Acclimating Corals Are we wrong?

[cumbeje]

interesting link on reef builders about acclimating corals. Basically don't! Do you guys agree?

http://************.com/2013/12/12/acclimating-corals-wrong-2/

http://************.com/2013/12/12/acclimating-corals-wrong-2/

 

[cumbeje]

Don't know what I did wrong but its newest article on reef builders basically says the worst thing you can do is leave them in the water. Get them out first.

 

[ReefRMadness710]

I never acclimated corals. If the temp is different i float for a lil thats it

 

[Allmost]

I float the bag for a bit.

then open up, and add some coral RX to the bag, move it around for 5-15 mins depending on the coral and its health, then rinse with some new salt water and place it in tank.

considering the fact that I deal with only mariculture corals, I think the survival rate has been amazing this way. above 80%.

 

[ska d]

I've heard this from someone I trust. She told me just float the bag and then put em right in.

 

[Reefer54]

i was an avid minimum 3 hour drip acc for just about everything for a long time, then i had an emergency during an acc and had to just put like 12 new pieces right in after only maybe 15 min of drip after 15 min float. those corals did just as well as any i have acclimated for the full drip time. i still drip inverts for a minimum hour but stars and cucumbers for the full 3 hr.
i never would have thought this would work after all the time spent doing it the old way.

 

[SW_nOOb_SC]

I would generally agree with this method. Its the same method I've used for Discus on the freshwater side for years. Drop and plop, slice the bag fish into new water asap. No drips no floating. I've done this with coral as well with good results. I generally want any living thing shipped to me out of the dirty shipping water as soon as possible.

This is assuming your water isn't crazily different than the shipping water or anything to where it puts whatever shipped to you into instant shock when it hits the tank. Clean water is great, but not at the risk of totally shocking the coral/fish/etc.

 

[Boston21]

I usually float for like 30 minutes then just grab the specimen and put it in the tank. I tried my hand at acclimating before and ended up just losing more invert's because of it. Wasn't very pleased, so now I just try to get them into their environment as soon as possible so they don't sit in waste/ammonia

 

[cumbeje]

I have had fresh water and Salt water for over 25 now. I never would acclimate anything. After 25 years I lost nothing that I can think of. To be honest all the horror stories of flatworms and so has made me start dipping corals. Now I am starting to rethink it.

 

[cumbeje]

I think the key is that water parameters are close. As long as it is close than get them out of bad water.

 

[SW_nOOb_SC]

I have had fresh water and Salt water for over 25 now. I never would acclimate anything. After 25 years I lost nothing that I can think of. To be honest all the horror stories of flatworms and so has made me start dipping corals. Now I am starting to rethink it.

For me it also comes down to choosing a good source. I always buy from sources I know are clean, or as clean as you can get. Its not 100% but I don't like to stray usually. I'm not sure dipping coral should be abandoned completely in certain cases, but I'm not convinced it should be the norm either when buying from good sources that you've never had a problem with before. Maybe its a risky practice, as it only takes that one time. Guess it depends how confident you are.

 

[GroktheCube]

I float for 15, then check salinity, pH, and alk. If they're all close enough (within 2 or 3 ppt, 7.8+, within 20 or 30 ppm) I'll do a dip and plop them in. I do always leave the lights dim for the first week, LEDs dimmed all the way, and only half my T5s for the first day.

OTOH, well packed corals can survive in the bag water very well.

I once had UPS mess up a Saturday delivery shipment from Pacific East, and a pectinia, leptoseris, and some zoas were left in a warehouse till Monday morning. All survived. The leptoseris regrew all lost tissue within a week, and the zoas opened up within 24hrs. The pectinia was a little slower to recover, but ended up with only a tiny bit of skeleton than needed to be trimmed.

 

[Arkayology]

I never drip acclimate or test for any params. I basically float it for 10 min and then drop it in.

 

[tektite]

Temp acclimate, Bayer dip, add directly to tank. No other acclimation for corals.

 

[flamron]

Temp acclimate, Bayer dip, add directly to tank. No other acclimation for corals.

This for the win!

Unless you get AEFW. Then it sucks. :uzi:

 

[barjam]

Don't know what I did wrong but its newest article on reef builders basically says the worst thing you can do is leave them in the water. Get them out first.

For whatever reason they don't want people linking/discussing other sites so they block them.

 

[Ssteve]

I think the key is that water parameters are close. As long as it is close than get them out of bad water.

Agreed. Both my tanks run the same salt, get water changes at same time etc so I regularly take things from one tank to another and nothing ever stays closed for more than a minute or two even when temps are different and they both run different lighting and flow.

 

[tektite]

Temp acclimate, Bayer dip, add directly to tank. No other acclimation for corals.

This for the win!

Unless you get AEFW. Then it sucks. :uzi:

I should have said add directly to quarantine tank Pests with eggs that dips don't kill like AEFW or monti eating nudi's are no joke.

 

[sneeyatch]

In jus float to stabilize temps then I pull the piece out and place it on the tank's rim to slime up. Then I add it to the system and let the coral shed its slime on its own. I do this with all corals, not just sps.

 

[russeko8]

I don't acclimate any of mine just a good bath in bayer pest advance, and into the quarantine. Ive had no issues.