Frag Bleaching.

[pepe.king.prawn]

Perhaps I'll have to look for the article. I'm aware that corals can survive out of the water, as I do water changes in the same manner, but I'm not seeing how any acclimation goes on there.

Acclimation insures that the coral cells are not stressed by rapid changes in salinity or pH. While they're out of water they probably become increasingly concentrated, and once placed in the tank after this 10 min. dry 'acclimation' would be extremely hypotonic, leading to high internal pressure in the cell.... hmmm... but if it works, it works.. right?! haha.

 

[TotalKhaos]

unedumacated thought here:

could it be like UN Aclimating them... that way when you put them in your tank they arent as much shocked as thankful for the drink? Also it seems the mucus coat they get would provide a protective coat... a barrier if you will that slowly goes away as the stress or threat diminishes.

I dunno, maybe I should read and see what the experts say rather then guessing. lol

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I think the rational for "dry acclimation" is that when the coral is out of water in its natural setting it is subject to all sorts of stress and has to adjust to that stress. It may be in a pool that is drying up thus the SG may go up. It may be subject to rain thus a very low SG. It is subject to all sorts of temperature variations. In any case many of the top of the reef corals have adaptations to deal with this stress the primary of which is a heavy slime coat. I also have been using his method since I read about it and it seems to work very well for me. It is probably better to acclimate using another method however this method may cause the least stress to corals that have this adaptation. These corals are use to high water flow and seldom get it in a drip acclimation procedure. In the article that argued for ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œdry shippingââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ the contention was the dry stress was much less than the stress of sitting in water of very dubious quality with no water movement.

-- EDIT --

BTW I have had SPS's bleach when the Ca and Alk dropped too low. They bleached just as you described from the tip down. Luckily I caught the problem in time and the corals recovered fully. Also take care with some of the "ph stabilizers" as they contain borates which test as Alk but don't aid the coral in calcium deposition like carbonate does. It can also get your ionic balance "out of whack". Not a problem if you do regular water changes, however over time can have a very deleterious effect on water quality. If you are having a hard time keeping the ph up something else may be going on. I would try to find and fix that. If your alk levels are up (8 to 12 DKH) and balanced with your calcium then a morning ph of 8.0 is probably ok, but it should go up to 8.2 to 8.3 by evening. Do you have a reverse photoperiod furge in the system? If so then the 8.0 is indicative of something else. BTW a ph of 8.0 in my limited experience wonââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t by itself cause a problem. I would test the alk/Ca balance.

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

Agreed on the bleaching aspect of what CaliforniaDreamer said.

Thanks for the explanation on 'dry' acclimating as well. I'll have to give it a try

 

[arson420]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7093698#post7093698 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sacramentodots
After I lost two in my first atempt at SPS I researched a lot and have had alot better success since then, some noticeable growth and encrustation.....here is what I have learned:

1. Water quality....as you mentioned, it should be right before getting into sps

2. Flow: random and turbulent. Currently I have 3 powerheads and the return in my little SPS area of the tank.

3. Direct light, and acclimate according to the tank they came from, per Justin said.

I heard that bleaching from the top is light/water acclimation and can recover. STN/RTN usually starts at the bottom.

As far as initial acclimation, I have been sitting them out for 10 minutes in the air, letting them slime and put em in. Seems to work great.

I think if you move it into better flow and out of the "cove" it will perk up. Good Luck, Doug

Hey Dots, how well does that work if there's an acro crab in the acro or whatever. Will it survive the 10 mins out of the water for the slime up period?

 

[Justin74]

ya, theres some situations in the wild where even if the crab wanted to its litterally trapped within the the framework of various SPS. Crabs can be very resiliant, especially when you wish they werent

-Justin

 

[bkmorris]

is the dry method for sps only?

 

[Justin74]

Well, in the wild theres also faviids and leathers that get exposed to low tides too. But Id be very aprehensive to use this method on them. So far most success has been noted with SPS, not to say it cant be done though, just havent heard any success or failures for that matter with other coral.

-Justin

 

[alexchern75]

I have heard, of dry or moist, zoanthid packing...and have seen pictures of them being exposed by lowtide...