Chalice Care

zemuss · Aug 2, 2012

Can anyone give me some tips?

I am wondering if Chalice are like SPS which require a cleaner water I.e. 0 Nitrates, or are they more like LPS which like some dirt.

Feed back welcome.

fab1971 · Aug 2, 2012

Here you go zemuss. This is a very nice thread that would help you out with most of the basics and some more advance info. As far as sps, they are not alike in any way. They require less light (almost none at all in some circumnstances) and like dirtier water.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-lps-discussion/82108-i-am-new-chalice-corals-give.html

zemuss · Aug 2, 2012

Then I need to decide if I want SPS or LPS.

I think monti caps and LPS require dirtier water where a SPS like a Millie require 0 nitrates.

Hmm I think I am gonna have to think what I want to dominate my tank.

bct15 · Aug 2, 2012

You can have both, I have sps, zoas, and lps and a hitchhiker shroom in my display. Just don't blast your tank with 15000 watts of metal halide lighting if you plan to mix types. Then place the lower light species at te bottom and the high light species at the top. I use 250w mh and t5s, sps do great middle and up while lps do great from the middle to the bottom. My tank is 28 inches deep (I think). That being said I only have two chalices and have had three die on Me over night after getting them when they show up with the skeleton showing (but still alive). I have to mp40s on reefcrest mode turned all of the way up. Shrimp and chalices don't get along IME, shrimp like to steal the food from them (along with everything else) at night. If you keep shrimp make an lps feeder out of an empty bottle.

Cut the bottom of the bottle out, place the bottle over the coral you intend to feed. Turkey baste the food into the coral from the poor spout f the bottle. Leave hole plugged until coral has eaten all of its food.

Chalices do not need to be fed but seem to do better when fed. If you feed your chalice can be basically completely shaded. My torches, acans, favias, favites, frogspawn, plate, wellso and elegance all like to be fed once to two times a week. You know when they are hungry when the little tentacles are showing at night for chalices and favias. The rest pretty much will take food at any time like zoas. I do not directly feed my sps, but do add a filter feeding solution once a week to every other week.