crashoverride
New member
How do I acclimate Corals? should the lights be on or off when I acclimate them? Where do I place them?
Live Sand
- Thread starter crashoverride
- Start date
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
i would wait till the little bubbles in the tank are gone, that indicates that your tank is not completly ready i belive.
sir_dudeguy
Active member
I acclimate all my corals a bit longer than fish. Specially soft corals and especially leathers in particular. For stuff like SPS you can usually just temp acclimate them for a while and toss em in. But for softies, i've found it important to acclimate them for at least 45 minutes or so. Sure, lots of people get away w/just tossing them in...but i'm just saying how my experience with them has been, and i've got lots of softies.
As for lights...i'm not sure. I get half of my corals later at night (well..at night for my tank...during the day for me. I run the lights during the night hours since thats when i'm home) so i usually get the corals when my tank lights are off...
But the other half that i do get when my lights are on...i havent really seen any problems. Some corals will shut up if thrown right into light...but then a while later they open up a bit. I personally dont think it really matters on that...others may have more opinions on it. But i usually dont make a big deal about it.
As for placement...depends on the type. If you get xenia, i would ONLY put it up high and on a rock all by itself that isnt near other rocks...it likes to grow towards the light...so if you put it down low, it will crawl up all your rocks till it gets as high as it can, leaving little baby xenias all over which grow very quick. If you put it up high or away from everything...it cant grow any more towards the light, or it just cant reach anything else.
But for softies in general, they'll all do good all the way throughout your tank. For LPS, maybe put them mid-way. But i think some LPS like lower light, but i might be wrong.
SPS...dont really recommend them to you for now since you're just starting off, but they would have to go up top.
As for lights...i'm not sure. I get half of my corals later at night (well..at night for my tank...during the day for me. I run the lights during the night hours since thats when i'm home) so i usually get the corals when my tank lights are off...
But the other half that i do get when my lights are on...i havent really seen any problems. Some corals will shut up if thrown right into light...but then a while later they open up a bit. I personally dont think it really matters on that...others may have more opinions on it. But i usually dont make a big deal about it.
As for placement...depends on the type. If you get xenia, i would ONLY put it up high and on a rock all by itself that isnt near other rocks...it likes to grow towards the light...so if you put it down low, it will crawl up all your rocks till it gets as high as it can, leaving little baby xenias all over which grow very quick. If you put it up high or away from everything...it cant grow any more towards the light, or it just cant reach anything else.
But for softies in general, they'll all do good all the way throughout your tank. For LPS, maybe put them mid-way. But i think some LPS like lower light, but i might be wrong.
SPS...dont really recommend them to you for now since you're just starting off, but they would have to go up top.
sir_dudeguy
Active member
what? I've never heard this before. The only way to REALLY know if its ready is to test. Dont go by "when the rock doesnt smell" or "when the algae is gone" or stuff like that...every tank is different except for the tests. Once it cycled, its cycled. Give it a week after its cycled (which the thread has already been almost a week long and at the very beginning you posted your test results...and they indicate that it is cycled...so this weekend would be fine to add stuff IMO)
crashoverride
New member
Cool! So I acclimate the Corals like the fishes, but longer? I will post pics of the clowns I get and corals if any. What kind of RO/DI unit do you recommend to get? How does it work?
sir_dudeguy
Active member
ha, i'm the wrong one to ask about RO units. I dont have one...i just use watermart's RO water since they turn out good in my area.
crashoverride
New member
You didn't answer my other question. Do I acclimate the corals the same way as the fishes, but for a longer time?
cmb88
New member
hya
hya
thought id throw my imput here.. you asked the same questions i researched asked and got answered by a friend whose been doing this a long time. thought id share my experiance.. I have a 14 gallon oceanic..
I covered the tank ad kept it extra long on complete dark cycle to kill of anything that may have lived algae etc..I was warned to bee veeery patient. lol
made sure full cycle was complete not just mini cycle...then added lights slowly 6 hrs a day...added clean up crew. I had pink coraline starting to grow some brown (not as bad as yours)
then after two weeks i added 1 zoo and 1 star paly..increased lights 12 hrs a day.. 1 hour actinic, 10 hrs 10k, then 1 hr actinic, then 1 hr actinic then 3 hrs lunar.
The zoo was doing well and so was the star polyp..so my friend said i could add a pistol an yellow watchman goby!! YAY.. I tried soo hard to get him to come out of cave and eat..I used brine shrimp (they say flavorful no nutrients tho) to lure him out and mysin shrimp. Nothing..He starved to death!! waaa...then i added a ric i ordered from a store..it looked sick and disenagrated in my tank!! caused a nitrate spike. WHOA!! what a pain. I use RO water and mix with "instant oceanic" salt.. I also invested in refractometer..(life savior)..I do use the test strips for nitrate and love em.. Maybe not exactly accurate but peace of mind. Im a vet tech and use them all the time!! if there is trace i take water in to petstore...also my tank is 84 degrees, spec grav 1.025...I do a water change 1 gallon (10%) once a week.
