Begginer Chalice Info

kingfisherfleshy · Mar 25, 2010

Hey guys...planning on getting my first chalice sometime next week possibly...just wondering if we could start a sticky on the basics for them...maybe get a mod to throw it in there with all the other chalice threads. I just read through them and noticed that theres really no one broad explanatory chalice thread...and with how popular they are becoming I thought it might be a good idea.

Either way, does anyone want to give me their two cents on how to care for these? I would love to have my tank ready for one next week.

My paramenters are about this

pH 8.0
alk 7 dkh (just got this buffered up to here...we will see if it stays)
calcium 400 ppm

no nitrogenous wates or ammonia that tests can detect...and phosphates are either 0 or less than the bottom level on my api test scale...Thanks in advance

BayCorals · Mar 25, 2010

I would buffer your alk a bit more. See if you can get it to closer to 10. Make sure you keep it steady when you get there.

Keep it on med light in the beginning and you can adjust it accordingly as it acclimates to your light. If it is bleaching (turning white, glowing pink), place it in lower light. If there is not enough coloration, you can give it more light slowly. Always ask for info on the piece before you purchase.

Chalice eat when it's dark. You can spot feed mysis, cyclo-peeze, brine shrimp, etc.

You might want to start out with a nice, but not too pricy piece. Maybe a Miami Hurricane or a Mummy Eye.

Good Luck on your new collection.:angel:

kingfisherfleshy · Mar 26, 2010

Im getting it as a free frag in with some acro's and milli's...so yea. I guess not a real big deal, but obviously I would like for it to flourish.
I have been buffering pH...and still have another week to get it up a little higher...and see where I can keep it. Just made my own sodium carbonate the other day, so waiting to test and see what effects it will have on my reef.

Thanks for the info so far...anyone else have good info for begginers on this coral? Thanks

inactive · Mar 26, 2010

I keep all my chalices pretty low in the tank... 55g standard, with a TEK 6x54 T5 system/ATI bulbs... I've burnt a few of them by getting too excited and placing them high. Keep in mind they can take a while to color up and grow, so be patient. Chalice are best fed at nighttime with the flow off... they love anything small and meaty.. you can even mince bigger items down for them to consume.

Be careful where you place them! At night time, most chalice species have long sweeper tentacles similar to favia... some chalice are actually favia that grow like chalice... either way, they can wreck other corals and even other chalice....

If you feed your chalice at night, be on the look out for certain critters...

In the rocks mini brittle stars LOVE to camp out near chalice and steal food.... I pull them out with tweezers when I feed.

On the sandbed, spaghetti worms do the same thing..... and if you have bristleworms, they love to rob your LPS of tasty treats.

How do you give your chalice a chance to eat? Take whatever tool you are using to feed your chalice, and bang the bristleworm in the head and yell..."That's a bad Mr. Bristleworm!" and they usually will retreat for a long enough period the chalice can enjoy it's meal. Brittle stars can be removed with tweezers, or bongo shrimp if you're all gangsta like that... spaghetti worms? I usually the move the discs on the sandbed around to cover any new worms that pop up.

Hope this helps.

kingfisherfleshy · Mar 27, 2010

Okay sweet guys thanks...the only thing that I am really nervous about now is the feeding.

I also had a peppermint shrimp go rouge on a acran. So lets hope the same thing doesnt happen here. This coral is a freebie, being thrown in on a deal for some acro's and milli's so we will just see what happens. I want to get into the chalices, so this will be a good test run.

MAKcorals · Apr 5, 2010

Low to medium flow, not to high of light, and feed! Once these chalices get steadied in your tank they are pigs, I usually turn my flow down right before the lights are about to turn off and wait for them to expose their tentacles then pump them full of a mix of cyclopis, mysis, zooplankton and rotifers and they seem to love it. Hope that helps :)

NanoNano · Apr 5, 2010

Kraylen said:
I keep all my chalices pretty low in the tank... 55g standard, with a TEK 6x54 T5 system/ATI bulbs... I've burnt a few of them by getting too excited and placing them high. Keep in mind they can take a while to color up and grow, so be patient. Chalice are best fed at nighttime with the flow off... they love anything small and meaty.. you can even mince bigger items down for them to consume.

Be careful where you place them! At night time, most chalice species have long sweeper tentacles similar to favia... some chalice are actually favia that grow like chalice... either way, they can wreck other corals and even other chalice....

If you feed your chalice at night, be on the look out for certain critters...

In the rocks mini brittle stars LOVE to camp out near chalice and steal food.... I pull them out with tweezers when I feed.

On the sandbed, spaghetti worms do the same thing..... and if you have bristleworms, they love to rob your LPS of tasty treats.

How do you give your chalice a chance to eat? Take whatever tool you are using to feed your chalice, and bang the bristleworm in the head and yell..."That's a bad Mr. Bristleworm!" and they usually will retreat for a long enough period the chalice can enjoy it's meal. Brittle stars can be removed with tweezers, or bongo shrimp if you're all gangsta like that... spaghetti worms? I usually the move the discs on the sandbed around to cover any new worms that pop up.

Hope this helps.

Glad you posted this. I have 2 frags and they haven't grown at all since I got them several weeks ago.

kingfisherfleshy · Apr 3, 2011

Alright guys, awhile back (January) I bought a watermelon frag.

It has about 3-4 eyes on it.

It is on my sandbed. I have a Hollywood stunner on my sandbed which is slowly but surely growing without intervention, after a recent short period of extreme stress (I think it was getting too much light).

I cant see any feeder tentacles on the watermelon...but it definitely isnt growing in my mind. I would hate to lose this coral...any advice?

Bubbles_B · Apr 3, 2011

BayCorals said:
I would buffer your alk a bit more. See if you can get it to closer to 10. Make sure you keep it steady when you get there.

Keep it on med light in the beginning and you can adjust it accordingly as it acclimates to your light. If it is bleaching (turning white, glowing pink), place it in lower light. If there is not enough coloration, you can give it more light slowly. Always ask for info on the piece before you purchase.

Chalice eat when it's dark. You can spot feed mysis, cyclo-peeze, brine shrimp, etc.

You might want to start out with a nice, but not too pricy piece. Maybe a Miami Hurricane or a Mummy Eye.

Good Luck on your new collection.:angel:

Now thats some sound advice if you ask me. Hung is truly a master of his craft. That's great information for everyone interested in chalices 1smile1

CJO · Apr 4, 2011

kingfisherfleshy said:
I cant see any feeder tentacles on the watermelon...but it definitely isnt growing in my mind. I would hate to lose this coral...any advice?

Try putting some food on it at night and with the flow in your tank turned off even without seeing any tentacles. It should start to open up and eat after a few minutes. Also, I've had no issues feeding mine during the day either.

CJ

fsu1dolfan · Apr 4, 2011

kingfisherfleshy said:
Okay sweet guys thanks...the only thing that I am really nervous about now is the feeding.

I also had a peppermint shrimp go rouge on a acran. So lets hope the same thing doesnt happen here. This coral is a freebie, being thrown in on a deal for some acro's and milli's so we will just see what happens. I want to get into the chalices, so this will be a good test run.

Yeah shrimp and crabs can be pests when it come to feeding corals...One option is to get a plastic coke bottle and cut it in half. Feed the coral with a baster and then cover with the large end of the plastic coke bottle...a great way to keep things from being bugged during feeding time!