New colonies having issues

[cellowithgills]

I maintain a tank for someone that is having some issues with acclimating new corals into his system for some reason. He used to throw in 5-10 new colonies and they would just slowly melt away, but after showing him what was coming in on them, we now do a dip and acclimation process. He has a little ~40 gallon tank connected to his system with a Nano AI Sol and an mp40. I acclimate the corals in buckets then treat with Rx pro for 10-15 minutes with a power head going in the bucket. I then add them to the acclimation tank and put the mp40 on at about 30% and the lighting at about 30%. For some reason, some of the colonies always rtn a branch or two, or never open up, ect and end up dieing.

Any ideas on getting the mortality rate down? This question is mostly in reference to the acclimation process. He's got more coral skeletons than live coral at this point so I really want to get this right soon.

 

[jda]

I will leave "5-10 new colonies in a 40G tank" alone, and just talk about colonies.

Colonies are very hard, even under the best of conditions. They grow in the ocean under condition that we cannot duplicate. The growth was for their old environment.

Then, add in that not all AQ or wild colonies will make in captivity at all, regardless of care.

I can keep just about any SPS alive and I don't buy colonies. If I do see a colony that I like, a frag from it is the way to go.

Frags are better - let them grow into your tank in a manner that is sustainable. Captive frags are even better since you know that they will/can thrive in captive situations.

Lastly, water parameters and lights are very important. You posted nothing about water parameters. Most SPS will not do very well, IMO under AI Sol.

I might suggest that if you are only going to do colonies, then take a frag or two from each - you might be surprised how well they do compared to what is left.