SPS Acclimation

[hit_the_gap]

Hi Everyone,
I am buying some higher end sps frags this weekend and wanted to get some opinions about how to properly acclimate sps corals to my lighting (LEDs ocean revives) in order to provide the with the best chances of survival. After i drip / temp acclimate them and dip them for pests, where should i place the frags and for how long should they stay there until i glue them in place?

Thanks!

 

[Ocelaris]

What do you have in there now, and how is it doing? Without knowing the lights specifically, where do they fall in the PAR range? Basically I always started at about half way and worked my way back up to wherever I was over a week or two. But your nutrients, flow and calc/alk can also play a part. I usually glue immediately because I have a feel for what light levels I'm at, with other corals growing or not in that area. I would go with what your existing corals are doing and move from there. I started with a Pocillipora and Stylophora, and one Acro about 18 months ago, all survived, and then I slowly moved up the expensive/hard SPS chain until I know everything is spot on.

 

[hit_the_gap]

i have a mostly SPS dominated tank. I am not sure about my PAR range. i wasnt sure if i should start the frags down on the bottom for a week or two to adjust to my lights and then move them up to the desired location, or if i should just place them where i want them, etc. I usually have good success and growth with SPS in the middle portions/range of my tank. my fear is that i will move the frags up too quickly and end up shocking them with too much light.

 

[Ocelaris]

i have a mostly SPS dominated tank. I am not sure about my PAR range. i wasnt sure if i should start the frags down on the bottom for a week or two to adjust to my lights and then move them up to the desired location, or if i should just place them where i want them, etc. I usually have good success and growth with SPS in the middle portions/range of my tank. my fear is that i will move the frags up too quickly and end up shocking them with too much light.

I always place them where I want them and dim the lights, but you could move the frags too. But I like to hack off the frag plug immediately in case it was housing eggs, so mounting them multiple times isn't an option, and I think the frags are happier where they get the best flow from the outset. Also consider where they came from, whether led or t5, but a 2 week time frame is usually what I shoot for. On the other hand I use t5s these days, so I just put them where I want and there's no burn. With leds that have hotspots I had to be more careful, and just backed off the lights instead of moving the frags around.

 

[jda]

With diodes, you usually want to start them on the outside and move them more directly under the light. Up/down near the glass on a frag rack is still on the outside of PAR range, but outside/middle will get them more light. There are some PAR Maps that BRS did in one of their infomercials about black boxes that can get you pretty close to seeing where the light less and more intense.

Just go slow, look for changes either positive by encrusting or negative with color loss. This kinda has to go by feel, so don't be afraid to hold up and observe more.

The cheaper Chinese Panels can have rogue hot spots, so if something just get totally mad, move it somewhere else and keep that in mind.