Poll: How do you Acclimate your coral?

[Ramon Estevez]

I’ve never done any Dips but I will drip acclimate about 30 minutes to adjust to levels. Is Dipping something that you should consider essential? What do you guys use?

 

[BigJohnny]

I’ve never done any Dips but I will drip acclimate about 30 minutes to adjust to levels. Is Dipping something that you should consider essential? What do you guys use?

Not essential but can prevent some pests from entering and killing many corals. If you are not buying acropora, I'd recommend coralRx or revive. You can get them on bulk reef supply.

If you are buying acropora, you may want to look into using Bayer advanced complete insect killer. There are many threads with instructions on here. It is better at killing certain acropora specific pests. It would work with all other coral too but I don't recommend it because it can be dangerous if not used correctly and it's not necessary for anything but acros imo.

Having said that, I primarily buy my corals from places I know have a strict qt procedure, and then i don't dip at all. The best vendors can't afford to have pests in their aquaculture facilities. I 100% will dip coral from other hobbyists or vendors I haven't used before though.

The vendors I don't dip from are WWC and Battlecorals. Never had an issue.

 

[Droberts0724]

Oh my... my LFS said it's not necessary to acclimate a hardy coral and I have just put them straight in my tank with pretty good success so far. I have a Gonipora, Hydnophora, Acan, Alveopora, and a leather. So far so good. Maybe I should start acclimating them...

 

[Jon M.]

 

[BenitaSolo]

Here is what I do with coral. I have mostly LPS corals but have done this was all/most of my coral. Few exception apply. I am certainly no authority on the subject. A smart man would QT frags.
1) Inspect coral in bag
2)Prepare dipping Tupperware with some tank water
3)Remove coral from bag and inspect
4)if possible, remove coral from frag plug/mount and leave plug out to dry for another day.
5)scrub any/all structure that's not flesh with a toothbrush and pick anything off that I can with a toothpick/skewer/anything pointy
6)switch coral in a separate cup of water to rinse.
7)Add bag water to the tank water tupperware and add coral dip
8)Mix dip with water and add coral
9)Use a baster tool to 'blast' any of the rock structure possible
10)Continue this and make sure I'm being thorough
11)Remove from dip and place in clean tank water tupperware.
12)Take another look at the coral
13)Put on a new frag plug or mount if necessary
14)Add to any easily accessible and observable part of the tank tank
15)Place coral in its permanent home when the time is right
16)Repeat this until I have no more money for coral

 

[Blutspitze]

I mostly only do the temp and dip when I buy from online retailers - if I get something locally from one of the stores I really trust I'll even skip the dip. I don't have many corals, but I've never had issues with them bringing in nasties with this method.

 

[Ian M]

I float the bag for 15 mins then start a drip for another 15 mins before starting my dip in coralRx and inspections. If I am happy with the frag under magnification into the tank it goes, if not another dip in bayer or hydrogen peroxide.

 

[MARK M. DAVIS]

Temperature by float, water chemistry by dilution, dip, rinse , frag quarantine tank, then, main display after months to light acclimate in qt.

 

[ZoWhat]

float the bag for 30mins..cut it loose as long as SG is close

instead of dipping and qt'ing i sometimes....

you should be buying from a reputable vendor where you DON'T have to dip nor qt


.

 

[oldbob50]

I check the parameters of the water they come in. If they are close to my tank parameters* I then Temp float, dip and place them in the DT. If the parameters were way off I would drip acclimate before the dip. I let the corals get used to the DT for a few days to a week before gluing them to a rock and placing them where I want them. Then I can move the rocks if they don't respond well to the location. *Most of my local sources are very close to my tank parameters so I have yet to do a drip on any corals.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I float 30 minutes, add 4 oz tank water every 15 minutes in a bucket for 45-60 minutes. Then I agitate coral in water, inspect for pests with magnifying glass and place in tank under reduced lighting

 

[ScottB]

