rhino56
Active Member
After many trial and error, this and thats, I believe i have found the best possible way to acclimate Zoas/palys (my personal opinion only of course i may be way off who knows we are all still learning).
I first dim all lights and only have enough light in the room to see what im doing, no direct light onto the corals, remove any outer bags, if i'm able i clip them to the edge of my tank with a chip clip, clothespin, whatever is available so they are in the water and a small amount of the bag is above the water for temperature acclimation. If they are sent to me the way i send them to people they are heat sealed and have no extra bagging to clip onto, so i poke a small hole and put a ziptie thru the bag and hang it that way.
I do not put them into my DT this way, this is a QT for new arrivals which i think everyone should have.
Shipping is stressful and dipping in coral rx or any other treatment can be deadly to a weakened coral.
After they are in the water for about 5 min i take a syringe and remove about 5% of the total volume of water in the bag, then replace that with fresh QT tank water into the bag, I do this every 5 minutes with a larger amount each time disposing of the bag water not putting it into the QT tank. After about 30 min and i feel the majority of the water is QT water now I place them into a medium flow area, what i mean by medium flow is enough water passing by so that any white mucus, slime or film can easily be removed gently not blasted off. And placed in a way that they do not contaminate each other, so not in a line. You dont want one guys mucus landing on the next guy, not a nice way to wake up.
After an hour or so i slowly start to bring up the lighting but nothing directly on them, I make sure they are fully adjusted to the water chemistry before exposing them to direct light, and i do that over the course of a few days and sometimes depending on the health of the coral it may even be 2 weeks before they are in full lighting.
After a day in QT if all is looking well it is good to add some coral food like reef chili or any brand that is known to be quality. I wont target them but just make sure they have an opportunity to get a small snack if needed.
I hope this helps someone who is still learning, we all are still learning and thanks to all of you who have helped me learn so much also.
I first dim all lights and only have enough light in the room to see what im doing, no direct light onto the corals, remove any outer bags, if i'm able i clip them to the edge of my tank with a chip clip, clothespin, whatever is available so they are in the water and a small amount of the bag is above the water for temperature acclimation. If they are sent to me the way i send them to people they are heat sealed and have no extra bagging to clip onto, so i poke a small hole and put a ziptie thru the bag and hang it that way.
I do not put them into my DT this way, this is a QT for new arrivals which i think everyone should have.
Shipping is stressful and dipping in coral rx or any other treatment can be deadly to a weakened coral.
After they are in the water for about 5 min i take a syringe and remove about 5% of the total volume of water in the bag, then replace that with fresh QT tank water into the bag, I do this every 5 minutes with a larger amount each time disposing of the bag water not putting it into the QT tank. After about 30 min and i feel the majority of the water is QT water now I place them into a medium flow area, what i mean by medium flow is enough water passing by so that any white mucus, slime or film can easily be removed gently not blasted off. And placed in a way that they do not contaminate each other, so not in a line. You dont want one guys mucus landing on the next guy, not a nice way to wake up.
After an hour or so i slowly start to bring up the lighting but nothing directly on them, I make sure they are fully adjusted to the water chemistry before exposing them to direct light, and i do that over the course of a few days and sometimes depending on the health of the coral it may even be 2 weeks before they are in full lighting.
After a day in QT if all is looking well it is good to add some coral food like reef chili or any brand that is known to be quality. I wont target them but just make sure they have an opportunity to get a small snack if needed.
I hope this helps someone who is still learning, we all are still learning and thanks to all of you who have helped me learn so much also.
