Importing and conditioning maricultured Acropora

[Justin Aretz]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to start this discussion as I’ve been going through a rough patch lately. I am kindly asking those with experience to please share with me.

I began venturing into the field of receiving mariculture acropora. I’ve been in this hobby on and off for almost two decades now, but over the past few years have really dove into the keeping of acropora. My problem is, I’m batting about .250. I would estimate in the past few months, 25% have lived past the first day. I do understand this is part of the game. Of course some are dead in the box, some show minor signs of TN, and some look wonderful. But none of those observations seem to play a role in which survive.

I also know that many of you are far, far more experienced than me. What I’m hoping to hear from those of you who are, is your process upon receiving. As detailed as you’re willing to go, or whatever bone you are willing to toss me out of pity, I am grateful for any of it. Parameters, lighting, temp, flow, acclimation process, dipping.... anything you’re willing to share would be so greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advanced for your time.

-J

 

[P-Dub]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to start this discussion as I’ve been going through a rough patch lately. I am kindly asking those with experience to please share with me.

I began venturing into the field of receiving mariculture acropora. I’ve been in this hobby on and off for almost two decades now, but over the past few years have really dove into the keeping of acropora. My problem is, I’m batting about .250. I would estimate in the past few months, 25% have lived past the first day. I do understand this is part of the game. Of course some are dead in the box, some show minor signs of TN, and some look wonderful. But none of those observations seem to play a role in which survive.

I also know that many of you are far, far more experienced than me. What I’m hoping to hear from those of you who are, is your process upon receiving. As detailed as you’re willing to go, or whatever bone you are willing to toss me out of pity, I am grateful for any of it. Parameters, lighting, temp, flow, acclimation process, dipping.... anything you’re willing to share would be so greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advanced for your time.

-J

Mariculture corals are just wild corals. That's it. First off, are you certain of your source? Are they, in fact, mariculturing the corals or are they just collecting and shipping? The reason I ask is a true mariculture operation will have corals cultured at different depths and locations in the environment if they do not have a costly and dedicated "facility" and ought to let you know or let you choose which corals you want based on their needs. I believe there are fewer "grow out facilities" than we are led to believe, region dependent. For example, If you get a coral that has grown and been cultured on the deeper reef vs the lagoon you will have entirely different requirements for each respective animal. This is just one reason that you may be having difficulties. There is a myriad of others. So where are you sourcing your specimens and how certain are you of the integrity of the operation? Have you physically visited the operation? Short of doing this first hand, depending on the source, you may be just shooting in the dark.
Also, if you have not already read.

Maricultured sps thread

There are a lot of maricultured vs aquacultured vs wild caught colonies threads out there but I am curious about maricultured colonies in paticular (and possibly wild if ya got them). I know the survivability isnt as good as the tried and true bulletproof aquacultures and it is more of a gamble...

www.reef2reef.com

Receiving wild or maricultured Acropora

I am thinking about ordering a large box of maricultured Acropora at the airport, similar to via wholesaler. I have a supplier in mind, but would appreciate hearing other suggestions or from anyone in the Cleveland area crazy enough to go in on this. I'd house, cut and grow the Acropora for a...

www.reef2reef.com

The Pros and Cons of Aquacultured vs Maricultured vs Wild Coral Colonies

The Pros and Cons of Aquacultured vs Maricultured vs Wild Coral Colonies Visiting MACNA or any of the large frag swaps or shows 10 years ago the vendors present for the most part displayed large wild colonies of coral under metal halide lamps. IN the last five years this has changed...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Graffiti Spot]

A true mariculture operation has different depths? I have not seen that yet. The most I have seen or read about have all their tables in shallow water where they can reach them easily. I don’t think the depth comes into play much with mariculture. They all get baked with light which is why halides with 10k or less, help the transition the most. I do know they like to place racks in different flow areas though which would impact growth form and color and I find the thicker the inside of the coral if it’s tabling, the harder they are to keep and acclimate to a tank.

