Hi Everyone,
Seems to me that, no matter what trendy new corals come along, the ultimate collectors' corals almost always seem to be Chalices. Regardless of wether we're talking about an Echinophyllia, Mycedium, Oxypora, or even Echinopora, these corals seem to hold an almost irresistible appeal to coral collectors. We propagate a lot of different varieties of coral, yet the most consistently popular varieties are Chalices. Why is this? I have to be honest- I am not completely sure! Are they easy to keep? Well, if their requirements are met, I'd have to say that they are. These corals are to reefing like the Oscar is to the freshwater world: Give 'em what they like, and they thrive. Deviate a bit, and they let you know it by losing color, falling off feed, and just sort of looking pathetic.
What we have found in over a year of producing them at commercial levels is no secret, but it was a bit surprising to me. First, the darned things just don't like a whole lot of light. This is entirely consistent with their natural environment. When I talk to our Aussie collectors and Indo mariculturists, they'll tell me that these corals are found under overhangs and in shadowy crags in reefs. When Joe visited one of our sources in Bali recently, he had to literally use a dive flashlight to see into the raceway where they were located, as tarps and greenhouse glazing rendered the environment quite dark.
In our own facility, we keep them in surprisingly dim light, and they are thriving, growing out and displaying vibrant color and morphology that almost every visitor to our facility makes a comment on. We run an array of Kessil A350W "Tuna Blue" LED's to illuminate them, mounted around 22" over the water, and dialed way, way down. In fact, a recent par test conducted by an LED manufacturer who visited our facility indicated that the PAR value on the outer edges of our Chalice section (where some of our most popular varieties are located) was....7. Not "137", or "207". I mean 7. Thee corals don't like a ton of light. We had to shuffle some around a bit even under this lighting regime, as some did not do well directly under the LEDs, even at low settings! In fact, we have a skylight that was over an SPS raceway adjacent to the Chalice section, and it emitted enough natural light to cause problems for the Chalices. We literally covered it over, along with any other vent or opening that admitted sunlight.
We feed the heck out of our Chalices, and recommend that you do, too. We love the Reef Nutrition foods, such as Oyster Feast, Phyto Feast, etc. We feed several times a week. It's a pretty cool sight when we shut off the return pump and watch these colorful corals feed! They are "hungry" corals, make no mistake. An while we're talking about flow- they will respond well to a variety of flow regimens, in our experience. We tend to keep them in an area of moderate, indirect water movement.
As far as water chemistry, nothing secret there...They like stability. High alkalinity, moderate to high calcium, and respond very well to Potassium supplementation, displaying great color. Water temps are lower than what you might except, as we shoot for about 77 degrees F. This works very, very well.
As a refresher, here are just some of the more popular varieties that we are working with on a constant basis, along with some helpful comments about their care. We have many new varieties coming up, with new releases occurring throughout the Fall. Since we are not a "chop shop", the corals themselves will dictate when the new varieties are ready for release. Patience in coral farming is not just a virtue...it's a requirement!
UC "Raging Waters" Chalice - This variety really thrives under modest LED lighting. Do not overlight this one, as it will not show its best colors and health under excessively bright illumination. When it's happy, it's colors are anything but "subtle", literally shimmering!
UC "Jeckyl and Hyde" Chalice - A year of working with this one has finally helped us find it's "sweet spot", with lighting and flow being very important. In order to maintain the strong contrasting colors, this variety seems to do well towards the center of the raceway, where the lighting is a bit "brighter" (This is, of course, a relative term, as it's anything but bright!).
UC "Yellow Eye" Chalice- This one is almost "bulletproof", in that it seems to do well under a variety of "Chalice conditions." Not nearly as picky as many, it responds very well to feeding. its bright red color is easy to maintain if you keep the alkalinity consistent and lighting minimal.
UC "Magma" Chalice - With it's bright colors, this one tends to favor remarkably dim lighting. It's a great feeder, but it will really let you know if it's not happy, losing color. Let this coral tell you where its "sweet spot" is, and leave it alone! It will put on quite a show once it's settled.
UC "Lucky Charms" Chalice- Are you sensing a theme here? This is another one that really doesn't like a lot of light. Does very will under an overhang in a dimly lit section of your reef...Notice I said "overhang in a DIMLY lit" section? It doesn't like tons of light
.