My process varies a little depending on a few things:
- Source (LFS, reputable online, frag swap...)
- Species (SPS, LPS, softies)
- Colony or frag (I really don't buy colonies much, if so only from a specific LFS)
- Source water params (I insist on knowing params before I buy. I won't buy if they are too different from mine)

General process:
temp acclimate in sump
pop into medium flow, medium light&flow frag tank for a week or so to de-stress. I will check each under magnification a few times over the week.
AFTER a week or so, I dip SPS into Bayer. LPS I dip in Revive, then lugoils. Rinse and place in back in medium light/flow frag tank. For another week or so.

Eventually, I will move it to my display or (if SPS) to my high light/flow frag tank.

I believe dipping is important, but stressful, thus the resting period. I believe that high PAR adds stress to a stressed animal. Lastly, each tank has at least 2 if not 4 hunting wrasses. Big believer in their ability to manage pests.

 

[Lorenzo Angotti]

Hi, I drip acclimatise straight from my tank into the bag with the coral and held in a plastic container
with a peg to hold the drip air line and bag to the edge of the container so that as it doubles the volume of tank water, the bag will stay secure. I tend to wait for 30 to 45 minutes, tip the bag and coral carefully in the container and some times dip the coral with coral RX only if I know that the seller recommends it, then I use a turkey baster for about 3 to 5 minutes and no more, Once done I take out the coral and give it a rinse with tank water and finally place it at the bottom of my tank, switching lights down to acclimate for an hour only if done before the lights ramp down to moonlight.

 

[Neptune 555]

Most of my parameters match my 2 local coral guys. Both of these guys are pest free so l am not worried about dipping. l have not bought coral from anyone else to really be worried about pests. l float to temp match for maybe 15min then in the tank they go.

Do you do the same for your fish - trust the LFS? or do you QT fish and just not coral?

 

[Dburr1014]

Float, dip, and in.

 

[Lorenzo Angotti]

Do you do the same for your fish - trust the LFS? or do you QT fish and just not coral?

With fish I don’t quarantine I just make sure before I buy that they are feeding and look healthy

 

[EmptyWallet]

I can't believe how few people QT corals, which of course makes me question why do I?

I get the power of dips (and micro inspection), but for me, I keep corals in QT for 45 days to avoid the risk of introducing ICH to the fish if you were super unlucky to bring in a coral/frag that had a cyst on it. Zero tolerance! And I guess in case an 'Aptasia spore' was on the rock/coral/plug not ready to unveil itself for a few weeks...

 

[Iamjeff6]

Old bump and random question

I have a bucket mixing with saltwater that’s temp matched to the tank, I have new corals coming today.

Instead of floating in tank what’s the difference from floating them in the bucket of water that’s matched to the tank?

 

[MERKEY]

Old bump and random question

I have a bucket mixing with saltwater that’s temp matched to the tank, I have new corals coming today.

Instead of floating in tank what’s the difference from floating them in the bucket of water that’s matched to the tank?

Basically it won't have the other trace elements matched. Elements such as alk, cal, and mag are nutrients your corals use to grow. The fresh salt mix will definitely have those elements and the corals will acclimate but they wont be exact.

If you take water from your DT to use in the bucket then there will be no difference.

Some think matching all of these slowly is the better route while some as you can tell by this thread, just drop corals in.

So is there a difference in a bucket VS. DT.... yes as the elements will be different.

 

[Iamjeff6]

Basically it won't have the other trace elements matched. Elements such as alk, cal, and mag are nutrients your corals use to grow. The fresh salt mix will definitely have those elements and the corals will acclimate but they wont be exact.

If you take water from your DT to use in the bucket then there will be no difference.

Some think matching all of these slowly is the better route while some as you can tell by this thread, just drop corals in.

So is there a difference in a bucket VS. DT.... yes as the elements will be different.

I’m taking about just floating the corals in the bags to temp acclimate instead of crowding my rank.