Chalice corals

[loismustdie]

I pride myself in only purchasing live stock I know I can care for. I can't make the trip to Dr. Mac's, so I decided to place an order with him. Along with my order, I also asked for the Dr. Mac hand picked frag pack. In this frag pack, he gave me 4 chalice corals. You are at the mercy of the seller when you deal with internet purchases. Where do I place it? What does it go for as far as lighting and water flow. Do I need to feed it? My tank specs are listed below, if it helps.
Mixed reef is vague, so I'll explain. I have 1 species of xenia (pom pom), 4 different zoo's (pink, blue, green and orange), 2 clams. LPS: 1 trumphet, 1 galexia, 2 moon corals, 1 sunflower, 1 short plate and 1 alevopora. Stonies: red pavona, green pavona, Maldives pavona (bada$$, best pavona I've seen yet). After that, I have over 60 SPS colonies/frags. Acro, milli, stylo and pocs.
My photoperiod (not counting my VHO actinics) is 6 hours. I had to shorten the photperiod due to very light colors. The SPS colors came back when I shortened the photoperiod, but that is a different thread. Can I keep these happy? All that was written on the bag was CHALICE (again, you are at the mercy of the seller when it comes to internet purchases. I asked them to write as much info as possible for the "frag package"). Do I need to feed them? Any help from members who have experience with these corals would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[noodleman]

the chalice frags i got i keep them low with mod flow, and they seem to be fine here. Hope that helps a little

 

[spykes]

hey chris chalice is a LPS, some people place them on top of a flat rock, and top of the sandbed. I grew mine over a rock like a encrusting monti down below. They have huge feeder tenticles and can kill.

 

[loismustdie]

Spykes "they have huge feeder tenticles and can kill" Okay, so I need to feed it? Maybe I'm assuming here?

Feeding is no problem. I have a sunflower that never goes more than 48 hours without being fed.

 

[spykes]

they would eat liek crazy, no but like blastomussa or any LPS at night they extend these feeder tenticals that allows them to feed during night.

 

[prattreef]

Chris,

"Chalice" usually refers to either Echinophyllia or Echinopora species. They are very undemanding in terms of light ( probably best not to blast them), current or water quality. I've never fed mine and I think Spykes meant sweepers... which they do have, so give 'em a little room. I like them a lot, I'd be happy if Dr. Mac sent them to me in a frag pack. Hope this helps.

Randy

 

[jackson6745]

Chris, I totally forgot to stop by. I'll call you tomorrow

 

[loismustdie]

Randy, the first time I have ever seen these in person was during Mike's (Slamalama) upgrade. His colors on his SPS are awesome!!! Since I had no intention of ever buying them, I didn't think to ask him about them. Honestly, I like them. Very interesting animals. My wife loves them and doesn't want them to go. I'm burning 1220 watts of lighting over them, mostly in the blue spectrum. I fed them tonight with a cyclopeeze/selcon mix that I usually feed my sunflower. They seemed to wrap up around the food... some cyclopeeze wrapped (sp*) up and taken in by them. If it is any help, one is definately the green chalice and one is definately the metallic orange pink eye chalice on Dr. Mac's website.
Thank you so much for the help guys. I think I will keep them low. The ones mid-way high in my tank don't look too good while the ones at the bottom seem happy.

 

[loismustdie]

yeah Rich, thanks to leaving placing frags in my tank all to me. Melanie helped out. Things look great, But I am in total fear of red bugs and flat worms. Don't think I have either yet, but I have a feeling it is gonna happen. I have a chiller, a back up chiller, back up power, back up skimmer, so since I covered all bases, flat worms and red bugs HAVE TO GET ME. It's always something

 

[prattreef]

Chris,

Yeah I'd play it safe and keep them low and since they don't really care too much, why take up prime light loving real estate with them. I have no doubt they will feed, and probably grow more quickly, but it is not requird by any means. Sounds like your frags are Echinophyllia. These corals were over looked for many years and only recently have become "fashionable". Don't get me started on the whole LE thing BTW, your wife has good taste. RD

 

[loismustdie]

BTW, my only complaint with Dr. Mac is they don't provide enough info. I placed a huge order with them and my only complaint is that they didn't give me info on the corals they send. I ordered several corals hand picked by me (15... maybe more) and a frag pack. They sent frags and colonies bigger than I expected. Glue. Free frags. I love ordering from them. I guess they figured I can take care of the chalices???
prattreef, spykes... thank you for your help. If anyone has more... throw it out there.
Rich, I ordered one frag we both were looking at... bigger than we thought. I guess a half inch according to them actually equals 3 inches. Come by any time. I have a "project" going on at the moment. I'd like for you , Kasei, Dave, Steve, Ronen, Mike, Kris (as long as his pocket pool game has come under control) among a few others (jhale, slobby, house and MORE) to come over and check it out. You know me, food and booze will be flowing.

 

[masterswimmer]

Chris, my avatar is a mycedium. It's very close to the chalice family. I've got others as well. I've found that when I put this coral in even medium to high flow the flesh gets blown right off them. So low flow is a definite.

As for lighting, if you run more blue, they can go a little higher. I found that the colors do intensify if they are under bluer light up JUST A BIT higher. If you were telling me your daylights were 10k to 12k, I'd say sandbed or bottom 1/5th of the tank.

I don't feed mine anything. Just what goes in the tank. And I do feed two or three times a week after midnight, lights out, some cyclopeeze and DT's Oyster Eggs (GREAT stuff btw) to the tank in general, not spot fed.

JM $.02,
Russ

 

[DRZL]

pics are always good right?
IME they are very undemanding and ive rarely ever fed them, and by rarely I mean once in the last 8mths. They're hassle-free but they do have sweepers, some species have ones that extend 6"+ while some others have 1". The colors on them are vibrant and they can tolerate all sorts of flow except strong direct movement (they wont puff up as much). Light ive put mine high and it did just as well as where it is, but like Randy said why take up Acro Real Estate.

well thats my .02