I know this may have been covered but here it goes. My tanks Alk sits around 8. Testing the water of a vender when I purchased from keeps his Alk at 11-12. Isn't this just too big of an Alk swing to expect the SPS corals to adjust too. With the stress from transport and dripping them to the new tank Im seeing RTN. Is there a best practice to use for such a drastic change in Alk. Since everyone has different Alk levels and usally you are working with a sellers bagged water and your own tank water only is there a best way to insure survivability?
SPS Acclimation
- Thread starter tuawcxs
- Start date
AquaReeferMan
Got Reef?
I also never acclimate my corals.
I float them for a couple minutes to get the temp up, dip them, and just throw them in the tank.
I float them for a couple minutes to get the temp up, dip them, and just throw them in the tank.
barriosman
New member
When you say "dip them", what does that mean? What are dipping them in? (Newbie question, I know...)
Dexters Reef
New member
Coral RX or revive. They eliminate hitchhikers and pests
AquaReeferMan
Got Reef?
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
Me too, acclimate to temp, mix a cup of my tank water with a cap full of revive, dip then dump.
REEF SMAC
New member
Go to the many "help I have red bugs" or the "help I have AEFWs" threads and read about how all that dipping and dumping has worked out for so many.
Sure it might make your chances of getting an unwanted hitchhiker by dipping your new aquires in some kind of something.
Not by any means saying it is not worth trying.
I just wouldn't risk loosing all my corals if it doesn't work every time.
Just don't like to give anyone new to this hobby the impression that anything short of a strict QT is somehow without risks.
FWIW I usually drip acclimate just for the alk reason you stated in your OP.
Why not? Can't hurt right? Doesn't even take much time or effort.
Acronic
The Fifth Master
I agree with you Steve, a good QT effort can save u some major headaches. Not to mention the risk involved when your collection is rather extensive. One bad frag for $50 aint worth jack if it infects the tank.
Yet there is nothing wrong with temp dip dump as long as you are willing to go down the road of fixing any possible issues mainly AEFW. Red bugs are not a huge threat in my eyes.
Yet there is nothing wrong with temp dip dump as long as you are willing to go down the road of fixing any possible issues mainly AEFW. Red bugs are not a huge threat in my eyes.
Just to get back to the Alk difference issue. Don;t we spend alot of our time making our Alk swings in our DT as slight as possible. We then trim some Sps tips and make frags and let them encrust to a piece we are proud to sell. The frag is used to our systems Alk enviroment (8 in my case). If I sell you the coral and you are maintaining a 10-11 Alk system (and SPS corals are ready to RTN at any given moment- you sneeze and the tissue comes off) don't you think it takes its toll on the SPS. It sounds like you guys with experience have a high rate of success by temp, dip,(drip) then into Qt tank.
StaghornE
New member
Qt is definitely the way to go. With that being said, if you are going strait into your display I would combine revive with lugols. I've seen Aefw survive revive dips, but a friend recently discovered that by adding iodide the flatworms peel of in a few minutes. Luckily he has completely rid his tank of Aefw by combining these food with fws. As for acclimation I've gotten away a long time without it. Good luck to you.
a.browning
New member
I never even temp acclimate. Dip and then into the tank.
Although obviously, a full QT is the smartest. But definately no need to drip acclimate IMO.
Although obviously, a full QT is the smartest. But definately no need to drip acclimate IMO.
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