Seems to me that, no matter what trendy new corals come along, the ultimate collectors' corals almost always seem to be Chalices. Regardless of wether we're talking about an Echinophyllia, Mycedium, Oxypora, or even Echinopora, these corals seem to hold an almost irresistible appeal to coral collectors. We propagate a lot of different varieties of coral, yet the most consistently popular varieties are Chalices. Why is this? I have to be honest- I am not completely sure! Are they easy to keep? Well, if their requirements are met, I'd have to say that they are. These corals are to reefing like the Oscar is to the freshwater world: Give 'em what they like, and they thrive. Deviate a bit, and they let you know it by losing color, falling off feed, and just sort of looking pathetic.
What we have found in over a year of producing them at commercial levels is no secret, but it was a bit surprising to me. First, the darned things just don't like a whole lot of light. This is entirely consistent with their natural environment. When I talk to our Aussie collectors and Indo mariculturists, they'll tell me that these corals are found under overhangs and in shadowy crags in reefs. When Joe visited one of our sources in Bali recently, he had to literally use a dive flashlight to see into the raceway where they were located, as tarps and greenhouse glazing rendered the environment quite dark.
In our own facility, we keep them in surprisingly dim light, and they are thriving, growing out and displaying vibrant color and morphology that almost every visitor to our facility makes a comment on. We run an array of Kessil A350W "Tuna Blue" LED's to illuminate them, mounted around 22" over the water, and dialed way, way down. In fact, a recent par test conducted by an LED manufacturer who visited our facility indicated that the PAR value on the outer edges of our Chalice section (where some of our most popular varieties are located) was....7. Not "137", or "207". I mean 7. Thee corals don't like a ton of light. We had to shuffle some around a bit even under this lighting regime, as some did not do well directly under the LEDs, even at low settings! In fact, we have a skylight that was over an SPS raceway adjacent to the Chalice section, and it emitted enough natural light to cause problems for the Chalices. We literally covered it over, along with any other vent or opening that admitted sunlight.
We feed the heck out of our Chalices, and recommend that you do, too. We love the Reef Nutrition foods, such as Oyster Feast, Phyto Feast, etc. We feed several times a week. It's a pretty cool sight when we shut off the return pump and watch these colorful corals feed! They are "hungry" corals, make no mistake. An while we're talking about flow- they will respond well to a variety of flow regimens, in our experience. We tend to keep them in an area of moderate, indirect water movement.
As far as water chemistry, nothing secret there...They like stability. High alkalinity, moderate to high calcium, and respond very well to Potassium supplementation, displaying great color. Water temps are lower than what you might except, as we shoot for about 77 degrees F. This works very, very well.
As a refresher, here are just some of the more popular varieties that we are working with on a constant basis, along with some helpful comments about their care. We have many new varieties coming up, with new releases occurring throughout the Fall. Since we are not a "chop shop", the corals themselves will dictate when the new varieties are ready for release. Patience in coral farming is not just a virtue...it's a requirement!
UC "Raging Waters" Chalice - This variety really thrives under modest LED lighting. Do not overlight this one, as it will not show its best colors and health under excessively bright illumination. When it's happy, it's colors are anything but "subtle", literally shimmering!
UC "Jeckyl and Hyde" Chalice - A year of working with this one has finally helped us find it's "sweet spot", with lighting and flow being very important. In order to maintain the strong contrasting colors, this variety seems to do well towards the center of the raceway, where the lighting is a bit "brighter" (This is, of course, a relative term, as it's anything but bright!).
UC "Yellow Eye" Chalice- This one is almost "bulletproof", in that it seems to do well under a variety of "Chalice conditions." Not nearly as picky as many, it responds very well to feeding. its bright red color is easy to maintain if you keep the alkalinity consistent and lighting minimal.
UC "Magma" Chalice - With it's bright colors, this one tends to favor remarkably dim lighting. It's a great feeder, but it will really let you know if it's not happy, losing color. Let this coral tell you where its "sweet spot" is, and leave it alone! It will put on quite a show once it's settled.
UC "Lucky Charms" Chalice- Are you sensing a theme here? This is another one that really doesn't like a lot of light. Does very will under an overhang in a dimly lit section of your reef...Notice I said "overhang in a DIMLY lit" section? It doesn't like tons of light
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