Acclimation and dipping

[Texas Reefer]

Hi! I'm getting corals from an online vendor for the first time tomorrow and I have a few questions. What order, acclimate in sump, then dip using tank water? I already have CoralRx, should I use Bayer instead? What can I use Bayer on, I'm getting zoas, a monti, a chalice, a candy cane, a Duncan, and an acro. What concentration of Bayer should I use and for how long? Thanks for the help!

 

[Jonreefer]

you can dip it to remove any pest but i have never and will ever acclimate any coral. I have done it this way for years from SPS to zoas and never had an issue once. I just take out of the bag let it hit air for a few seconds to slim up and in the tank it goes. I just laugh anytime i see people talking they dripped their coral or fish for hours. Fish get a 15min float and in they go never had any problems there either.

 

[Texas Reefer]

Thanks for the reply! I'm nervous about getting a new pest in my tank. I'm already on the lookout for asterina starfish that came on a hammer I got from my LFS.

 

[Jonreefer]

I never used any chemicals for dipping. I just always did a freshwater dip and inspected it real close.

 

[Z-man]

Tejas!

Because I have had problems in my 25 years of marine fish husbandry and reef keeping, I have adopted the following procedure that has worked VERY well for me.
* Float for 30 minutes or so. I'm not specific on this as it is only to get the water temps in line and with such small amounts of water in the bags, I think that calibrates pretty quickly.
* Put corals in a small container about 1/3 full with water from the bags
* drip acclimate using 2 knots in the tubing to drip slowly but not too slow. Drip, mississippi, drip mississipi, drip... until 3/4 full. Drain to 1/3 cup and repeat to 3/4 full.
* use 4 capfuls of Coral Rx in 2 quarts of water for 12 minutes. This is double the amount. I set the timer and swirl once after 6 minutes
* in a separate cup of tank water, after the 12 minutes, I swirl the frag in the cup of tank water to rinse off the frag and hopefully remove any dead hitchhikers.
* place in the tank

DO NOT attempt on inverts such as anemones. I don't QT my fish but I wish I would have many times. Brooklynella has wiped out my clowns in the past. I hope this helps! Good luck.

 

[Munch]

This is about the worst advice (jonreefer) on this forum I've ever seen.

15 min float of fish, and toss em in? Seriously?

Simple to understand reasons why you don't just dump your fish in after a 15 min temp acclimation (one of many similar recommendations):

MarineDepotLive.com ? Acclimation Guide

The following three parameters play such a significant role in the well-being of new livestock that we'll go over them, one-by-one, to explain why each is important and how it impacts the health of your animal(s).

• 1
  Temperature
  
  We ship livestock inside insulated boxes with heating or cooling packs to protect the animals inside against extreme temperature shifts. However, the temperature inside the package or bag your livestock arrives will undoubtedly be different than the current temperature inside your aquarium. Properly acclimating livestock helps to equalize the different water temperatures and can significantly reduce the stress on your new animal(s).
• 2
  Salinity
  
  It is also likely the water inside the bag/package your new livestock arrives in will have a different salinity than the water inside your aquarium. Beware: sudden changes in salinity can shock fish and inverts and may leave them more susceptible to infection and/or disease. We recommend a salinity of 1.019-1.023 for fish-only (FO) systems and a slightly higher salinity—1.024-1.026—for reef aquariums.
• 3
  pH and Ammonia
  
  The natural metabolic processes of fish and corals release toxic ammonia and carbon dioxide during shipping, lowering the pH of the water. At lower ranges, harmful ammonia is transformed into an inter-form ammonium. If the pH were suddenly raised, the ammonium would release ammonia harmful to animals. Proper acclimation will raise the pH slowly, safely releasing and removing ammonia. Keep in mind too that while this occurs more frequently during shipment of livestock, it also occurs while transporting new animals home from your local fish store, albeit not as extreme.

With regard to freshwater dip only for corals, I'd skip that advice.

Here's a nice writeup on Bayer Dip. It's a nice safeguard against pests that freshwater dips will not deal with. Even if you don't go this far, and use a Bayer dip, Coral RX is better than a fresh water dip.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-sps-discussion/100496-bayer-insecticide-coral-dip.html

There's many threads on Bayer dips pro v. con, read and decide for yourself.

