Raja Rampage advice

mfinn · Oct 9, 2019

I recently bought my 3rd frag of the Raja Rampage chalice. I lost the other 2.
Both just never really seemed like they had a chance. Never grew. Just faded away.
One did grow a little, but then followed the other one.

Who has this chalice growing?
High/low light?
High/low flow?

What's the secrete?

DSC reef · Oct 9, 2019

IME chalices preferred the lower to mid part of the tank with moderate indirect flow. Some nutrients and weekly feedings helped as well.

Billldg · Oct 9, 2019

I have mine in a sps dominate tank and within a few months it went from 5 eyes to over 20. I have it in med flow, I feed reef roids and see if sucking it up every once and a while. I have it in a section that has about 200 par, though I do feel it would do better in a section that has lower par. Mine is on the bottom of the tank in the sand.

mfinn · Oct 9, 2019

I have most of my chalices pretty low in the tank, and I recently started feeding Benereef.
I haven't noticed much of a feeding response from the chalices, at least nothing compared to my favias.
Also I don't have any fish in this tank right now.
Not sure if I want one/some.

Billldg · Oct 9, 2019

mfinn said:
I have most of my chalices pretty low in the tank, and I recently started feeding Benereef.
I haven't noticed much of a feeding response from the chalices, at least nothing compared to my favias.
Also I don't have any fish in this tank right now.
Not sure if I want one/some.

What is your nitrates at, I noticed the most growth from my rampage was when I was dealing with bryopsis and had extremely elevated nitrate levels because I was killing the bryopsis and it was releasing the nitrates and phosphates back into the tank. My nitrates were above 50 ppm, yea, very high.

mfinn · Oct 9, 2019

Billldg said:
What is you nitrates at, I noticed the most growth from my rampage when I was dealing with bryopsis and had extremely elevated nitrate levels because I was killing the bryopsis and it was releasing the nitrates and phosphates back into the tank. My nitrates were above 50 ppm, yea, very high.

lol, I have not tested nitrates in any of my tanks ( after start up cycle) in a couple decades.

Billldg · Oct 9, 2019

mfinn said:
lol, I have not tested nitrates in any of my tanks ( after start up cycle) in a couple decades.

LOL, I am just trying to give you every detail I can think of that may have contributed to the growth. I wish I could say it was this and nothing else, but the truth is I really don't know.

Just went back thru some of my post and I just realized the alcohol is starting to take effect, LOL!!!

DSC reef · Oct 9, 2019

Look at the chalices at night and see if you can see the feeders around the mouths. I used to mix a thick slurry of reef roids and reef nutrition oyster feast. It would literally sit over the chalice like a cloud with the flow off. After a few months I started getting feeding responses during the day with weekly feedings.

JoshH · Oct 9, 2019

@Braves Fan you might be able to shed some insight here as well, I've never had much luck with them but I've only tried twice.

mfinn · Oct 9, 2019

Billldg said:
LOL, I am just trying to give you every detail I can think of that may have contributed to the growth. I wish I could say it was this and nothing else, but the truth is I really don't know.

I do appreciate it.
For some reason this one chalice is just being difficult for me.
And for some strange reason I'm wanting it in my tank. Even after a couple failures.

FactoryKTMmotocross46 · Oct 9, 2019

I run all standard parameters, alk 8-9, lower calcium around 400, just the way my tank runs I guess. Almost undetectable nitrates, .04 po4. Around 200par med-hi flow. This is about 15months. I only really feed frozen to my fish.

FactoryKTMmotocross46 · Oct 9, 2019

Do you have any other chalices that are doing well? Any angelfish?

mfinn · Oct 9, 2019

FactoryKTMmotocross46 said:
Do you have any other chalices that are doing well? Any angelfish?

I have a couple. Just chopped up my BGM and sold off all the pieces. It was about 8" in dia. I have a couple unnamed ones.
No angels in the tank with the new stuff.

