How to acclimate acros

[bct15]

I often see sps newbs ask why their brand new acro frag is RTNing shortly after receiving the frag, and I often attribute it to a poor acclimation technique. I often read about people using a drip acclimation method on their new corals, this can be bad for the coral because the drip acclimation method introduces water to the acclimating species so slowly there is a great potential for temperature differences between the acclimating coral and the display. IMHO temp swings are the most detrimental to any coral and should be avoided at all costs. Over the years I have almost perfected my coral acclimation technique, and using this technique I have not lost a coral shortly after acclimation yet (excuse me while I knock on wood). Today I received an order from two different vendors and I felt it a perfect opportunity for me to record and share my acclimation technique with the world, and make a contribution to the r2r community at the same time.

Before you get started gather all of your supplies, what I use is

tupperware containers
small plastic cups with holes punched in the bottom
glass measuring cup
alk test kit
refractometer
testing strips
magnifying glass
scissors
various coral dips
(not pictured)
extra frag plugs
super glue gel
bone cutters
butter knife

acclimating supplies

When receiving my coral frags I make an assumption that each frag from the vendor or hobbyist comes from the same water supply, this I believe to be a fairly safe assumption. After giving myself access to each frag, I carefully cut the tops of the bag open and poor the shipping water into a tupperware container. I then place the frag plug into one of the small plastic cups and then place that into the tupperware container. This allows me to put more than one frag in the tupperware container at a time and I don't have to worry about them bumping and damaging eachother. Some of the frag plugs don't have a stem on the bottom, when this happens carefully arrange the frags in the cups so the ones outside of the cups will not touch eachother. Also, only put frags from the same source in the same tupperware container. What I like about one of the vendors my order came from today is that they ship their coral already mounted inside of plastic cups. See the pics below.

acclimating sps frags from vendor 1

acclimating sps frags from vendor 2, note the positioning of the two frags that did not have stems on the plugs.

After getting the corals positioned in there respective tupperware containers, I like to test the water of the shipped corals. Specifically I test the SG, alk, and nitrates of the shipping water. This gives me a good idea of how big of a difference the transition will be, and gives me insight on what the person sending me corals does to have awesome corals to send in the first place. The nitrates of both shipping waters was 0, the SG's was 34 ppt, the alks were 7.3 and 9.5. I keep my alk at 8.1, SG at 34 ppt, and my nitrates are currently 10 ppm (started dosing vodka to get them down).

After running the tests, I place the tupperware containers in my tank in a spot where they will not blow around and tumble with the lights off. I use the glass bracing to hold my containers in place. See the pic below

floating containers

After all containers are in the tank, I set a timer for 30 minutes for them to reach a temperature equilibrium. I chose 30 minutes because tupperware containers are designed to be somewhat insulated and can take a little longer to start letting heat in or out than a plastic bag. Below is a screenshot of my timer going just for completeness.

 

[bct15]

After the thirty minutes is up, I individually remove each container and dump some of the water inside down my drain (about 6 oz). I then add about 6 oz of tank water to the container.

6 oz of tank water to be added to the container of acclimating coral

I do the same thing for each container of sps, one at a time. After adding the water they are put back in the display and floated for an additional 30 minutes. This process is repeated about 6 to 8 times, depending on how different my parameters are from the shipping water.

containers floating after being mixed with tank water several times

After repeating the above adding of tank water about six to eight times, the corals are ready for inspection under the magnifying glass (this can be your saving grace if heavy into acros or zoas). Inspect each frag for damage and pests, don't forget to check under the frag plug too (a lot of nasties hide there).

coral frag being inspected

If some pests or unwanted hitchhikers are spotted, dip or treat the coral accordingly. If the plug is covered with nuisance algae AND the coral has not encrusted the plug, sometimes the easiest way to deal with it is to attach the frag to a new plug and discard the infected plug. The coral is then ready to be added to the tank it was acclimated to, whether a quarantine or display tank depending on how you do things, though quarantine is recommended for those who have the opportunity.

 

[Chameleon]

Nice! I like the thoughtfulness of your acclimation process.

I keep it simple and take them out of the shipping water immediately and set them on the bathroom counter to the wife's chagrin. While they are sitting out usually 3 to 5 minutes I make up some dip water with Bayer insecticide and water from my system. I just add a little pour of bayer to a half liter so of water(using a 2 liter bottle I cut the top off).
Once I know the sps are good an slimed from being exposed to air I toss them in the tank dip water. The slime buffers the changes that the corals has to tolerate.
Then in a tank rinse container with tank water to wash off excess dip water and then into the tank always on the sandbed.
This works for me and the KISS mentality means I am sure to do it every time.

I love your way, it seems so great, maybe Ill rethink my strategy a bit...

 

[Chameleon]

BTW awesome frags!!

 

[Frick]

Great write up. The only thing i do a little different is dicard the plug and the glue attached. Just to be on the safe side. And everything sits in a QT for a month min. Then the technique will be used again, even the dip, when it goes to the display.

 

[ifarmer]

nice write up.
Very safe ways to introduce frags into the tank.
However, I am not sure I have the time to exercise this method because this would requires that you have to spend at least 3-4 hours

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

How did I miss this! Nice thread!

 

[_sludgefactory]

I float the bags or clip them to the rim of my tank with a small spring clamp. Then after I let them temp up for a bit, maybe a half hour, I suck out about half of the water with a turkey baster. Then ever 15 minutes I give them all one full turkey baster of tank water. I do that for at least an hour then discard half of the water again. Then I start adding water again in 15 minute intervals. I usually repeat that process for 3 or 4 hours.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[buddythelion]

Great write up!