Chalice corals just shrink and die??

[FeedMyJones]

I have admired the many chalice coral frags at the various on-line outlets. Of course the most interesting are very expensive. I wanted to see how they would do in my tank and so have ordered 5-6 over the past year and a half. They never have survived for more than a month or so. They just gradually shrink and seem to be wasting away. I've tried acclimating them to the light by starting them on the bottom of the tank and gradually (over 2 weeks) bringing them to about 6-10 inches from the surface of the water. It's a 50 gal tank with two 150w halides plus T-5 actinics. All of my other assorted corals - SPS, LPS, polyps, softies, etc. grow very well. Just not the Chalice corals. I have tried spot feeding them with oyster eggs, Coral Frenzy, baby brine shrimp, Reef Roids and other foods but to no avail. Any Ideas?

 

[tri_pod_rod]

whats your water params?

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
If your other corals are doing well I will venture to guess that you are giving them too much light. They are a low light coral that feeds at night. Try keeping them in a shaded or low light area and feeding after all the lights are off for a couple of hours. Cyclopeeze, Rotifest, or similar are foods to try.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[mojozen]

If your parameters are good than shade has to be your answer.

 

[ashton]

Im thinking your giving them too much light, i've got probably 10-15 chalices at least in my tank and they are all towards the bottom part of my tank. Also a good thing to do is ask the person you buy the chalice from what lighting they kept it under so you can try and keep it in similar conditions. Hope that helps.

 

[HernandezJ35]

yeah i moved mine to the bottom of my tank and they have done really well and are puffed more than ever