Feeding Torch Coral?

[L2]

Hey does anyone know often I should be feeding my Torch Coral? He's medium in size and I have some small mushrooms. I'm just getting started really with introducing coral into my now very stable tank. I try to shoot him with 1 ml of phitoplancton every day. I have a 12 gallon tank... nano cube. Is that enough? Or should I be doing it every other day ?

Also... I try and do the same thing with the iodine and suppliments... every other day i shoot in 1ml... a tiny amount. is that the right thing to do? i don't have a lot of coral yet but i assume these ones still need their nutrients/suppliments. Thoughts?

Thanks guys! And gals!

 

[seaham358]

NEVER add iodine and other suppliments with out testing your water first.. Adding to a 12 gal w/out testing could hurt the tank fast..
I have never added iodine to my reef and all is fine. Doing regular water changes should keep levels up where they need to be.
Phytoplankton once a week would be fine and don't over dose that stuff either, too much could cause algae issues..

 

[austinsdad]

Providing phtoplankton/food may be one thing, but I'm concerned about the iodine and supplements though. Iodine can be very dangerous so I've heard if overdosed. Plus, there no reliable test to see where the levels actually are. Most try to rely on PWCs for supplement updates. I'd think 2 times weekly for phytoplankton since there isn't a lot of coral yet. I think the bottle recommendation says every other day and is based on the water volume.

Look up Euphyllia glabrescens and read up on it.

The torch is gonna like medium and consistent flow to do well. And I believe it can harm neighboring corals if placed too close also.

Lemme know how it turns out in a few days.

 

[L2]

Thanks everyone. I do have some new algae growth so I'll go easy on the feedings from now on! Good advice about the supplements too.

I woke up this morning though and my Torch Coral has 4 arms and one of it's arms had sucked in ALL it's tenticles and one of my hermit crabs was "sleeping" right underneath its arm. Is this normal when a crab or fish approaches it?

Thanks!

 

[austinsdad]

It will retract to the touch or darkness.

 

[bassetbros]

I feed my euphyllia's (torch, hammer, frogspawn) a little meatier diet of prime reef frozen cubes, mysis or silversides. I'm sure they benefit from dosing the tank with phyto but they need a little larger amount of food than is obtained by simply feeding the phytoplankton. They readily accept these foods and really "swell up" when offered.

I hope this helps.

Thanks and God Bless,
Basset

 

[Brenden]

Supplements are not needed. As others have said PWC are the best way to supply what is needed. I do not target my torch coral. It gets the leftovers. If you are going to target it use a meaty food like mysis or brine. Also do not squirt the food right on the coral. Place it right up current so it drifts into the coral. I would be really careful dosing phytoplankton in your tank. You can foul the water quick especially with a 12 gallon tank. Good luck

 

[ryguy]

Glad to hear you don't target feed your torch brenden. I was worried after reading this until your post. I've just been relying on it picking up the leftover as well.

I got my torch about 2 weeks ago from a friend. It was under MH in his tank and quite green. In my tanks, I notice muuch better extension but it's lost the the green colour and is more brownish with a tinge of green. I have a 192W PC strip on my 46G. When the actinics are on, it appears quite green, but not so much with the 10000k.

Is that just the way the cookie crumbles, or will a new location closer to the top of the tank bring out the green better.

 

[melosu58]

I only target feed two of my corals. That is the sun polyps and carnation coral. everything else feeds off the lights and leftovers.

 

[Brenden]

Is that just the way the cookie crumbles, or will a new location closer to the top of the tank.

I would say it is just your lights wavelength.

I only target feed two of my corals. That is the sun polyps and carnation coral

Ditto. I have been targeting my red and orange ricordia lately with oyster eggs. I am just trying to get them to split faster.