LFS doesn't acclimate..

[cougareyes]

Out of curiosity would you care to elaborate into more detail as to the why or how? Seems like a statement with little educational value as I'm Pretty sure almost all fish take that route of travel and seems to me lots of people also have fish in their tanks so I'm curious to see what you mean exactly lol

From years of buying from many different sources I found that some sources provide livestock that survive at a much higher rate than others. For instance my #1 store here, they acclimate and handle their shipments very regimented, they only order from sources that have proven to do the same. I can count on anything I get from them to thrive in my tanks. Some sources put the livestock through so many changes so fast by the time you see them nothing seems to be wrong, but then all the changes catch up with them; and they don't survive your tank. Just an example, I test the sg in the bag when I bring something home; from the same store I've tested sg from 1.017 to 1.030. Obvious that's one of the stores I don't buy from. Imagine a source where a specimen goes from different sg and ph quickly with no acclimation, several times in just a few days.

 

[MMacro]

In my 12 years of reefkeeping I have never acclimated one thing. No fish die off or coral die off

You have NEVER lost any livestock? That seems highly unlikely.

 

[tklb]

I'm probably going to get smacked but...there are ranges for ph, temperature and alkalinity for SPS corals...as long as your in the range drop it in. They don't really care as long as they are in good health. Temp acclimate only, to get it in the tank. Most people run into acclimation problems after it's in the tank, like light acclimation...they need to start off low in the tank or at a reduced light intensity.

Getting them in the tank is not hard at all.

As for fish I used to drip acclimate although I do it at a faster rate than some of the threads I've read...at this stage of the game I temp acclimate and dump. I figure my tank is going to be a nice treat to get into after the time in the bag.

I am mainly concerned about the potential for STN after an ALK change (between LFS and Reef Tank). I am wondering how other SPS guys deal with that with new frags/colonies.

 

[JammyBirch]

I am mainly concerned about the potential for STN after an ALK change (between LFS and Reef Tank). I am wondering how other SPS guys deal with that with new frags/colonies.

So you're on to something with this post...meaning an SPS frag is a pretty big wimp really... The rule of thumb for me is I don't buy freshly fragged SPS corals anymore nor do I buy SPS corals in the mail during the winter...I live in PA and the only corals I've ever lost was mail order in the winter...dumb I know.

Anyway if the alkalinity is in range and the frag is healed or established on the plug it should be fine. Put it this way, in my opinion the Red Dragon Acro is the biggest wimp on the planet, I temp acclimate and dump my frags every time I take it to the LFS and haven't lost one yet...

 

[pfan151]

And here I am 3 hour drip acclimating live rock each time I decide to move a peice into a different setup... Now I'm questioning whether or not to acclimate anything since it seems it's more risky to open the bag and acclimate the animal in toxic ammonia rather than simply toss em right in healthy water.

Lol, drip acclimating live rock? That's a new one for me.