Can some of you share your acclimation techniques when you have three or more different corals to put in your tank? Do you have all these hoses hanging down from your tank acclimating all the corals at the same time? Do you make up water before going to a meeting or an event when you know that you might be bringing a couple of corals home? What do you use to hold the corals and water while acclimating? What about a plan for when you buy and bring home all the corals ;D ;D ;D from the Frag Swap next month?
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Acclimation techniques....Lots of questions ??????
- Thread starter ricwilli
- Start date
I am picky about my acclimation after loosing a lot in the past with 1 hour acclimation.
I put everything that came from the same system into the same bucket and acclimate for 3 hours SLOWLY. I know this is more important with fish than coral but why not?????
If I have coral from 3 different sources I use 3 different buckets. When I got home from the meeting the other day I stopped at AqOb so I had a lot to acclimate. I used 7 5gallon buckets and I had a large water change to do so I used 2 32gallon trash cans. It was CRAZY!
I put everything that came from the same system into the same bucket and acclimate for 3 hours SLOWLY. I know this is more important with fish than coral but why not?????
If I have coral from 3 different sources I use 3 different buckets. When I got home from the meeting the other day I stopped at AqOb so I had a lot to acclimate. I used 7 5gallon buckets and I had a large water change to do so I used 2 32gallon trash cans. It was CRAZY!
I dump half the water from the bag out that the coral came. I float the bags in my tank adding about 1/4 the amount of the water I dumped out every 15 minutes untill the bag is full, about an hour. If all the corals came from the same water, I do the bucket drip.
If it's just one fish or a coral, I put it in a large capture cup and hang it in my sump so the the water rushes around the cup. I use an air line hose and a valve to drip water from the main system into the cup.
I usually make up a quick bucket of water before I leave for the fish store trip because I ALWAYS come back with something.
I most recently started testing the source water too for PH, Salinity, and ammonia. This will usually dictate the duration of the drip acclimation. If the parameters are close to mine, the drip will be only about 1 1/2 hours or so. If any of the parameters are way off, the drip could go all the way to 3 hours, but usually around 2 to 2 1/2.
If I have multiple purchases from the same source water, I use a bucket, small heater, and the same drip acclimation method.
But, you bring up a good point about the swap! LOL! I will have to make sure I have plenty of new water made up as well as empty buckets! LOL!
I usually make up a quick bucket of water before I leave for the fish store trip because I ALWAYS come back with something.
I most recently started testing the source water too for PH, Salinity, and ammonia. This will usually dictate the duration of the drip acclimation. If the parameters are close to mine, the drip will be only about 1 1/2 hours or so. If any of the parameters are way off, the drip could go all the way to 3 hours, but usually around 2 to 2 1/2.
If I have multiple purchases from the same source water, I use a bucket, small heater, and the same drip acclimation method.
But, you bring up a good point about the swap! LOL! I will have to make sure I have plenty of new water made up as well as empty buckets! LOL!
I keep water mixed in advance. I do not use water mixed the same day.
I drip acclimate in small containers, individually. I take about 40 minutes to an hour unless there is a substantial difference in sg.
I dip all corals in iodine and flatworm exit. Zoas I try to give a freshawater dip after acclimation.
I drip acclimate in small containers, individually. I take about 40 minutes to an hour unless there is a substantial difference in sg.
I dip all corals in iodine and flatworm exit. Zoas I try to give a freshawater dip after acclimation.
Subliminal
NJRC Member
Depends what it is. Mushrooms, zoas, softies go right in the tank. LPS I usually do the 'put coral in bowl with own water, and slowly add water with a cup from my tank and then plop them in'.
SPS I don't really have any experience with, as I only have 2 pieces, and they both went in the same way as the LPS.
SPS I don't really have any experience with, as I only have 2 pieces, and they both went in the same way as the LPS.
Some acros don't like to be in water that other acros have been in. When they're handled like that they tend to slime and polute the water and start a war (the amount of water they acclimate in is not typically enough for insulation from the toxins excreted by the other corals in the water. Softies are less apt to care about that (or less harmed by the results).