Justin where are you getting maricultured acros right now? 25% past the first day is horrid percentage and it would help to know where your getting these from and a picture of some of them and your system. Are you getting them straight from the mariculture sites or buying from wholesalers that show you pics?

 

[ScottB]

There are likely additional considerations required for acclimating maricultured versus aquacultured that are beyond my experience. I will share my aquacultured acclimation process with you in hopes that it helps with that batting average.

1) I won't buy coral if the vendor's ALK is much different than mine at 8 dkh
2) Upon arrival, place bag in dark sump to temperature acclimate 1-3 hours
3) Quick visual inspection under magnification
4) Place in a low light moderate flow LPS tank as my QT; leave it for 3-5 days to destress. (No dip yet)
5) Cut from plug or rock if possible, inspect, dip in Bayer (80% tank water / 25% Bayer) turkey baste 10-15 mins
6) Rinse thoroughly with tank water
7) Pour off Bayer milk, inspect bottom of pyrex container for pests
6) Back to LPS tank. Repeat after 5 days. If no visual pests are found the second time then into SPS system a few days later.

The theme is stress reduction at the outset. Strong lights are not OK for stressed acros IMO.

If I were to bring in wild mariculture, I would probably use a more aggressive dip like CoralRX. IMO, that stuff is harsh on bugs, but also harsh on acros.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Are you dipping them? If so with what and how long? What bothers me is some being dead and some showing necrosis. Ime maybe one will be dead and maybe one other will be on its way but that’s normally if it’s during the winter. Summer most of the time stuff does fine with one doa at most. The only time I have seen more doa’s Is from figi after a large storm when the water they are using is still not that good, or if corals have a lot of crabs sometimes one will die in the bag and pollute the water.
I am curious where your getting mariculture from right now since most are shut down.

For my acclimation process I don’t dip if I can help it. I float in the bag for 30 min unless they are very cold I do more. Then I get them out of the bags and throw them in the tank. Parameters don’t matter too much but I have the best luck keeping them close to nsw. If nitrates or po4 is high it takes them much longer to acclimate ime.
I put them under high light and strong very random flow unless a colony is stressed with thin or peeling skin then I put it in the corner til the color and flesh comes around normally. After that the key is to let them be. They can take really high t5 or halide par but I don’t have experience using led with them. I have not seen anyone have an easy time acclimating Mari stuff with led unless their tank is rock solid and made specifically for housing them. Most of the time I see them do ok and not turn green or brown out if the led is high and at 100% on all channels. I do see them turn some parts of the corals flesh a light color which I don’t like but if watched carefully they end up ok.
Maybe tell us some about your tank and equipment and where your getting these pieces from.

 

[jda]

Are you sure that you are talking Mari and not wild? Most mari facilities have placed hardy varieties into the ocean to grow - they use corals that they know do better in captivity... so they are grown in the wild pieces selected to thrive. Wild are a complete crapshoot.

I mostly do wild, which are harder, but here is my routine.

When arrived:

• NSW paramter water with nearly no N or P and 7.0 alk
• Lots of indirect and gentle flow
• No dips for at least a few months - I want the acro crabs to do their jobs and keep the acros clean
• 6500k Metal Halide to get as close to the sunlight where they were grown as possible (yes, 1-5 meters of depth is about 6500k)
• Cull anything that looks bad - one piece can start an avalanche

After a week, or two:

• Removal from the mari bases, if they came on them - these are where most of the pests come from

After a few months:

• See if I can get the acro crabs out with a soda-bottle crab trap with some tasty morsels of meat
• Dip in Bayer
• Move to 10-14k Metal Halide Lighting - change the bulbs

I do NOT like my boxes to stop in LA and get repacked. This is code for "they will take anything awesome and replace it with OK pieces." Direct or nothing for me. If you are not seeing acro crabs on at least a few pieces, then somebody has likely handled your pieces already and you have NO IDEA what happened to them.

These things were grown under massive PAR in shallower water with pure daylight spectrum and then held in tanks with pumped-in reef water with some minimal shading. Try and duplicate this the best that you can.