What could cause a chalice to BLEACH?

TCK Corals · Nov 17, 2009

I was wondering would are some factor that could cause a chalice to bleach. I have over 100 or so frags and colonies of chalices and their are three that no matter where i put it will not color up and looks very bleached out. The chalice will only bleach in some areas not all of it. I tried everything i can think of. Just checking to see if anyone else experience this.

nismo_32 · Nov 17, 2009

same thing here... for me it tends to be all the newly imported chalices tend to go thru a bleaching process for me. and all the other le and or such type look perfectly fine. and its not like the chalices are dying cause they are alive just bleached some in spots and some the whole thing... also want some imput in this....

TCK Corals · Nov 17, 2009

Just so we don't repeat things that are said in the past. Here are things that i tested already.

IT NOT TOO MUCH LIGHT
WATER QUALITY ARE ALL IN CHECK
TEMP IS VERY STABLE AT 78-80

dbartkow · Nov 19, 2009

Would love to find this out too. I have a watermelon frag with a white spot that appeared after I fragged it. I was thinking it just got too much light right after being fragged, but I am not sure. I am hoping that area will get its color back. Anyone else seeing this?

Dave

JR's Reef · Nov 19, 2009

I have a watermelon that ive grown out from a tiny frag to about a 4inch colony that either bleachs or browns out. no matter where or what I do I cant get any color out of it. everytime its starts coloring up it starts bleaching.

TCK Corals · Nov 20, 2009

I think i found out my answer for my tank. I have been using a lot of GFO and it could be one of the reason some of my chalice are bleaching.

twinspots_goby · Nov 20, 2009

I don't use GFO at all. Some of my chalices get burned too.

Pizzapro83 · Nov 20, 2009

How much is too much you think?

TCK Corals · Nov 21, 2009

I dont know Frank but i use a lot compare to what you are suppose to use.

5DC · Nov 21, 2009

I've had them do that due to alk/calc ratios

/d

Bio-nut · Nov 21, 2009

I think 5DC hit the nail on the head! I came home one day and my alk was at 5. I had a few start to bleach in spot but now that it is back up it is getting better!

sps4mytank · Nov 21, 2009

typically alk will bleach your chalice but it can also be an unforseen other coral that can stress it out. When mine bleach i put it in low flow and shaded area.

montipora · Nov 22, 2009

Thats crazy maybe water is to clean and that chalice is a bit sensitive. I have one that I got with a frag pack and the rest have colored up as well as grown a bit but this one will not grow or color up its still brown with orange eyes you can almost see a tint of green but thats it. Perhaps if it came straight from the wild it might take some time for it to adjust.

Supreme Reefs · Nov 22, 2009

what is your alk at?

noobreef408 · Nov 22, 2009

Magnesium affects chalice mostly =].

Emster · Nov 22, 2009

noobreef408 said:
Magnesium affects chalice mostly =].

In which way have you found mag to effect chalices?

noobreef408 · Nov 22, 2009

i had really low magnesium for awhile and a couple local reefer's had the same problem ive had success with sps and other lps duncan's,acan's, favia's, etc... and easily kept softies but never couldnt keep chalices. Little did i know i had a Profanity or slang language is not permitted at R2R. Thanks. magnesium test kit .

gonewild34 · Nov 22, 2009

im with ktar ever since i added a phos reactor (because of algea) i loaded it with gfo some of my chalices started to turn white there not dead there is still some color there i thought that with over 115 chalices in my tank i was thinking maybe i should take some out but but im thinking its the gfo now

TCK Corals · Nov 22, 2009

Guys, i am no newbie and not the greatest reefer on this forum. It not my water parameters nor temperature that is affected my chalice to bleach. I have over 100 frag and colonies in this tank and only 2 chalice are bleaching. I have shaded them and move to very low flow. It been bleaching for months now. It only bleach in spots not the whole thing bleach all at once. The only thing that i have been adding a lot is GFO because i had a bloom of algae. Now that the chalices has been move to a quarantine tank with no GFO it has stopped bleaching and is starting to puff up again and looking much better. I will update everyone once i see if it color back up. It two of my favorite pieces so that why i am interested to find out what else could cause this so i can use it for future reference. Thanks for all the input so far.

uchin · Nov 22, 2009

I lost over 2000 bucks worth of chalices bleach and die on me over the past two months. I run gfo and stopped dosing bio fuel. This is how I got my chalices to stop bleaching. Feeding my tank more coral food. Large chalice colanys need a lot of light. Not as much as sps but enough. I use to run my t5s 8 hrs and 250 mh only 3 hrs a day. My chalices are doing a lot better now that I run my mh 7 hrs a day.