Torch coral

[Playdope]

Just brought home a torch coral, and I read somewhere they weren't too tough, but then I stumbled on julian sprungs writeup just now and he gave them a 6/10 for hardiness. It seems like he grouped torches together with hammer corals. The one I bought looks a bit like a plate coral... but three stalks.. each with tenticles that are dark pink with light green tips.

Any opinions on placement (flow/lighting)? Most articles I seem to read say to place them low-mid tank under the lighting, and in medium => strong current. Also reading they are pretty aggresive, so how much space should I leave b/w it and other corals?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Juck]

My torch was tough as nails,, took me almost a year to kill it (an unfortunate accident involving me putting it in a rubbermaid with no light and forgetting about it for 3 months).

I think they prefer low-medium current,,, then you'll get nice long flowwy tentacles,,, in high current they keep their tentacles short but can have problems with tissue pulling away from the heads.

Mine did not like being under the halides at all and did much better in an area with lower light.

 

[Playdope]

Woah, these corals with the thick stalky bases are tough to place. Seems like the only way to do it is to stick them in a crevice. Anyone tried mounting one to rock with epoxy+superglue? Im not sure it would be worth even trying.

 

[Anonymous]

My was doing OK untill a power head came loose and blew it apart before I knew what was going on. Luck for me it spawned and I have 4 babies. Keep it out of direct current and it should be no harder than a hammer.

 

[Ben1]

This type of coral will be much easier to mount using u/w epoxy then using superglue gel. Gel is better for lighter weight frags.

Low/Med current as mentioned above. I have a branching hammer, and a typical frogspawn. The frogspawn is newer for me and is about 18" under a 250 watt 10k MH. The branching hammer I have had since 97 or something and have it on the bottom of the 150 all the way on the bottom a good 35" from the bulbs.

 

[Playdope]

Are torches also commonly called frogspawn?

 

[Anonymous]

No, two different type of LPS. They are similar in their needs.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a beautiful yellow one that ChrisRD gave me. I have it just sitting on the sand, gets medium current and light. Seems very hardy.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a piece that I keep on my sandbed in my 220. It's gone from one head to 4 in the past year while my frogspawn has tripled in size over the same time period. Slower growing IME. Fairly hardy but do not let the actual tissue get abraded or hammered by current as these and most euphyllids are susceptible to brown jelly infections. Light wise they seem to be fairly tolerant of a wide range.