Poll: How do you Acclimate your coral?

[Crustaceon]

you dip and toss acros how? In RODI? IN a product? Just curious?

I use various "coral' dips depending on what I have on hand, followed by two 30 second swirls in separate cups of rodi. Putting saltwater critters in freshwater makes me nervous, so I keep it short. Obviously the corals aren't a fan either judging by the mucus response. Red Sea's DipX has worked fine for me so far but I've never noticed a difference between that or a "Bayer" dip. I guess that's a good thing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This should be an educational view and Not argument or debate. This also should be a learning curve as person likely unaware.
While this is not the only method as it can be dripped or placed in holding tank/frag rack, I Float the bag for 20-30 minutes
Transfer coral and water into a clean bucket
Then . . . .
Measure the Ph, salinity and temperature of the bag water. If you can, make up some water in a container that has exactly the same measurements as the bag readings and move the fish right over, then you can add a cup of tank water to bucket every 15 mins 4-6 times (almost 1 - 1.5 hours)
I Then check salinity in bucket and compare to tank. If no match or very close, add a cup of water every few mins until ive reached salinity and then place them into display. Release them under LOW light before lights out and ramp lights slowly.

 

[i cant think]

I drop acclimate into my DT with anything sensitive, inverts, sensitive/rare fish, coral ect… With coral I drip acclimate into my tank (depending on what coral it is depends which tank it’s dropped into). Then once acclimated, I’ll dip in Ti-Tree Oil. How long I dip for depends on what type of coral it is;
. Softies I dip for 20-25 minutes
. LPS I dip for 15-20 minutes
. SPS I dip for 5-10 minutes
Once dipped in Ti-Tree Oil, I go on to washing them in tank water. In total I usually use about 4 litres of tank water to do this. Again, how long I leave in the tank water depends on the type - I usually leave SPS in the longest and Softies in for the shortest period. And finally after sitting in dip, then in the tank water I finally put them into my main tank. I don’t do any light acclimation and they most likely end up in the places they’ll remain long term.

 

[Dburr1014]

I would suggest in the future - the way to learn as you go - is to read and research how to acclimate corals. It seems like you're making up your own protocol based on several others - which BTW - since corals are (IMHO) relatively hardy - will not cause a problem. Going forward - just follow the recommendations from whomever you buy the coral - and you will probably be ahead of the curve. JMHO

Certain corals are hardy. Try doing that with an sps coral I can almost guarantee a different outcome.

 

[MnFish1]

I personally buy the coral from a tank - which I can observe - without pests - I have it bagged and drive it home 20 minutes - and put it in the tank once the temperature is matched (the LFS I go to uses the same lighting and parameters that I do). I tend to buy a bunch of coral and let the grow - there is no - 1 coral/week, etc - I would suggest that the best way to do this is to save until you can buy what you want and do it at once - as compared to weekly or monthly additions. Same with fish. The time you spend waiting - is money you're not spending on QT, etc. Again JMHO. It amazes me - how many people are adding things so often - in reality - that suggests a problem - rather than a successful tank.

 

[MnFish1]

I personally buy the coral from a tank - which I can observe - without pests - I have it bagged and drive it home 20 minutes - and put it in the tank once the temperature is matched (the LFS I go to uses the same lighting and parameters that I do). I tend to buy a bunch of coral and let the grow - there is no - 1 coral/week, etc - I would suggest that the best way to do this is to save until you can buy what you want and do it at once - as compared to weekly or monthly additions. Same with fish. The time you spend waiting - is money you're not spending on QT, etc. Again JMHO. It amazes me - how many people are adding things so often - in reality - that suggests a problem - rather than a successful tank.

PS - I only do this after a tank crash #1 - due to a 'name brand' controller. #2 - due to the same name brand controller. #3 due to an 8 hour power failure... Now have a generac generator - which powers the whole house.

 

[wwarby]

there is no reason to shake a coral in RO water - but - my guess is they will be ok.

I definitely got that from a YouTuber although I can’t remember which one now. You’re quite right that I’ve read and watched loads on this topic and just blended together bits of protocols I’ve found all over the place. The theory was that certain types of pests might cling on during the dip but find the RO water more disagreeable. I’ll check in with my LFS next time I buy corals and ask them for their recommendations on procedure.

Most of my new corals seem okay, a couple of the zoa frags haven’t opened up yet and my Kenya tree is folded over but I’m hoping they’ll bounce back.

 

[doubleshot00]

Man we all do it differently.

I dip then in the tank. But I don’t dip in 70degree salt. I use some tank water or fresh.

 

[Spare time]

I drip if I can, then dip (and scrub with a bit of peroxide if it is an lps skeleton base) then QT for 45 days at 81F, then dip and scrub, then drip into my display to help match the pH and then done.