Chalice Newb

[kingfisherflesh]

Hey guys, I am about to buy a pack of corals...and a chalice will be included. Just wondering how I can get ready for my new coral, and what all goes into the care of these animals.

I have a 75g mixed reef with 2x 150W 10k Ushio MH lighting

My pH is around 8.0 (trying to get this up)
Alk: 5 dkh (struggling to get this up as well)
Calcium: 400ppm
No ammonia or nitrogenous wastes ever show up in testing

I am having good growth with acros millis montis...various soft corals and LPS as well. There are three fish in the tank, but I am looking to add more.

I feed my corals every three days...just turn the filtration off...and pour the good stuff in front of a powerhead. Some spot feeding of LPS's.

Thanks in advance, Forrest

[kingfisherflesh]

No words of advice from ANYONE on the chalices?

[pudelt32]

Chalices are easy to keep. If you are keeping acros and millie's I would say you'll be fine. I would continue to work on your parameters and just make sure when the chalice's feeder tenacles are out you feed it. I have a EME chalice that I got with 1 eye 4 months ago and with regular feeding it now has 6 eyes. Just make sure you monitor it for while to make sure it's happy with where you have placed it.

[kingfisherflesh]

Okay cool, thanks...

On that note, any favorite foods for these guys? What should the method of feeding be?

I feed my corals already...I turn off the filtration, just leave the koralias running...and then I mix in the dry coral food. Its just dried oyster larvae and stuff like that. My acro digs it. Millie has mixed feelings, and I cant really say that I have noticed anything else eating it. I also have marine snow, but havent used it, as it kinda seems like an unnatural food for corals.

[kwpgrooming]

Get your alk up. Low alk almost killed my chalice and it was at 6.

[kingfisherflesh]

Get your alk up. Low alk almost killed my chalice and it was at 6.

As mentioned earlier in the post I am doing just about everything that you can do to get (and keep) my alk up and stable...if anyone has any suggestions how to do that, please feel free to chime in. I am already using baked baking soda, an airstone (for pH), the alk up product by seachem, and reef crystals salt. So if anything else might be suggested, shoot away.

[kurcoba]

Have you tryied Limewater?
I use Limewater as a top off water , and my Alk is
around 10.

[kingfisherflesh]

Have you tryied Limewater?
I use Limewater as a top off water , and my Alk is
around 10.

No not really...still researching/trying to find a cheap way to do it. Dont know much on the subject.

[crewchef]

Use baking soda for bumping Alk up to level you want it. Doesn't affect PH as much as the baked baking soda mix. Check one of the reef calculators to get required amount. Still wouldn't change more than 1dKH per day.

As mentioned earlier in the post I am doing just about everything that you can do to get (and keep) my alk up and stable...if anyone has any suggestions how to do that, please feel free to chime in. I am already using baked baking soda, an airstone (for pH), the alk up product by seachem, and reef crystals salt. So if anything else might be suggested, shoot away.