coral question

eliza209 · Jan 18, 2023

My 29 gallon Biocube is almost six months old! I really need to do a build thread, just for myself. This last weekend, I went to a coral swap and received a couple of free frags and purchased a couple of mushrooms. I have no idea what the pictured coral is, but I remember being told it was an "encrusting coral". I've watched a few videos on encrusting corals, but would love if anyone could id this for me. I'm concerned about the gray spots on it and am wondering if the placement is bad. I have the 32 gallon lid with stock LED lights.

I don't remember there being any gray on the coral the first evening. It is sitting about midway up my rock. There is a mushroom frag between the unidentified coral and a goni. The mushroom color is gorgeous, but it's pointed away from the front of the tank in this picture. The goni has really good flow and has been pretty happy. I think my toadstool started shading it a bit too much, so I moved it down to the sand bed on its rock. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!

DanyL · Jan 18, 2023

This looks like a really nice Chalice.

Chalice are low PAR loving LPS corals, they can easily be bleached when given even too much light or weren't properly acclimated to even slightly higher light conditions.

I usually put new Chalice pieces in a slightly shaded area and slowly, over 2 weeks or more introduce them to their final location, you might want to do the same here. Watch it closely and act accordingly.

eliza209 · Jan 18, 2023

DanyL said:
This looks like a really nice Chalice.

Chalice are low PAR loving LPS corals, they can easily be bleached when given even too much light or weren't properly acclimated to even slightly higher light conditions.

I usually put new Chalice pieces in a slightly shaded area and slowly, over 2 weeks or more introduce them to their final location, you might want to do the same here. Watch it closely and act accordingly.

Thank you so much! Looking at several pictures, I had wondered if it might be a chalice. It is absolutely beautiful. I have a perfect shady spot for it and will move it now. :)