Purple torch with green tips

[tassod]

Can i get some advice as to why my purple torch is not fully extending anymore?

First few days after I got it, was doing great with full extension, that was a week ago. This week, only extends minimally. I moved it more down on the same rock but no difference. He is in the middle of the tank. I have a 125 gallon with 40 gallon sump. All parameters are good. Using CREE LED's 36X3W. Here are some pics:



Any ideas?

 

[tassod]

Bump...nobody has any suggestions?

 

[FPSPOLICE]

hows your water flow near it? mines likes decent water flow so its tenticles sway back in forth in the water current and it usually extends out fully , mines has 6 headsand gets pretty big fully extended really nice to see.

 

[tassod]

i was told that they dont like to much flow hitting them....but wondering how true that is. I moved it somewhere now where there is more flow, we'll see how it goes.

 

[FPSPOLICE]

they like moderate flow not direct blasting flow i have 2 power heads in my tank with a wavemaker controller each turn on in 5 sec interval which created a turbulent flow in the tank but not enough to damage torches or hammers and they seem to like it alot.

 

[akitareefer]

My torches have all taken more than a week to fully acclimate. As suggested I'd get it into mild flow, not enough to jerk the tentacles around. Also you didn't mention your parameters, could something be off in the past few days? Water change if so. Lastly I've found that my torches do not want to be moved around a lot. Find the good spot and keep it there. Good luck, the colors are nice

 

[Michigan Mike]

I have my purple torch in pretty mild indirect flow but I've seen torches look like fire in the wind because of turbulent flow :where they are blowing sideways, and the tentacles seem twice as long when they get more flow.

My first green torch died after 5 days for no reason seemingly, almost didnt try another but glad I did.

 

[Zalman]

What is your alkalinity? I had the exact same color torch and lost it due to low alkalinity. Now that I keep my alkalinity higher my replacement torch looks happier than ever. As far as flow... medium to high never seemed to bother mine.

 

[tassod]

Well, was no different in the spot I put it last night for the whole day today so I put him back where I originally put him to begin with, that is where he was fully extended for a few day when i first got him. My alk is about 8.5dkh Cal at about 460 and Mag at about 1400. Ammonia, nitrite and phospates are zero and nitrates are less than 5ppm. I do daily 3 gallon water changes.

 

[FPSPOLICE]

do you have a sump? filttration? protien skimmer , any GFO? 3 gallons a day water changes are not necessary if you have decent filtration. i do a 10 % water change on my tank every 3 weeks.

 

[tassod]

do you have a sump? filttration? protien skimmer , any GFO? 3 gallons a day water changes are not necessary if you have decent filtration. i do a 10 % water change on my tank every 3 weeks.

I have all of this, but i just find it a lot easier to do the small daily water changes versus the weekly larger ones. I have a small compact pump in my sump plumbed into my drain and with just a flip of a switch i can drain and refil in less than 5 minutes. I think this is also a good way to not let any nitrates build up.