Braves Fan · Oct 9, 2019

Mine has been doing great ,, I started off with a nice full 1 inch coral ,, it has added 50% growth and 7 or 8 new eyes ,, I bought from it Leo in the for sale section on R2R this past March ,, my tank is more or less a fairly new tank ,, had 0 Phosphates and 0 Nitrates for the longest time ,, I was over feeding the fish for a long time trying off set those 0 numbers lol still am ,, I have been feeding the Chalice with Reef Roids once a week ,, using the coke bottle trick ,, I want to say my Par numbers on the sand bed are around 115 ,, haven't checked those numbers lately ,, a friend is borrowing my Par Meter ,, the chalice is partially shaded a bit ,, not a lot ,, but some ,, I have Gen 4 Radions over the tank ,, most all the Chalices in the tank are doing good ,, I have lost about 3 of them

though ,,

There is a guy that comes into our LFS ,,, no lie

he has a Raja Rampage ,, very close to the size of a basket ball ,, I don't have a picture ,, but have seen a picture ,,

I would suggest you check your Mag level ,, a lot of reefers don't test for this ,, everything I have read ,, Chalices like to use Mag maybe more than any other coral ,,

PedroYoung · Oct 11, 2019

Are you getting all those frags from the same source? My Raja was pretty slow to start, but picked up speed after about 7 months. I keep same param's you have. Been feeding heavier to try and dirty the water some but the corals keep sucking it up.

this started as 2 mouths about 2 yrs ago.

raja-5 by Peter Young, on Flickr

mfinn · Oct 11, 2019

No, I got all of them from different places.

Denise&JoelRod · Jan 3, 2020

I bought one that didn't have the dark rim around the eyes and at the edge. It was explained to me that the dark blue to black color on the rim is good health and growth.I have mine around 100 par with mild flow. A good way to see if the coral is in a good place is the look at it's tissue. If you buy a raja and you see the tissue is so tight where you can see it's skeleton it's not a happy coral. I also heard that a mag around 1400 is good for them.When you get a new coral you dont have to put it in direct light for the first day but the best thing is to ask the seller what is his par at.I alway test the water that the corals come in and run carbon in my tank the night before. I'm no expert But I hope this helps in some way.

Braves Fan · Jan 3, 2020

Mine loves to eat ,, look at my post above on how to feed them ,, if you use that coke bottle trick over your chalices ,, give them a few min ,,they will eat ,, all of them ,, they will put out a mucus ,, they just pull the food into your mouth ,, the Rampage is a pig

Madonia · Nov 2, 2020

Braves Fan said:
Mine has been doing great ,, I started off with a nice full 1 inch coral ,, it has added 50% growth and 7 or 8 new eyes ,, I bought from it Leo in the for sale section on R2R this past March ,, my tank is more or less a fairly new tank ,, had 0 Phosphates and 0 Nitrates for the longest time ,, I was over feeding the fish for a long time trying off set those 0 numbers lol still am ,, I have been feeding the Chalice with Reef Roids once a week ,, using the coke bottle trick ,, I want to say my Par numbers on the sand bed are around 115 ,, haven't checked those numbers lately ,, a friend is borrowing my Par Meter ,, the chalice is partially shaded a bit ,, not a lot ,, but some ,, I have Gen 4 Radions over the tank ,, most all the Chalices in the tank are doing good ,, I have lost about 3 of them though ,,

There is a guy that comes into our LFS ,,, no lie he has a Raja Rampage ,, very close to the size of a basket ball ,, I don't have a picture ,, but have seen a picture ,,

I would suggest you check your Mag level ,, a lot of reefers don't test for this ,, everything I have read ,, Chalices like to use Mag maybe more than any other coral ,,

Do the new eyes of the raja form on the outside or can they form more towards the inner diameter?

Bitcoin Reefer · Sep 2, 2022

mfinn said:
lol, I have not tested nitrates in any of my tanks ( after start up cycle) in a couple decades.

That seems a little crazy to me. Do you have an estimate of what they’re at? I’d be more worried about too low than too high. I try to keep my tank around 5 while power feeding. I have a Refugium that keeps it low and allows me to feed fish and coral a ton.