Introducing Frogspawn

[CafeReef]

Hi all, I will be introducing my first frogspawn frag tomorrow, it's about the size of a racketball. Will be my 4th coral, right now I have 3 frags, a zoa with a dozen or so heads, a kenya tree thats about the size of a softball, and a gsp baby colony. All have been doing well in my tank.

I am wanting to drip acclimate the frogspawn, and will want to coral dip it as well. Ive heard that Coral Rx can be fairly harsh but still a great product to ensure no unwanted pests are tagging along. How would you recommend doing both? Drip acclimate and include the coral rx at the same time as the drip acclimation? Coral rx first then drip acclimate? Drip acclimate then coral rx? Etc.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Reefer54]

acclimate it to your water. dip it in your tank water with coral rx. put it in tank.


For what it is worth, if the shipping or transport water and your water are similar in chemistry (not large ph or alk changes), a temp acclimation, and very short\fast drip acclimation is usually more than enough for corals....provided they are not super sensitive...euphyllia are usually pretty much bullet proof.

 

[Reef Bass]

I also enjoy frogspawn. Mine is almost volley ball sized when fully inflated.

You are likely to get different opinions on what to do. Reefer54 is correct that Euphyllia are generally not super sensitive.

I suggest floating new arrivals in their shipping bag in the sump to temp acclimate, then drip to water acclimate, then dip in your solution of choice made with tank water, then rinse in another container with tank water (removes majority of dip and gives pests more time to drop off), then into the tank.

Being your first stony coral, you're going to want to keep an eye on your alkalinity, calcium and magnesium levels. With few stony corals, you're not likely to need to supplement as water changes will probably keep you in range. However, I find it is better to know when your water chemistry is deteriorating so corrective action can be taken before your corals start seriously stressing.

 

[homer1475]

I second what Reef Bass said.

I do a drip acclimation, then a dip in coral Rx made from tank water, then a dip in fresh tank water. All my zoas, green hammer, and frogspawn have all responded well to this method.

 

[CafeReef]

I also enjoy frogspawn. Mine is almost volley ball sized when fully inflated.

You are likely to get different opinions on what to do. Reefer54 is correct that Euphyllia are generally not super sensitive.

I suggest floating new arrivals in their shipping bag in the sump to temp acclimate, then drip to water acclimate, then dip in your solution of choice made with tank water, then rinse in another container with tank water (removes majority of dip and gives pests more time to drop off), then into the tank.

Being your first stony coral, you're going to want to keep an eye on your alkalinity, calcium and magnesium levels. With few stony corals, you're not likely to need to supplement as water changes will probably keep you in range. However, I find it is better to know when your water chemistry is deteriorating so corrective action can be taken before your corals start seriously stressing.

Thanks for the tips everyone. My chem levels in the tank are soing ver well right now. My mag levels are around 1460-1500, calc 480 and alk is between 9-10. I may start dosing iodine but want to research it more first.

 

[Art13]

For what it's worth, you can do a search on acclimating corals on here, but when they are shipped, usually once the shipping water is exposed to the air its not good to keep them in there for much time at all, due to a chemical reaction, i believe with ammonia. Not as bad with corals, but definitely with fish. I don't drip acclimate any of my corals, lps, sps, softies, just a float for 15 minutes, 10 minute dip with tank water and coral rx, rinse with tank water, into the tank. With fish i match the q/t tank salinity and temp acclimate and drop them right in. The only thing i drip acclimate anymore are inverts or if something goes into the main display with a different salinity (mandarin, can't really q/t him effectively, as an example).

 

[JRR1285]

Dipping is always a good idea and putting all new arrivals in quarantine is the best option if you are equipped for it.

I also do not do anything other than temp matching (usually followed by dips) with my coral additions. Have not had a single loss this way.

Just this past week I brought home a large colony of purple Acropora that had to be placed in a 5 gallon bucket for transport. I had no way to even temp acclimate it so I just dropped it in the display. The temps were not hugely different, maybe 3-5 degrees but a large enough swing can be stressful for many corals. I normally dip corals but I just tossed this one in because I had to leave right away.

No signs of pests and I have been inspecting it daily. Definitely not what I would recommend doing but I just wanted to demonstrate that drip acclimation in many cases (with coral) is unnecessary and can be detrimental depending on the quality of the bag water.

 

[CafeReef]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I ended up floating it for about 15 min, followed by a half hour drip acclimation and then a 5 min dip with two little fishies revive.

FS opened up after a few hours and is in full bloom today and looking great.)