Chalices

Hi Everyone,
I am new to the forums and also have only been in the hobby for about 4 months. I was wondering how chalices do in a newer tank. Should I wait on these type of corals. They look great and I have noticed they can get to be expensive. Any thoughts?

 

I would wait on those. They are harder to care for in my opinion then my SPS corals. They need stable water parems. If not the die, receed, or just turn ugly. Wait a little before you do. If you want LPS then try some candy canes or even acan lords.

 

Thanks the more I research them they just do not seem to be a beginning coral.

 

not a beginner at all but don't let people scare you away from them either. Give it a little time. I'm loving my chalices

 

I wouldn't say they are a beginner coral but mostly because they are so expensive.

Maybe some chalices are tricky but mine have been quite resilient. I had an alkalinity issue and one of my first chalice frags receded probably 75% and after I found out my test kit was bad for alkalinity and corrected the problem it recovered and is doing great. My experience is that they're quite hardy and don't need a lot of light or much of anything really to grow (albeit slowly!).

I think you should have stable water parameters before trying even the easiest of corals of any type.

The other thing I've found is that the hardest thing to do (for me anyway) is to keep up with calcium/alkalinity/magnesium demand so you probably won't run into that on your first coral anyway, it's only as you add more than the demand changes so you have to account for that over time.

So ultimately I guess I wouldn't recommend chalices as a starter coral too but just because of the expense. ;D

My 2c

 

Thanks

Thanks everyone for the input. They can be quite expensive but I love the way they look. My current corrals are doing well so I will see how these work out for a while. Thanks again.

 

Agree with this much...
They are hardy and pretty easy to grow, with some experience you could find good placement to keep them low light / low flow and away from other corals because of it's feeders.
As screwtape said, you can have a massive issue and USUALLY it can survive. Some people have no luck but for the most part they are pretty easy.
You can buy common frags for $30-40 and before you know it, it'll be a colony and you'll be grooming it to keep it away from other corals.

I would let your tank mature a bit before trying though...