Z-Man's steps are an easy way of using the Coral-Rx, nothing wrong there.

Hate to see you with the right intentions, and get sent down the wrong path.

Use the search feature to the right, and you'll find alot better information on the proper processes.

No matter what process you implement, dip your corals, and acclimate your fish!

Good luck!

 

[saltfishguy18]

Always best to dip your corals to ensure they are pest free. Anyone that says you shouldn't acclimate fish either is doing you an injustice. I do agree that some people do go crazy with drip acclimation for hours upon hours when the fish has only been in the bag for a max of an hour or two, obviously this only counts for people buying fish at a LFS. If you order online I would drip acclimate slowly. Dropping a fish in tank with no acclimation in not a good thing, stresses the fishes out. Always make sure to do some form of acclimation.

 

[Harrisd503]

+1 for dip only on coral, no acclimation necessary(IMO)
+1 for proper drip acclimation for fish and inverts

 

[Texas Reefer]

Thanks everyone! And thanks for the links Munch!

 

[Jonreefer]

no its not. People go stupid with the acclimation stuff. In the wild corals on low tide can be exposed for long periods of time to air thats what the slime is for. do you think the ocean drip acclimates them. But the people who think you have to go and do goofy things like drip acclimate for hours then be my guest and waste your time. pulling the coral out and let it slime up and into the tank works and i will doubt anyone can have any issues this way. the only thing I do is for inverts and a nem I will put it in a cup with the bag water and add little bit of tank water every few mins for about 15min to get it acclimated but for fish they get a 15min float for temp and corals go right in. But be my guest to waste time and stress the animal even more dripping them slowly in the water that has been sitting in for past 24hrs with toxins building up.
My LFS has always done a float for like 20-30min when they get the weekly shipment in and well what do you know pretty much everything survives no problem in the tanks. been going there for past 25years and I have never seen anything else done so explain how its working there but everyone else says drip drip drip.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Jon, we need to be very careful on suggestions thrown out on this forum or any others..... that being said for what you stated about your LFS and what works for the both of you is an exception to the rule at the very least. If like most LFS's they keep their systems at 1.016 - 1.021 and our Reeftanks kept at 1.024-27 a 15-30 float and dump will kill most reef fish and highly stress all. Shoreline inverts would fare better than deep water species but common livestock such as Cleaner Shrimp and Starfish would not handle your method at all. Fish can safely handle fairly significant drops in salinity but not quick raises.

Texas Reefer, PLEASE follow Munch's or Z-man's advice it will not be a waste of your time and money.


Cheers, Todd

 

[cdness]

Here's my path:

- 30 minute drip acclimation for fish and corals
- 1 hr acclimation for inverts and clams

- All corals get dipped with flatworm exit, Revive and Coral Cure - 5 - 10 minutes per dip at double strength
- Fish get thorough inspection for pests, but I do not QT fish unless I have to. This will come to bite me one day, I totally understand that...

TJ is right as you can drop a fish's salinity very quickly all the way down to a hypo-salinity level. However they say no more than .002 per day to raise to allow the fish to level out at the higher salinity. With LFS's keeping fish systems at 1.019 to help prevent pests, they cannot be immediately put in the tank without causing issues or unnecessary stress on the fish.

 

[Aquaph8]

I feel that salinity difference is the most important for the same reason above. Retailers keep a lot lower salinity than I do normally. I do find it easier to match my QT to the bag water than to drip on occasion though. On long trips like when I order a fish from NY I don't like the fish to sit in the bag water once its been exposed to air, I end up with ammonia and burned gills which leads to infections.

Corals I absolutely drip and dip and inspect and they handle it all just fine.

 

[Jonreefer]

well i keep my tank at 1.026 35ppt and my LFS runs alot lower around 1.020 and i have never had an issue over the past 25years I been shopping there. I will continue to do it that way as the amount of fish and corals I have done this way and never had an issue proves it works just fine. this topic is as bad as some of the cycle garbage i read in this hobby how some will act like a tank is never fully ready for fish and act like you need to cycle a tank for 6months before doing anything. ALOT of things are just taken to a silly extreme.

