Thinking about a torch Coral

[schryvertime]

Good morning everyone. So i have been wanted a some type of hammer or frogspawn or torch for a while now and am going to buy something by the end of the week. I have found a nice electric torch coral on vividaquarium that I think i am going to order. My only concern with this is i just bought a pulsing xenia about 3 weeks ago. it melted away . All of my other corals are doing great and have seen a significant amount of growth since i added my new light about a month ago. My tank parameters are all within normal other than my nitrates are a little high at this moment. I have been doing small water changes and removed all bio media to bring this down. With the xenia melt i am just a little hesitant on buying anything. Do you think that i will have a problem with getting a torch? Also should i put it on the rock or in the sandbed?

I do have zoas, orange florida rics, GSP, i believe to be a favites brain(not sure though) and of course the dreaded kenya tree. all doing great.

 

[Mark9]

I'd say no.
Torches can be finicky whereas branching frogspawns and hammers are pretty much bulletproof.
Get a cheap hammer and try that first.
What kind of lights are you running?
And " My tank parameters are all within normal" is not very descriptive.
Do you have ca/kg/mg test kits?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

In addition to what Mark said need to know what your SG is.

 

[schryvertime]

In addition to what Mark said need to know what your SG is.

I keep my SG at 1.025. I have a Current Orbit Marine LED and also a Fluval sea and reef LED. The Fluval is the new on that i just got. My LFS has them running over most of their frag tanks. As for the alk and cal i do not have tests yet for them. but ill go with a hammer or frog either way since you said that. for the basic parameters nitrites are at 0, my nitrates are at 20(what im working on) my PH i believe is 8.4 but havent checked that in a month. I know that i need to check Alk and Calcium.....

 

[schryvertime]

how do you guys feel about giant green duncans?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I'm a Duncan Junkie, share the pictures! I've got some errands to run but will post up a few when I get back.

 

[schryvertime]

I'm a Duncan Junkie, share the pictures! I've got some errands to run but will post up a few when I get back.[/


Awesome.....pretty easy to keep? Obviously i am a beginner and want to stick to beginner corals for now.

 

[Coelli]

Duncans are great and mine survived my beginner stage very well. I have 3 different colonies now and they're one of my favorite corals. 2 of my colonies are hosting several sexy shrimp. They're fun to feed as well since the heads close up around food.

I have quite a bit of LPS and SPS but have had two torches die on me. I have never been sure if it was the conditions or the aforementioned sexy shrimp... I suspect the shrimp found them tasty. :|

 

[schryvertime]

Duncans are great and mine survived my beginner stage very well. I have 3 different colonies now and they're one of my favorite corals. 2 of my colonies are hosting several sexy shrimp. They're fun to feed as well since the heads close up around food.

I have quite a bit of LPS and SPS but have had two torches die on me. I have never been sure if it was the conditions or the aforementioned sexy shrimp... I suspect the shrimp found them tasty. :|

Great stuff. So my next purchase will either be a Duncan or Hammer. Where do you have your duncans placed...sandbed, lower rock, high rock?

 

[Mark9]

Duncans for me = low, sandbed.
Of course, it's all light dependent.
Regardless, start all your corals on the sandbed.
It's a good habit to get into.

 

[schryvertime]

Duncans for me = low, sandbed.
Of course, it's all light dependent.
Regardless, start all your corals on the sandbed.
It's a good habit to get into.

really? even high light corals?

 

[schryvertime]

Duncans for me = low, sandbed.
Of course, it's all light dependent.
Regardless, start all your corals on the sandbed.
It's a good habit to get into.

oh and how often do you feed them?

 

[Mark9]

You want to let corals get used to your lights.
I feed my corals once a week.
Some people do it more, some less.
Whatever you feel like.

 

[schryvertime]

You want to let corals get used to your lights.
I feed my corals once a week.
Some people do it more, some less.
Whatever you feel like.

That makes sense. How quickly should i start moving corals off of the sandbed?

 

[Mark9]

That makes sense. How quickly should i start moving corals off of the sandbed?

If they need to be, when you think they are ready.

 

[schryvertime]

If they need to be, when you think they are ready.

Works for me. Sorry to bombard you with a million questions but thanks for the help!

 

[heritage]

I keep my duncans and torch mid way. although I do keep a black screen over the top of the Duncan to cut down on the amount of light it gets.

 

[schryvertime]

I keep my duncans and torch mid way. although I do keep a black screen over the top of the Duncan to cut down on the amount of light it gets.

Wow that is awesome! beautiful colony!

 

[schryvertime]

If i keep them on the sandbed will i need a decent size rock for the duncans to mount to or will they spawn off just fine on the sand?

 

[A1t2o]

They have a branching skeleton so just stick the end into the sand so it stays upright.