Coral sellers, Please include parameters on the bag or invoice.

[happyhourhero]

I think the point here would be more geared towards acclimation and length of acclimation, than trying to duplicate the actual parameters.

That’s fair. I would still open box > place in bayer mixed with tank water > after 10 min move to tank water bath > after 10 min move to second bath for visual inspection > place in tank.

 

[sde1500]

Why would any of those water parameters matter besides temp/salinity.

Corals don’t need an acclimation period like fish do of getting used to the water.
Just dip and drop in the tank. Never lost a coral once from just being introduced to a new tank. If that were the case frag swaps and such would just be mass death parties

Massive changes in alk absolutely would make a difference.

 

[DaneGer21]

That’s fair. I would still open box > place in bayer mixed with tank water > after 10 min move to tank water bath > after 10 min move to second bath for visual inspection > place in tank.

Trust me I agree. I float for awhile. Unbox/bag. Slowly add tank water over time. Dip in 100% tank water with meds. Plop on sand bed. Done.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

So, every order we get in we absolutely acclimate. Then we dip all of the coral. We at least get the salinity to match. Most parameters are going to be in normal ranges. The only thing that may vary would be alkalinity, hence acclimating. The only coral we have lost were ines damaged during shipping.

Now lighting is a totally different ball game. I think this is most likely different for us then hobbyist because we are looking for the same results as far as coral care and health. I can tell you that I am using Reef Breeders Photons 24" off the top of the water. The tank is 12" deep with coral setting 5-6" off of the bottom. I would be more then happy to share my lighting schedule and intensity with anyone. I don't see any reason to keep it a secret lol

 

[Cory]

I agree i would love to know on the bag. Mainly because i test most anyway when i get them because im curious. And i like to veryify with their "standard" that my salinity isnt wildly off or alk isnt off and then i can trust my test kits and refractometer.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I look at it this way, there is nothing wrong with to much information. The idea is to set the customer up for success. In my case the corals I bought from two online vendors neither had any info with the corals.
I’m by no means an expert and half my losses could easily be my fault. But after learning that expensive mistake I now go out of my way to get my numbers inline with new additions. Since I started getting the info, my success rate has increased to no losses.

But hey, it’s just a suggestion.. no one needs to follow it or agree with it.

I agree with wanting to know things like alk as a big swing can kill a sps quickly I.e. surly if your tank runs 7.5dkh and it was grown in 10dkh that is a possible cause if the coral dies shortly after? The same goes for temp.

 

[Cell]

Idk this would probably just open them up to more potential complaints and loss claims.

 

[GlassMunky]

You must not be keeping sps? If you purchase a frag that was in a tank with elevated Alk and just drop it in your tank with alk on the lower end of normal, you will almost certainly have RTN.
Alk swings will definitively give you that nice white sps look

no, i actually kept a rather heavy sps system on my last tank. This new tank is too young for them, just yet.
But even with sensitive SPS, all i ever did take the corals out the bag and put them into a dip bucket with tank water, heavy dip in bayer (I like it milky white) followed by 2 rinse baths of fresh tank water then into the tank.

Never lost a coral from just moving it to the tank. now some corals hate bayer, so they get irritated, but they dont die.

Giving the coral an hour acclimation wont make any difference in it getting used to the water difference. a 7 to 10 dkh shift is still there and that hour wont make a difference IMO/IME.
Personally i find it better to get them into a cycled tank quicker than later especially if they have been shipped and have that added stress.
But everyones tank and experiences are different so i can only comment to mine.

 

[GlassMunky]

For me, it wouldn’t matter at all what they put. I am not going to do anything to try and match what they were using other than taking a slight consideration of lighting.

exactly. most people wont adjust a whole tank to meet the new frags parameters, thats backwards. you want the frags to meet the tank parameters.

 

[GlassMunky]

Massive changes in alk absolutely would make a difference.

see previous comments^

 

[Cory]

It doesnt matter anyway because the one coral farms that does this gives trust in his customers and they will gain popularity kicking it up a notch.

