Chalice growth form

[kevnkev]

So a few months ago I picked up my first chalice. I glued it down to a frag plug, thinking I would have lots of time before it outgrew that and I needed to place it somewhere more permanent. But the darn thing grows faster than I had thought!

Most pictures of chalices I see are of the coral encrusting a flat piece of rock. However, I prefer plating morphologies to encrusting ones and so I placed the frag in the sand so it couldn't encrust on the rocks around it. As the chalice is growing out to and beyond the edge of the frag plug it is starting to flare out into the plating form I like. My question is: is this healthy for the coral? Will it still grow well, or will forcing it into this morph be detrimental? I know it will be delicate and subject to breaking if I knock it around, but are there any other downsides? It seems like the leading edge of the plates are less dense in polyps than the rest of the colony, but other than that it looks healthy enough. I was just worried because I don't recall seeing other folks' chalices in any other form than encrusting.

p.s. If you grow them in the plating form, do you have any pictures :eyebrows: I'd love to see what I have to look forward to!

 

[trido]

Chalice's can grow into a plating form without sever consequences. They will usually grow slower than If they were encrusting and as you've noted they will be more apt to break off at the edges. I've seen them grow up at the edges to look like a cup or down in all directions. It all depends on lighting, flow and most importantly, the type of coral. There are hundreds of LPS that are labeled "Chalice".

 

[rainydave]

Here's a chalice I've had for about 14 months. It's been growing free-form down on the sandbed for a while.

 

[kevnkev]

Thanks. I suppose growing up at the edges to look like a cup makes sense given the "chalice" name! I will leave this one in the sand bed for a while until it starts plating.

Nice photo Dave - can't wait until mine looks like that!