Frags are usually extremely tolerant and I usually just temp acclimate and drop them in. Very rarely will I drip acclimate a frag. Big colonies are more set in their ways and I usually acclimate those before dropping them into the system via drip. Again, with acros they'd each get their own bucket unless they were all X (all millis, all digi, ... ).
For me personally I find the acclimation can be more harm than good. And I never did understand why you would temp acclimate and then drip, because aren't you likely to lose the heat you just gained? I don't know. Just doesn't make sense to me.
There. I said it. I know I'm not alone. I've talked to plenty of others who would do the same.
Far more important than acclimating is making sure you inspect and treat for possible pests. You should have Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure, Lugols, and Flat Worm exit on hand to protect yourself. Interceptor if you're getting SPS.
Frags are usually extremely tolerant and I usually just temp acclimate and drop them in. Very rarely will I drip acclimate a frag. Big colonies are more set in their ways and I usually acclimate those before dropping them into the system via drip. Again, with acros they'd each get their own bucket unless they were all X (all millis, all digi, ... ).
For me personally I find the acclimation can be more harm than good. And I never did understand why you would temp acclimate and then drip, because aren't you likely to lose the heat you just gained? I don't know. Just doesn't make sense to me.
There. I said it. I know I'm not alone. I've talked to plenty of others who would do the same.
Far more important than acclimating is making sure you inspect and treat for possible pests. You should have Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure, Lugols, and Flat Worm exit on hand to protect yourself. Interceptor if you're getting SPS.
I do the drip method with the bags hanging in my sump for a couple of hours. If there are a lot of frags I do the bucket thing.
On the way home from MACNA Kabal told me how he acclimates his corals and I couldn't belive it. He takes them out of the bag and leaves them in a dry container for 3-5 minutes until their covered with slime and then puts them into his tank. He siad he got the method from Calfo and swears he hasn't lost a coral from this method. The theory is the slime coat becomes a protective layer and allows the coral to acclimate itself.
On the way home from MACNA Kabal told me how he acclimates his corals and I couldn't belive it. He takes them out of the bag and leaves them in a dry container for 3-5 minutes until their covered with slime and then puts them into his tank. He siad he got the method from Calfo and swears he hasn't lost a coral from this method. The theory is the slime coat becomes a protective layer and allows the coral to acclimate itself.
Like Matt I test the source water for Ammonia. If there is Ammonia in the water I "lock it up" with some Seachem Prime before I do anything else.
I don't have an exact time I do acclimate for. I use a slow drip method and keep an eye on PH, Salinity & Temp. When they all match my system I'm done with acclimation. It could be 5 minutes or 5 hours depending on how bad the parameters are out of whack.
Once acclimated I give them a bath(s) and/or dip(s) depending on the coral. Once done this step I put them in QT for a period of time, usually a month.
All water I use for baths/dips/drip acclimation/QT are taken directly from my running system. I then replace this water (from system) with made up salt water that is usually at least 24 hours old. (free partial water change) I do water changes on the QT tanks the same way and take the water from my system.
If all corals are from the same person I treat them all the same unless "delicate" like Acros which I treat separately but do the same thing. Corals/Frags from different people get treated individually also as the source water is different.
Frag swap is going to be a challenge! I'll probably do some mobile acclimate at the event (parking lot) and bring everything home (if possible) in one set of water. I've got to think ahead on this.
Carlo
I don't have an exact time I do acclimate for. I use a slow drip method and keep an eye on PH, Salinity & Temp. When they all match my system I'm done with acclimation. It could be 5 minutes or 5 hours depending on how bad the parameters are out of whack.
Once acclimated I give them a bath(s) and/or dip(s) depending on the coral. Once done this step I put them in QT for a period of time, usually a month.
All water I use for baths/dips/drip acclimation/QT are taken directly from my running system. I then replace this water (from system) with made up salt water that is usually at least 24 hours old. (free partial water change) I do water changes on the QT tanks the same way and take the water from my system.