 

[Reefer40b]

The only kind of acclimating I recommend is temp.. Float until normalized then get in the tank as soon as you can. When corals are bagged and shipped Alk dips down into the 4-5's usually. A lot of people post system parameters in their faq section on their website as do I.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I know some vendors include some info like coral care reqs, etc. This would be really cool of them to do.

 

[Mical]

The thought of vendor giving specs is great - in the perfect world. But we all keep our tanks differently from one another - the variations would be in the millions. As far as I'm concerned a brief note from vendor on water quality & lighting is ample info.When you rec'd it - tank float it for roughly an hour & drip acclimate - then place low in tank for a couple of weeks and observe. That's what has worked for me & the vendors I deal with have no problem answering my requests for spec & lighting - prte shipment.

 

[Duncan Tse]

no, i actually kept a rather heavy sps system on my last tank. This new tank is too young for them, just yet.
But even with sensitive SPS, all i ever did take the corals out the bag and put them into a dip bucket with tank water, heavy dip in bayer (I like it milky white) followed by 2 rinse baths of fresh tank water then into the tank.

Never lost a coral from just moving it to the tank. now some corals hate bayer, so they get irritated, but they dont die.

Giving the coral an hour acclimation wont make any difference in it getting used to the water difference. a 7 to 10 dkh shift is still there and that hour wont make a difference IMO/IME.
Personally i find it better to get them into a cycled tank quicker than later especially if they have been shipped and have that added stress.
But everyones tank and experiences are different so i can only comment to mine.

100% agree with this.

For me I think drip acclimating is a waste of time. They say that alk stability should not vary more than 1dkh a day for a sps tank and if that was true, dripping for an hour or 2 or even 3 would still be detrimental to the coral.

I have about 15 or so acros right now and all I do is float to match temp, dip and then place into tank. I keep a higher alk at 11 dkh and usually the corals I buy from are in the range of 7-10dkh. Never lost a coral this way.

 

[chefjpaul]

More labor, more time = higher prices.
No? I would.

Not hard to test ALK and Salinity, then acclimate to your tank in your desired fashion.

I usually test both in bag and adjust my acclimation from there.

 

[Lizbeli]

If we were talking about fish I would like to know salinity and if there is copper in the bagged water.

For corals I don’t care about the parameters, it wouldn’t make any difference. I float, dip, rinse, and place right in the tank. Never hd an issue doing it this way. Id even argue lighting doesn’t matter either. I start frags low, and acclimate upwards before its placed where I want it.

To each his own. Do what ever works for you.

 

[DAPG8GT]

No acclimation other than temp in 22 years and very little losses . I think some people go too far with the acclimation trying to be perfect at the expense of the coral and your wallet. More info is never a bad thing but I personally only care when fish are involved.

IMO if your tank is healthy and matured ( to an extent) you will have success. I'm mostly SPS like 98% and literally like many other float the bag for maybe 25 mins , inspect , dip ,rinse , cut off plug or exposed skeleton and place in the tank. Most of the time they go right where they are going to live and stay there without a hiccup.

 

[JCOLE]

Not really concerned with Parameters, etc. However, it would be nice to list what the scientific name of the SPS coral is along with recommended placement. For someone with 61 SPS pieces in their 150 gallon I can attest that placement is key. However, although I do know most pieces along with placement I feel it could help others as well.

 

[BloopFish]

Not really concerned with Parameters, etc. However, it would be nice to list what the scientific name of the SPS coral is along with recommended placement. For someone with 61 SPS pieces in their 150 gallon I can attest that placement is key. However, although I do know most pieces along with placement I feel it could help others as well.

Maybe in a thousand years... Merchants can hardly get the common names correctly, let alone ever list the correct scientific name. Heck, they can't even get the categories for their shopping correctly. Some sellers have pocillopora, stylos, and seriatopora under their acropora category... kind of ridiculous. We can hardly even differentiate Zoas and Palys, let alone the species. It is also very annoying when stores only sell by trade names without even a common name of the coral species... very ridiculous. I really do wish coral sellers would all label by species, but I don't think that's happening any time soon.