Chalice needs help

[ROLLINS]

I have had this beautiful large chalice for about 8 months. It was located near the top of my tank w/ 250w 14k HQI halides with generic bulbs and ballasts. Everything was great for about 6 months and then I upgraded to lumitek ballasts and 10k Ushio bulbs. The edges started turning a a little white so I moved the chalice to the sand thinking the major light output difference was too much of a change. All my parms. are perfect and my other 20 corals, including other chalices, are doing just fine. My question to you all is am I still giving this chalice too much light. The lower, lower right portion of the chalice facing direct light, is slowly turning white, although the edges did seem to recover some. On the sand the it is about 22" from the light. All the vertical parts of the chalice partially shaded from the light are beautiful. I know this chalice came from hamilton 175w 10k se halides and was placed at the top half of the tank. Here are pics from before and after to help. Thanks, Ryan

 

[treehugger]

I tend to keep all of my chalices in very low light. They always seem to be happy down on the sand bed or even under a ledge with medium current to keep them clean of detritus. It's a beautiful chalice for sure. Good luck.

 

[apollothesun]

i would just focus on keeping your tanks parameters stable; temp, salinity, etc... as best as possible and keep a dkh of 8.0 to 8.5.

 

[returnofsid]

Has it had any detritus settling on it? That's kind of what it looks like. I'd regularly blow it off with a turkey baster.

 

[ROLLINS]

It does get some detritus from time to time, but I do use a turkey baster when I see some. The majority of the chalice is doing well, I just tend to freak out because it is one of my favorite pieces. I am tempted to move it under a shelf were it would be partially shaded like treehugger suggested, but I know moving corals can cause additional stress. If things get any worse I may resort to that. Thanks for the input.