Hello,
I have become an avid collector of chalice corals over the last 6 months, and while I have seen nice growth on all my chalices, I have also seen some interesting discoloration over the last month or so. The Miami hurricane chalice frag (bought it as a 5 eye, 1 inch frag in june, now it is almost twice that size, has 15 eyes) is much lighter than it was, it seemed to be bleaching a bit. It was on the bottom of my 90 gallon, a 30 inch deep tank. I placed it in a shadier spot, hoping that is all it needs. I also have a larger chalice colony I bought from a LFS, it is about the same size as when I bought it in May, about 4 inches in diameter. It seems like it has bleached streaks in it, more so where it is getting more light on it. I use an ATI sunpower t5 6 bulb 36 inch fixture on the tank, and have changed a few of the bulbs to move more towards a consistent 20000k lighting. All my water chemistry is looking good, pH 8.1, alk 8.4 dkh, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate all at 0 (I know that some dissolved organic material in the water is a good thing for chalices), Ca tests high (500+) via a Hanna checker, but I wonder if it has to do with the DI water I use (I am getting a tds meter to use on my rodi soon). I have had gha, but it is dying out now that I replaced my phosban. There has been a lot film algae all over my rockwork and glass recently which is not dying out as quick. PO4 always tests 0, but I realize this doesn't mean a lot. Generally the rest of my coral looks good. Here is what I am planning on doing:
Plumb a 40 gallon tank into this current tank, sharing this systems 40 gallon sump, expanding the water volume to about 150 gallons total.
Build an ATS and discontinue use of the phosban when the ATS is working properly, continue to use my protein skimmer.
Place most of my lps corals into the 40 gallon tank with a 4 bulb 36 inch sunlight supply fixture with 2 of the 4 bulbs being actinics.
Get the tds meter on the rodi setup to confirm a tds of 0.
If anyone has any ideas or criticism of my setup that may improve my care of the coral, please let me know. Thanks for reading my essay length post,
Scott
I have become an avid collector of chalice corals over the last 6 months, and while I have seen nice growth on all my chalices, I have also seen some interesting discoloration over the last month or so. The Miami hurricane chalice frag (bought it as a 5 eye, 1 inch frag in june, now it is almost twice that size, has 15 eyes) is much lighter than it was, it seemed to be bleaching a bit. It was on the bottom of my 90 gallon, a 30 inch deep tank. I placed it in a shadier spot, hoping that is all it needs. I also have a larger chalice colony I bought from a LFS, it is about the same size as when I bought it in May, about 4 inches in diameter. It seems like it has bleached streaks in it, more so where it is getting more light on it. I use an ATI sunpower t5 6 bulb 36 inch fixture on the tank, and have changed a few of the bulbs to move more towards a consistent 20000k lighting. All my water chemistry is looking good, pH 8.1, alk 8.4 dkh, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate all at 0 (I know that some dissolved organic material in the water is a good thing for chalices), Ca tests high (500+) via a Hanna checker, but I wonder if it has to do with the DI water I use (I am getting a tds meter to use on my rodi soon). I have had gha, but it is dying out now that I replaced my phosban. There has been a lot film algae all over my rockwork and glass recently which is not dying out as quick. PO4 always tests 0, but I realize this doesn't mean a lot. Generally the rest of my coral looks good. Here is what I am planning on doing:
Plumb a 40 gallon tank into this current tank, sharing this systems 40 gallon sump, expanding the water volume to about 150 gallons total.
Build an ATS and discontinue use of the phosban when the ATS is working properly, continue to use my protein skimmer.
Place most of my lps corals into the 40 gallon tank with a 4 bulb 36 inch sunlight supply fixture with 2 of the 4 bulbs being actinics.
Get the tds meter on the rodi setup to confirm a tds of 0.
If anyone has any ideas or criticism of my setup that may improve my care of the coral, please let me know. Thanks for reading my essay length post,
Scott