If all corals are from the same person I treat them all the same unless "delicate" like Acros which I treat separately but do the same thing. Corals/Frags from different people get treated individually also as the source water is different.
Frag swap is going to be a challenge! I'll probably do some mobile acclimate at the event (parking lot) and bring everything home (if possible) in one set of water. I've got to think ahead on this.
Carlo
Phyl said:
Didn't even think of that. Good point! Definitely one for me to remember as I get more into different corals.
I agree with the temp thing. If you float the bag, then remove it to drip acclimate and do not come up with some way to maintain the temp, the bag just goes back to room temp. That's why I either float in the sump, or use a small heater in the bucket if it is a large acclimation.
I do have to admit that corals usually get less of a drip time for me than fish do. My zoas seem to open faster if I acclimate them for less time. Not sure why, just been my experience lately with zoa addition versus previous experiences.
I also like to try feeding the new fish in the bag right before I let him go, and I also coordinate release with tank feeding whenever I can. That does two things in my mind. A, it lets me see if the fish will eat anything right away (and so far, with this slow acclimation time, everything except my dragon wrasse has eaten inside the bag before release) and B, it distracts the current inhabitants for at least a few minutes while the new guy gets in and finds a quick place to hide.
Generally, though, my recent experience with this feeding addition to the acclimation and release process has shown that the new fish are much less likely to hide, and begin eating in the new tank much more quickly than previous experience. Could be coincidence, but that's at least been my experience lately.
For those with large sumps you can just put the acclimation bucket in the sump which will bring it up to tank temps.
For those with smaller systems just use an old trashcan or bigger bucket and fill part way with tap water and put a heater in it. Then float your acclimation buck inside of it.
Carlo
For those with smaller systems just use an old trashcan or bigger bucket and fill part way with tap water and put a heater in it. Then float your acclimation buck inside of it.
Carlo
hangs her head in shame... I've never acclimated a coral, any coral, other then floating for temp matching and a quick dip in some tank water with lugols and/or fwe added. Happy to report I haven't lost anything but feel really stupid now thinking about it. No idea why it never occurred to me I shouldn't acclimate them, I do at least a couple hours drip method for fish.
Carlo said:
I had thought about the bucket bit, but I don't own a bucket I'd feel comfortable sitting in my sump (who knows what dirt/etc is on the outside of those buckets). As for the garbage can, I'm not sure I'd be able to drip
effectively that way.
I have used heaters in buckets on larger acclimations when the need arises.
Jcurry@wesketch said:
That's really interesting. Do you dip it with FWE or Lugols before this?
I know we're talking corals here - but I picked up an interesting acclimation method from Dr. Ron for snails.
He suggested taking the snail and holding it at the water level until it "attached" to the tank wall. Then the snail would "self-acclimate" to the water. I had success with nerite snails doing this - but never tried with other species. The biggest con to this technique though is my arm gets awfully tired holding on each snail. It's far easier to drip acclimate them.
My caveat is that this was something he shared like 2~3 years ago - so I dunno if he still suggests this method.
Phyl, I just keep a small 2 or 3 (don't remember size) gallon bucket handy and keep it stored in a kitchen trash bag when I'm not using it so it doesn't get dirty. Seems to work OK. I use one of the little AquaLifter pumps to do the drip with. Probably overkill for most people. A small 25/50 watt heater could probably be used directly in a bucket too for temp purposes.
Could probably also just remove a good portion of the water from the acclimation bucket and then pour in a cup of water every minute for a few minutes to get the temps adjusted (or close) before moving coral to the next step (dip/bath, QT, Tank). Multiple ways to handle the temp thing with a little creativity.
Carlo
Could probably also just remove a good portion of the water from the acclimation bucket and then pour in a cup of water every minute for a few minutes to get the temps adjusted (or close) before moving coral to the next step (dip/bath, QT, Tank). Multiple ways to handle the temp thing with a little creativity.
Carlo