 

[Aquaph8]

well i keep my tank at 1.026 35ppt and my LFS runs alot lower around 1.020 and i have never had an issue over the past 25years I been shopping there. I will continue to do it that way as the amount of fish and corals I have done this way and never had an issue proves it works just fine. this topic is as bad as some of the cycle garbage i read in this hobby how some will act like a tank is never fully ready for fish and act like you need to cycle a tank for 6months before doing anything. ALOT of things are just taken to a silly extreme.

You call it a silly extreme, most everyone else calls it doing what we think is best for our pets. I myself am not too busy to acclimate my corals for 30 minutes, I'm just standing there staring at them anyways. Fish stores have been pretty good at teaching me what not to do over the years so I refuse to think what works for them is best.

 

[Harrisd503]

Jon, you're saying drip acclimating is even more stressful for the fish then just dumping it into a new environment with possible drastically different water parameters? I'm sure you would me on the minority on that argument. Just because you think your way is the best don't say it's the only way.

 

[cdness]

... I will continue to do it that way as the amount of fish and corals I have done this way and never had an issue proves it works just fine. ...

If it works for you, that's fine. However the majority of people see the need for a good acclimation process and want to make sure the transition to the new environment is the least stressful possible.

... this topic is as bad as some of the cycle garbage i read in this hobby how some will act like a tank is never fully ready for fish and act like you need to cycle a tank for 6months before doing anything. ALOT of things are just taken to a silly extreme.

There is no substitute for a proper cycle process to build up the biological base for your aquarium. It is not a silly extreme, more like a stable foundation. You can toss up a house on a flimsy foundation, but it will take additional equipment and constant care to make sure it stays standing. If you place a house on a strong foundation it will be as close to maintenance free as possible. If you are comfortable throwing equipment at an issue then by all means go for it. I would prefer that my biological foundation was much stronger and could handle the changes in the tank.

It is just two viewpoints, that's all. You have the "cycle in a bottle" or the slower prep process. It all follows how patient a person is within the hobby.

 

[CWMorrow]

It would seem to me that floating before aclimizing or dipping is negated by temperature changes during aclimizing or dipping.

I dip and rinse my coral on the advice of the LFS where I buy coral.

I acclimate in a 2.5 gallon tank with a lid, generally for half an hour. I cover the small tank with a towel to lower the stress level on the fish.

 

[fragman2]

There is another acclimation issue regarding the addition of new fish to a system that deserves mentioning as newbie's read these threads. In established tanks, Reef or otherwise, existing populations of fish will exhibit territorial behavior that can include bullying of newly added fish. Everyone who has been in this hobby for any time at all has seen a resident Tang or Angel go after a newly added fish and beat the crap out of them. Talk about stress leading to deceases. I use one of those plexiglass insect or spider containers that is sealed to house one or more newly purchased fish in my 210 gallon tank in order for them get used to the tank and more importantly for the residents of my tank to get used to seeing them. My container is about 16 x 8 x 10 and was the biggest one that I could fit into the tank without hitting corals. I cut 4 inch slits in the bottom and the top already had air vents and a "hatch". I use magnets and suction cups to keep it attached just below the surface of the water and against the front glass. Sometimes I leave this set up for a few days, sometimes for as long as a week. I have 5 tangs including a large powder blue and he isn't crazy about new fish moving into his tank. I have successfully added new tangs using this method. In my opinion this method gives the newcomers the best chance to integrate into my tank's fish community. I would not do this with a jawfish, a blenny, goby, etc.... just the ones that you know will get picked on when you introduce them to your tank. If you think about it, we are taking these guys off of a coral reef and IMO owe it to them to give them the best chance at survival. I have had the same clownfish pair for 20+ years. some tangs for 10+ years. I hope that a light bulb turns on above someone's head from reading this

 

[TJ's Reef]

Nice addition to this thread fragman (Paul ?). Some of my biggest concerns on these threads is what noobs will take from or read into them. There are many ways of doing things in this Hobby with varying degrees of success, but those of us with many years of experience need to be careful and responsible in how we respond/post/contribute. There are many things I do/get away with from having decades of experience, several of them I would never endorse for someone new to Reefkeeping.

Cheers, Todd