultra-low-range-colorimeter-checkerr-hc-hi774.html

I would definitely have some Lugols (Iodine) on hand too. I find when mine look "off" for any period of time, 2+ hours of being shriveled, a quick bath in iodine tank water mix usually helps ensure they are clean in case a fish, crab, shrimp, etc has damaged one somehow. Using a cup/container with a white inside is the best so you can see the change in color of the water when adding the lugols. The water should look like lightly colored tea. I usually let it sit in the water for a few minutes and either swish the torch around every so often or swirl the water using a baster. Dont let the mixture sit out too long as the water will cool down fairly quick being a small volume.

 

[Cjeippert]

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