How to acclimate new sps?

tencwhiskey · Oct 13, 2014

I got a new sps frag today, the last one I got I put high in the tank and it bleached. This Time I'm thinking about starting it off in the sand, lights off for first few hours and then slowly turning them up. I have a maxspect razor led set up. Any suggestions would be fantastic.

Reefkeepr1986 · Oct 13, 2014

First dip the new SPS coral to clean of any parasite and as far as lighting to the the lighting I would set the coral where lighting is best for the coral and as you said slowly acclimate the new SPS addition by starting it off with low lighting so that it won't shock the new coral!!

SantaMonica · Oct 14, 2014

Probably don't need to turn the lights off, but the lower light levels down at the sand, and possibly behind some rocks, might be good for the first day.

tencwhiskey · Oct 14, 2014

I put it on the sand bed, and it looks like it's either bleaching or has RTN. Not sure but not liking it.

Dowtish · Oct 14, 2014

Do you have other SPS in the tank doing well?

tencwhiskey · Oct 14, 2014

No, actually u tried a piece of Acro a couple months ago and it bleached, or so I thought, the frag I put in yesterday is either bleaching or has RTN I believe, cause it Started turning white from the bottom about half way up suddenly. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong. I had some slight polyp extension shortly after I put it in, but still turned white from the bottom. I checked all my parameters.

rayn · Oct 14, 2014

I am going through almost the same. I got 5 frags, but only one is turning white. It is from the bottom up as you describe. One of the main things I read out there is phosphates. Anything higher then .03 and you may have this issue. Mine are real close to that, fluctuating between .03 & .08, but I am still probably loosing at least one.

TarHeelReefer22 · Oct 14, 2014

Always make a note of the type of lights your LFS or source of the said frag is coming from. Leds are strong and most of my acros cant take the top of the reef even after being under leds for months. Always start them on the sand bed and move them up accordingly. I have some colonies that haven't left my sand bed such as my GARF bonsai

TarHeelReefer22 · Oct 14, 2014

RESTOR is a good product from Brightwell that is used in my tank for boosting corals coming from T5 MH to my leds

Dowtish · Oct 14, 2014

tencwhiskey said:
No, actually u tried a piece of Acro a couple months ago and it bleached, or so I thought, the frag I put in yesterday is either bleaching or has RTN I believe, cause it Started turning white from the bottom about half way up suddenly. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong. I had some slight polyp extension shortly after I put it in, but still turned white from the bottom. I checked all my parameters.

Sounds like it could be something specific with your parameters for an acro or any SPS to RTN that quickly.

What exactly are your parameters and what kind of test kits are you using for them?

Diesel · Oct 14, 2014

Dowtish said:
Sounds like it could be something specific with your parameters for an acro or any SPS to RTN that quickly.

What exactly are your parameters and what kind of test kits are you using for them?

+1.
Need to know some specks about your tank and a pic might help too.

tencwhiskey · Oct 14, 2014

. My alk is low at 7.0 So I guess maybe that would be it?

Calcium is 450
Mag is 1320
I will check phosphates

Dowtish · Oct 14, 2014

need nitrates and salinity too.

7.0 alk is fine as long as it is stable. most folks dont like to run that low though because if it drops you are in the danger zone real quick

tencwhiskey · Oct 14, 2014

Yeah I'm trying to slowly bring it up, I doubled up on my limewater. I just got home the Coral is actually showing some polyp extension and seems to be ok thus far. Here is a Pic of it