Chalice in a softy-dominated 11g nano?

I'm considering getting a chalice frag (nothing costly, just a $20 frag), but I haven't decided exactly what kind yet. There is a local reef farm that grows about 5-10 varieties of the more common ones (like the brown w/green eyes, etc).


Are chalices typically fairly hardy in tanks with no skimmer, and soft coral dominated?

I do have difficulty with many SPS-- I assume it has much to do with the unstable temps and salinity that a small nano just has if you forget to top off on any given day--- and the chemical warfare in this kind of tank. Acros and hydnophora do not do well in this tank (the hydnophora really surprised me!). Montipora does just fine. Light levels are also kept somewhat low with my LEDs just to keep from frying the softies.

Just wondering--- looking for something to occupy a certain spot in my tank that seems to be a good place to experiment with chalice.

Thanks!

 

I find they are fairly hardy, but be aware I also have found them to be aggressive.

What do you have for filtration? What are the params? are they stable? Lights? stock?

 

Chalices can be fairly temperamental. Also as stated they have very long sweepers so I would not put them close to any softies or they will get attacked. You will want to run carbon and change it often with alot of softies in your system.

 

OK, you guys are answering some questions for me.


I didn't realize chalices had long sweepers. That might be a problem. How long are the sweepers, generally?



Regarding my tank, it's intentionally kept as a "ghetto reef".

It's 36" long, 9" tall, 9" wide. No filtration whatsoever other than the live rock. I do water changes once a month, about 30-40% (intentionally not legalistic with this either). No skimmer, no sump. Manual top-off.

The only equipment on this tank is the LEDs and the two powerheads that alternate via a Red Sea Wavemaster Pro. LED's are 18 Cree and Rebel whites and blues. Standard DIY stuff driven by 1 Meanwell and 1 Buckpuck.

You can see it in this post. The stocking list is "one of each" when it comes to soft corals. It's 100% an experiment for me and I've lost surprisingly few corals in it (hydnophora and acropora do not like this tank, and I've had a couple zoa frags melt on me, but that's not that uncommon anyhow).

Growth on the soft corals is slower than it is in other tanks with good carbon filtration, but honestly, in a tank this size, that's a benefit.


The trick is feeding lightly (VERY lightly) and stocking lightly (I have 3 small fish, and that's it, no more). Learn your tank, adjust your feeding accordingly, keep EVERYTHING SIMPLE, and test your alk/calcium every week. This seems to work in this tank.

11g rimless shoebox...... Green Leaf 36X9X9 - Nano-Reef.com Forums

 

Seems like a nice place for a chalice coral, somewhat dirty water. I like the beer bottle covered in coraline and stuff.

 

You might be surprised at the water quality. Softies seem to be very good at removing nutrients from the water.

I test a 0.00 phosphate reading from a Seachem test. I've verified that this kit isn't expired b/c it comes with a 1.0 ppm standard reference, and it tests right on 1.0ppm, as well as 0.25ppm (give or take, depending on your lighting) if you cut it with 3 parts RO/DI water and 1 part reference solution. I NEVER had my phosphate that low in my 80g system except after aggressive vodka dosing, over a 4-6 month period. Same brand test kit.


Nitrates were about 10-15 last time I checked them, which was a surprise to me, with 0.00 phosphate. Apparently something in that tank sucks phosphate like a sponge (I do not dose kalkwassar or anything else that reduces phosphate via precipitation).

My suspicion is either the common anthelia or the yellow fiji leather, since both are growing steadily and have the largest "mass" of any coral in the tank.



Now, if, by "dirty", you mean "tank full of chemical warfare", then yes. This tank is probably full of chemical warfare, but honestly everything seems fine except some SPS.

 

I would say give it a shot, LPS and softies can really vary from tank to tank. Get a frag of something small and cheap to try out, maybe like a frag of hollywood stunner. Its a fairly tough chalice and a really fast grower compared to most.

 

go for it!