Chalice coral

Care at a glance

Overview

The chalice coral is a large polyp stony coral for the lower half of a reef tank. It is one of the most heavily collected corals in the hobby, for its color alone. It does best with a keeper who has some reef experience.

Caring for the chalice coral

Keep the chalice coral under moderate light, roughly 100 to 150 PAR. Too much light tends to wash out its fluorescent colors and can cause tissue recession. Give it gentle to moderate indirect flow across the face of the plate, since it does poorly under a strong direct jet. Place it mid to lower on the rockwork, ideally on a ledge or angled face.

It needs at least 20 gal (75 L), at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) and a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It feeds well on small foods such as mysis, coral pellets or phytoplankton. Spot feed it with a turkey baster two or three times a week, directly onto the polyps. That tends to sharpen its color over time.

The chalice coral is mostly peaceful, but at night it extends sweeper tentacles that can reach several inches. They leave a chemical burn on contact. Give it at least 6 inches of open water on every side, rather than nestling it next to other corals.

It grows slowly to moderately, mostly outward across the rock. A colony placed with room to spread will fill in without needing to be moved.

Good to know

Echinophyllia now sits in the family Lobophylliidae, alongside genera such as Acanthastrea and Micromussa. It moved there after genetic studies broke apart the older chalice family, Pectiniidae. It builds a heavily folded skeleton that ranges from encrusting to plating. Much of its tissue makes intense fluorescent pigments that show best under blue actinic light. In the hobby, Echinophyllia anchors the wider group of corals sold as chalices. That group also includes the closely related genus Oxypora and the more distantly related Mycedium, all traded on color rather than growth form.

In the wild

Echinophyllia grows on lagoon slopes, reef crests and deeper reef zones across the Indo-Pacific. Its range runs from the Red Sea and East Africa to French Polynesia. It is generally more common in deeper, dimmer water than most LPS.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Donut coral

  Acanthophyllia deshayesiana

  9.8 in (25 cm) · 11 gal (40 L)

  9.8 in (25 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Grooved brain coral

  Lobophyllia recta

  9.8 in (25 cm) · 26 gal (100 L)

  9.8 in (25 cm)26 gal (100 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Lobed brain coral

  Lobophyllia

  9.8 in (25 cm) · 20 gal (75 L)

  9.8 in (25 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Acan coral

  Acanthastrea echinata

  7.9 in (20 cm) · 11 gal (40 L)

  7.9 in (20 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Acan lord coral

  Micromussa lordhowensis

  5.9 in (15 cm) · 11 gal (40 L)

  5.9 in (15 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Scoly coral

  Homophyllia australis

  5.1 in (13 cm) · 11 gal (40 L)

  5.1 in (13 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)