Rainbow Chalice
Echinophyllia sp.
A jaw-dropping chalice with a swirling rainbow of red, green and blue. Best viewed under moderate lighting to preserve vivid coloration.
- Lighting
- Low
- Flow
- Low
- Placement
- Low, shaded flow area
- Temperament
- Peaceful, needs space to grow
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Care guide
Keeping Echinophyllia in a reef tank
Chalice corals are encrusting plates that grow slowly and reward patience. They are undemanding on calcium and alkalinity relative to branching stonies, and much of their appeal is in the way multiple pigment layers develop across the plate as it encrusts, which takes months rather than weeks.
Lighting for Rainbow Chalice
Low light is the correct target and this genus is easily burned. Place it on the sand bed or a shaded ledge, and if colour looks washed out the answer is almost always less light rather than more. This particular frag is rated for low light — roughly 50–100 PAR, on the sand bed or under an overhang.
Water flow
Low, indirect flow only. Chalices trap detritus in the ridged surface of the plate, so gentle intermittent movement across the coral is better than a steady current pushing into it. Flow for this frag should be gentle and indirect.
Placement and tank mates
Low, shaded flow area. Peaceful, needs space to grow.
What to watch for
Chalices deploy sweeper tentacles at night that can reach several inches and will sting neighbours that seemed safely spaced during the day. They also feed heavily after dark — target feeding a small meaty portion once or twice a week noticeably accelerates encrusting.