TORCH CORAL CARE OVERVIEW

• LIGHT: MODERATE (100-150 par) is what we find best although this coral seems fairly adaptable. It is important to keep in mind that it is far easier to damage coral with too much lighting so in our opinion when it comes to lighting, less is often more for LPS corals. You can learn more about Lighting and it's overall impact on your reef tank in our article Lighting and your Reef Tank

• FOOD: We haven't noticed that any specific feeding strategy is required for torch corals but they would likely benefit from occasional spot feeding. Like most corals they capture nutrients from the water and will do best when supplied a healthy amount of food. Our method is high import, high export. You can learn more about Feeding and Filtration in our article Feeding, Filtration and your Reef Tank.

• FLOW: MODERATE. Torch corals benefit from moderate indirect water movement which will be enough to keep the coral clean of any detritus while also causing it's polyps to extend, inflate, and continuously sway back and forth in the water column. Too much flow, especially direct flow, can cause Torch corals to retract and even cause damage to the coral's tissue or an inability to capture food. You can read more about Flow and its overall impact on your reef tank in our article Flow and your Reef Tank

• DIFFICULTY: ADVANCED. Torch corals are really not available in aquaculture varieties due to long term success with keeping them in captivity, their overall slow growth nature, and their susceptibility to coral disease and infection. Torch corals are one of the most susceptible to infection and disease. Infection will often present itself as brown jelly disease and can be treated if caught very early with antibiotics such as Ciprofloxacin, Amoxycyllin, Chemiclean, Lugol's iodine or a combination of these which would ideally be dosed into a separate tank as treatments of antibiotics into the main display are not advised. Like with all corals, specimens have been seen to do well in captivity when the right combination of Food/Light/Flow and Filtration are achieved. 

• PRICE: HIGH. Torch corals are among the most expensive in the hobby due to combination of factors. Desirability, coloration, movement are some of the reasons that these are such sought after corals. Because they are very slow growers, not available in aquaculture and difficult to keep alive over the long term (years) they tend to be even higher in price.

• COLLECTION ZONE: Indo-Pacific

• SCIENTIFIC NAME: Euphyllia glabrescens, or torch coral, is a large polyp stony coral that has long been a classic in the aquarium hobby. It's related to the even more popular hammer and frogspawn corals, which are members of the same genus and similar in appearance: elongated polyps with a colorful tip.
  

• AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE. Torch corals can be very aggressive and deploy long sweeper tentacles that will sting nearby neighbors. Although they can be kept closely together with their own species, we do not recommend keeping them close to Hammers or Frogspawns. We recommend providing at least 4" space from other types of coral species but as always you should monitor it.

• NATURAL TEMPERATURE: 82 °F / 28 °C  although most corals can adapt and survive in temps as low as 77 degrees and as high as 84 degrees. You can read more about temperature and how it affects your reef tank in our article Temperature and your Reef Tank.

• PH: Recommend 8.0-8.4, we tend to run around 8.2-8.3 over 24 hours. You can read more about pH in our article pH and your Reef Tank

• NITRATE: 5-10, try to keep stable. You can read more about nitrate and our approach to maintaining it in our article Nutrients and your Reef Tank

• PHOSPHATE: 0.05-0.1, try to keep stable. You can read more about Phosphate and our approach to maintaining it in our article Nutrients and your Reef Tank

• ALKALINITY: Recommend 8-9 dKh. You can read more about how we maintain our alkalinity in our article Alkalinity, Calcium and your Reef Tank

• CALCIUM: Recommend 400-450. You can read more about how we maintain our calcium in our article Alkalinity, Calcium and your Reef Tank
  

More About Torch Corals

The Torch coral, also known as the Pom Pom Coral, is a member of the Euphylliidae Family. A fine specimen of the Euphyllia genus, Euphyllia glabrescens stands apart visually, wielding its long, thin polyps with contrasting tips. This is a large polyp stony (LPS) coral. Those whipping polyps are really something to see in a reef. Torch corals are typically found in shades of purple, brown, gray, blue, green, cream, and even gold.

When placing your Torch coral in its new home, make sure to consider flow and lighting. Torch corals need good movement. Good movement keeps them clean, healthy, and gives them opportunities to catch a meal. Torches prefer medium to high flow water flow. You don't have to blast them, but that movement needs to be turbulent and not in one constant direction. Torches also like moderate lighting. Torch corals prefer indirect, low to moderate lighting.  We recommend 100-125 PAR. Bear in mind that many corals can be gradually acclimated to lighting beyond their normal range.

Through their symbiotic relationship with a photosynthetic algae, known as zooxanthellae, they receive many of their nutrients. Torch corals do benefit from target feeding. They also capture microplankton/food particles from the water column and can absorb dissolved organic matter. Euphyllia like to eat. Torch corals benefit from regular targeted feeding.

Torch corals can be aggressive.  They have sweeper tentacles that can extend for feeding and defending itself. It is very important to give your Torch coral plenty of personal space to grow and thrive. They can sting and kill other coral species. Torches do not, however, sting other Torch corals. It is important to handle and place your Torch coral safely and with care.