I know that acclimating a (hardy) fish isn't very difficult....ive just floated the bag in the tank...periodically adding small amounts of tank water to the bag, then after about an hour of this, netting the fish and putting him in the tank.....but for corals, what is the best method? How can i transfer them from the bag to the tank without them being exposed to the air?
acclimating techniques?
- Thread starter Nabob89
- Start date
Do not allow water from the bag to get into your tank: by your description, you're not, but I wanted to be clear.
Corals have similar issues. Drip acclimation won't hurt, and it lets them adjust a bit. But it will not hurt them to be out of water. In the case of the lps, you may want to delay at the surface of the water to give it time to contract in: they look like an alarming wad of slime in this state, but as long as you don't do anything to puncture them on their own skeleton, they'll be fine. Settle them in the tank---you may use something like IC-Gel on their bottoms (slightly dried) to encourage them to stay put. [You just wait until the glue skins over well, then plunge it straight for the spot you want to stick it and hold it rock-still for half a minute.] You can even break them off the rock they were glued to and glue them straight to your large rocks.
Corals have similar issues. Drip acclimation won't hurt, and it lets them adjust a bit. But it will not hurt them to be out of water. In the case of the lps, you may want to delay at the surface of the water to give it time to contract in: they look like an alarming wad of slime in this state, but as long as you don't do anything to puncture them on their own skeleton, they'll be fine. Settle them in the tank---you may use something like IC-Gel on their bottoms (slightly dried) to encourage them to stay put. [You just wait until the glue skins over well, then plunge it straight for the spot you want to stick it and hold it rock-still for half a minute.] You can even break them off the rock they were glued to and glue them straight to your large rocks.
Blown 346
Active member
No, the drip method is completly different.
You get a bucket, cut opent he bag with the coral, fish etc. Dump the water in the bucket with the fish, coral.
Get a airline and place it in your tank and make sure it wont fall out.
Suck on the end of the airling real quick to start a siphon, once that is going tie aloose knot in the end of the airline, and place it in the bucket.
Tighten the know to get a slower drip, andloosen it to get a faster drip. You will want 3 to 4 drips per second.
Leave the coral, fish etc in the bucket for a hour or more depending what you bought.
You get a bucket, cut opent he bag with the coral, fish etc. Dump the water in the bucket with the fish, coral.
Get a airline and place it in your tank and make sure it wont fall out.
Suck on the end of the airling real quick to start a siphon, once that is going tie aloose knot in the end of the airline, and place it in the bucket.
Tighten the know to get a slower drip, andloosen it to get a faster drip. You will want 3 to 4 drips per second.
Leave the coral, fish etc in the bucket for a hour or more depending what you bought.
t-dizzle
Premium Member
Nabob89, if you'd rather not suck on the airline tubing and regulate teh drip rate by tying knots (it never really worked for me), you can buy a ready-made drip acclimator pretty cheap. Here's one I bought and it works great for fish, corals, and inverts:
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=JJ1117
It's pretty simple, really, and it wouldn't be hard to create one with some airline tubing and an air valve.
HTH,
T./
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=JJ1117
It's pretty simple, really, and it wouldn't be hard to create one with some airline tubing and an air valve.
HTH,
T./
t-dizzle
Premium Member
TereKers,
Some animals need less acclimation time than others, but all require at least 30 minutes or so to get used to temperature, pH, salinity, and other environmental factors.
Drip acclimation is so easy to do that I routinely take 1.5 to 2 hours of acclimation time for each new tank inhabitant as a matter of habit.
T./
Some animals need less acclimation time than others, but all require at least 30 minutes or so to get used to temperature, pH, salinity, and other environmental factors.
Drip acclimation is so easy to do that I routinely take 1.5 to 2 hours of acclimation time for each new tank inhabitant as a matter of habit.
T./
lilprincess
New member
On the subject of acclimation, I have read that some corals secrete slime during the shipment, and that if not removed when placed in the tank could be detrimental to the coral. What I would like to know is what the best method for removing the "slime" would be (if necessary) w/o causing any harm to the coral.
Also, I have read that during their acclimation, the tank lights should be off and room lights dimmed so as to prevent unnecessary stress/trauma. However, I haven't heard anything about how long they should remain in these conditions. When can you start up the system lights? And do you need to gradually increase intensity over a certain period of time?
I'd certainly appreciate any help I can get on this matter.
Also, I have read that during their acclimation, the tank lights should be off and room lights dimmed so as to prevent unnecessary stress/trauma. However, I haven't heard anything about how long they should remain in these conditions. When can you start up the system lights? And do you need to gradually increase intensity over a certain period of time?
I'd certainly appreciate any help I can get on this matter.
t-dizzle
Premium Member
lilprincess, I don't know about the slime because so far I've either bought my corals from an LFS or gotten frags from a reefer friend, but I do try to acclimate after lights out so the new arrival has about 12 hours to get accustomed to its new surroundings before the lights come on. I should say that my lights aren't that powerful (65w dual daylight, 65w dual actinic); one might need to be more careful with T5 or MH lights.
T./
T./
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