27 Gallon Chalice Dominated Tank

[Clownman727]

I want to do a chalice tank. I just can't decide how to scape it. Following along to see what you come up with.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

The Lighting

For lighting I'm going to go with a Kessil A150 Ocean Blue.

This light produces a 15000 K look with a shimmer. So it should work well with chalices. I'll find out soon enough when this tank gets wet.

Chalices can be very finicky when it comes to LEDs, so I'm thinking about starting the PAR reading around 100. Typically I like to have chalices around 150 PAR, but LED's throw off the PAR meter in my opinion. Might as well start low instead of high.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

I want to do a chalice tank. I just can't decide how to scape it. Following along to see what you come up with.

I'm thinking of a Volcano look with red chalices at the apex so they grow down like lava and other colors around the base

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Got the tank wet. Just a heater, powerhead and light on a timer. Somewhat of a bacterial bloom causing cloudy water. I added 20 gallons of water from my established tank. Hopefully it will cycle sooner than later, but you never know.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

After one week diatoms have started. I haven't touched anything in the tank, not even cleaned the glass.

The UGLY stage begins! :mad:

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Week 2

Diatoms are in full effect. No fish or coral yet. I did test the light with the PAR meter. At the apex of the rock pile, the PAR was 50. This seemed a little low even for chalices. So I switched the light fixture for a Kessil 360.

The Kessil 360 has an adjustment for intensity and color. So I dialed in a 14k look and adjusted the intensity so that the apex of the rock is 100 PAR.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Week 3

Really ugly! New tank uglies is no fun at all.

Added a lawnmower blenny and did a water change with water from my 120. Maybe I'll get a couple astrea snails next week.