Do you Acclimate your SPS to your Lights?

[rosieosieee]

Hi

Just wondering if you guys slowly acclimate your SPS frags to your aquarium's lights?

Do you just throw them on the frag rack, or glue where you want them to be?

Do you try to match the lighting from the tank they came from?

Whats the best thing to do to ease the transition to your tank?

Thanks!

 

[plumber dude]

You can cut down the photo period if you want, or start the coral lower in your tank and move it up over a couple weeks to a month if it's a delicate piece. Personally I just glue them where I want them and they typically do fine if they are healthy with no lighting adjustments.

 

[plumber dude]

You can cut down the photo period if you want, or start the coral lower in your tank and move it up over a couple weeks to a month if it's a delicate piece. Personally I just glue them where I want them and they typically do fine if they are healthy with no lighting adjustments.

 

[Nomadic1]

I don't acclimate SPS to light, or, anything for that matter. I might light acclimate LPS corals, but, that is about it.

 

[Bpb]

I can't match the light mine came from because nobody I buy from uses similar lights. What I do, is put the plugs on the sand...watch them bleach or brown. Wait two weeks. Then on the rack in the middle. Wait two weeks. Then on the rocks in their forever spot. No sense in mucking up the light schedule and throwing the whole tank out of whack for a new frag that will bleach no matter what anyway

 

[MrDJeep123]

I can't match the light mine came from because nobody I buy from uses similar lights. What I do, is put the plugs on the sand...watch them bleach or brown. Wait two weeks. Then on the rack in the middle. Wait two weeks. Then on the rocks in their forever spot. No sense in mucking up the light schedule and throwing the whole tank out of whack for a new frag that will bleach no matter what anyway

I do something similar. I have no interest in messing with the lighting schedule. My Kessil A150 is on a manual timer and I have no interest in messing with it every time I buy new corals. My difference from you is that I have more faith in my tank that the frags will not bleach. :xd:

 

[Bpb]

Ouch!!

 

[Eckolancer]

Never just place them in the tank. Even with my leds. Sometimes they take off right away, other times they brown out for a few months.

 

[Eckolancer]

Pic of the tank with Kessil 360s

 

[rosieosieee]

I can't match the light mine came from because nobody I buy from uses similar lights. What I do, is put the plugs on the sand...watch them bleach or brown. Wait two weeks. Then on the rack in the middle. Wait two weeks. Then on the rocks in their forever spot. No sense in mucking up the light schedule and throwing the whole tank out of whack for a new frag that will bleach no matter what anyway

so you always let them bleach or brown and then hope they recover and color back up once they're in their permanent spot?

 

[Bpb]

so you always let them bleach or brown and then hope they recover and color back up once they're in their permanent spot?

Doesn't happen 100% of the time. Happens with about 1/2 of acropora I aquire. Nothing else really. Zoas, Lps, and montipora all retain their look. Acropora seem to be the most prone to color shift due to varying zoaxanthellae concentration. It's unavoidable. I don't have a par meter, most the people I buy from run strictly LEDs, I don't run strictly LEDs, and my water parameters are often different. Even putting acropora on the sandbed in the corners (my typical practice) right when I get them will yield some degree of bleaching. I accept it. But I don't drip acclimate to salinity or anything like that. Dipping makes that fairly pointless.

 

[rosieosieee]

Doesn't happen 100% of the time. Happens with about 1/2 of acropora I aquire. Nothing else really. Zoas, Lps, and montipora all retain their look. Acropora seem to be the most prone to color shift due to varying zoaxanthellae concentration. It's unavoidable. I don't have a par meter, most the people I buy from run strictly LEDs, I don't run strictly LEDs, and my water parameters are often different. Even putting acropora on the sandbed in the corners (my typical practice) right when I get them will yield some degree of bleaching. I accept it. But I don't drip acclimate to salinity or anything like that. Dipping makes that fairly pointless.

ah gotcha. ok thanks! still trying to learn about my SPS!

 

[Braves Fan]

My rock scape is layered, from 1/3 from the bottom to 1/3 from the top. If the frag is going to end up at the top 1/3 of the tank, I accllimate to get it up there, anywhere else in the tank I just put it there. I have fried a couple of frags going straight to the top under my Hydra lights. Better off safe than sorry.

 

[gacolt]

i dont i just place it where i want in the tank and thats where it stays.if i get small frags i put them on a frag rack until they grow out alittle and i keep the rack as close as i can get to the 400w mh.

 

[JBNY]

I never alter my lighting schedule, as it effects the rest of the tank. Your best bet it to put them on the bottom and work their way up over a few weeks. That said, once you get a feel for you tank and how well SPS aclmate to your tnak, some corals you just place in their spot and other you acclimate.

 

[jackson6745]

Over the last few years I have come to feel a little different about "acclimation". I don't believe it is actually possible to get a coral to adapt to a certain lighting intensity and nutrient level and hope for a color or zoox population other than what the rest of the corals in your tank look like. What I mean is that I look a new coral and determine its health by zoox population and amount of slime it produces. If a coral has deep color and good slime I have no problem placing it high in my tank (I have 400w halides) and usually have great results, regardless of what lighting or nutrient level that it came from. If I get a frag that has lighter color, with a "thin skinned" look, poor slime coat, I usually start it out in indirect light to let the zoox population build up and overall health to improve.

 

[shlap]

I have 3 hydra 52s and 2 T5s over my tank and never light acclimate anything. Just glue it in its spot on top of a ball of putty in case it doesn't like it's spot so I can move it after a couple weeks if its not happy. All SPS tank. I've never had a piece brown out or bleach unless it falls off to the sand bed.

 

[wangspeed]

I just throw SPS on my frag racks, which are mounted a little above mid level. 6 bulb ATI, plus LEDs in front and back. No browning, but maybe bleaching on some.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

I have 2 Hydra Twenty Six HD LED's but I dont do any light acclimation. first, I drip them for 20 minutes and dump just enough water so the frag is still under your LFS water. After 20 minutes of dripping, I then dump out all almost all of the water like I did in step 1, and then drip for the remainder of the 20 minutes b/c by then it's mostly your water. After that then I dip them in ME Coral - WASH OFF.. I add 15 Ml (Cap is 6 ml) of Dip to a container with 1 gallon of your aquarium seawater. Bathe corals for 5-10 minutes, gently stirring with a turkey baster them. Then rinse well in another container of aquarium seawater before placing coral in your display tank. In my opinion, this is the most important step and can't be missed no matter how much you trust your supplier or buddy. The beauty of WAS OFF it promotes coral health and should be used to rejuvenate damaged corals or newly fragged corals as well as killing any bugs or parasites that are on the frags.. Another 15 minutes will only provide you a piece of mind which is priceless. I have way too much time and money to stick a frag in my Mixed reef to find out later that the frag I added had parasitises or bugs on it.

 

[mtraylor]

I just glue them where they are supposed to be after I dip them. Best method.