So now i have 6 other zoos doing well.. but have been warned not to jump the gun and over crowd my tank with too much at once. frags or fish..can spike water high..especially with a problem... Oh as for acclimation..I float the frags for 30 min..cut hole in bag and drop some of my tank water in it through out..then dump almost all water out into tub..(you dont want their water) and gentley pull frag out..Fish are harder..same process just drop your water in the bag while they float a little longer hen let them gentley swim out on their own.. Hope that helps!! anyway just thought i would share!! gl PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE!! lmao i know its hard!! GL
look me up i have pics too!! etc...poor "mooch" my fish that sucked stupid fish!! ohh also look into your lights.. i almost bough that tank but not a lot of light..some people say dont get sps in that thing!! do some research..mines gonna be a ric/zoo/shroomy tank!!
hya
thought id throw my imput here.. you asked the same questions i researched asked and got answered by a friend whose been doing this a long time. thought id share my experiance.. I have a 14 gallon oceanic..
I covered the tank ad kept it extra long on complete dark cycle to kill of anything that may have lived algae etc..I was warned to bee veeery patient. lol
made sure full cycle was complete not just mini cycle...then added lights slowly 6 hrs a day...added clean up crew. I had pink coraline starting to grow some brown (not as bad as yours)
then after two weeks i added 1 zoo and 1 star paly..increased lights 12 hrs a day.. 1 hour actinic, 10 hrs 10k, then 1 hr actinic, then 1 hr actinic then 3 hrs lunar.
The zoo was doing well and so was the star polyp..so my friend said i could add a pistol an yellow watchman goby!! YAY.. I tried soo hard to get him to come out of cave and eat..I used brine shrimp (they say flavorful no nutrients tho) to lure him out and mysin shrimp. Nothing..He starved to death!! waaa...then i added a ric i ordered from a store..it looked sick and disenagrated in my tank!! caused a nitrate spike. WHOA!! what a pain. I use RO water and mix with "instant oceanic" salt.. I also invested in refractometer..(life savior)..I do use the test strips for nitrate and love em.. Maybe not exactly accurate but peace of mind. Im a vet tech and use them all the time!! if there is trace i take water in to petstore...also my tank is 84 degrees, spec grav 1.025...I do a water change 1 gallon (10%) once a week.
So now i have 6 other zoos doing well.. but have been warned not to jump the gun and over crowd my tank with too much at once. frags or fish..can spike water high..especially with a problem... Oh as for acclimation..I float the frags for 30 min..cut hole in bag and drop some of my tank water in it through out..then dump almost all water out into tub..(you dont want their water) and gentley pull frag out..Fish are harder..same process just drop your water in the bag while they float a little longer hen let them gentley swim out on their own.. Hope that helps!! anyway just thought i would share!! gl PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE!! lmao i know its hard!! GL
look me up i have pics too!! etc...poor "mooch" my fish that sucked stupid fish!! ohh also look into your lights.. i almost bough that tank but not a lot of light..some people say dont get sps in that thing!! do some research..mines gonna be a ric/zoo/shroomy tank!!
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sir_dudeguy
Active member
crashoverride...yes, you acclimate the corals the same way, just longer. Sorry, forgot that part 
That very well could have been why your watchman died. 84 is a bit high IMO. 82 is the top i let my tank get. My temp has gone up to 84 before, but i get it down right away, so nothing usually happens. Sometimes a coral might close up for a day or so. But if you keep it there longterm, it may cause problems.
That very well could have been why your watchman died. 84 is a bit high IMO. 82 is the top i let my tank get. My temp has gone up to 84 before, but i get it down right away, so nothing usually happens. Sometimes a coral might close up for a day or so. But if you keep it there longterm, it may cause problems.
Not entirely true. Fish...definitely. Corals, no. Not unless one of them dies. But like i said in a way earlier post (i think), corals dont add to the bio-load in the sense of producing amonia like fish do when they poop. Corals just use up trace elements, which if you do your weekly/biweekly water change, you wont have any problems w/that. I actually havent done any water changes for about a month (i do this quite often) and all my corals (mostly just softies, granted...) are still taking off. All my levels are fine, so i see no point to change the water.
cmb88
New member
ooops
ooops
typo my water is 81.5 not 84!! hehehe sorry..um i did have a sick coral ship and disenagrate thus spiking the nitrate levels..also was worried about overfeeding fish for same affect, but all that has been under control for awhile now. I think he wasnt good when shipped from same place as dead coral.. He just would not come out and eat no matter what i did..wwaaaaa
ooops
typo my water is 81.5 not 84!! hehehe sorry..um i did have a sick coral ship and disenagrate thus spiking the nitrate levels..also was worried about overfeeding fish for same affect, but all that has been under control for awhile now. I think he wasnt good when shipped from same place as dead coral.. He just would not come out and eat no matter what i did..wwaaaaa
cmb88
New member
omg lol
omg lol
omg im just gonna stop writing threads now until i sleep..im tired im such a freaking doofus!! MY TANK IS AT 78 degrees.. dont know what the hell i was thinking 81-84 degrees oops. soo sorry for making yall think that..i finally looked at the temp gauge today..just to make sure..lol i have a lot of exams right now in school dont know where i pulled that number from!!
omg lol
omg im just gonna stop writing threads now until i sleep..im tired im such a freaking doofus!! MY TANK IS AT 78 degrees.. dont know what the hell i was thinking 81-84 degrees oops. soo sorry for making yall think that..i finally looked at the temp gauge today..just to make sure..lol i have a lot of exams right now in school dont know where i pulled that number from!!
