Acclimating Corals

iechy

iechy

Member
How do you acclimate your new corals to tank condiditons? A guy at my LFS says you can just drop them right in but I don't trust that. I floated them etc. just to be safe as I didn't think it could hurt. Does anyone just plop their corals right into the tank?
 
saltyrich

saltyrich

Active Member
I gnerally just put mine right in the tank. I've never had any acclimation problems. Almost all of my corals opened up within a short period of time, some immediately. The only problems I've ever had is acclimating higher light corals from my lfs' tank into mine if they have been in his tank for awhile. Once they had adapted to lower light conditions, it takes them awhile to get used to my tanks lighting, which is much higher than the lfs. It took 2 1/2 weeks for my green cup coral to fully open up. I've got a galaxy that was at the lfs for a month or more and he is still trying to acclimate. Other than that, everything opens up right away.
 
kpogue

kpogue

Member
Well, I guess if you have a lot of $.... But for my $, I'm going to take any and all precautions that I can to ensure the survival of my tank. I acc my corals just like I do my fish. For me at least, an hour or so of my time is worth it.
 
goldrush

goldrush

Member
The way I do it is to add an ounce or two of my tank water to the bag until I have doubled the volume of water.Pour half out and repeat.Then place the piece ONLY in your tank.No water from bag.Never had a problem doing this.For some creatures like shrimp or starfish I repeat three times.All the while,float bag so as to equalize temp..
 
steamboat1569

steamboat1569

Member
I follow the acclimation process that is on this site. If you decide to just drop it in, you will have voided any garantee that comes with your livestock. I know that most LFS do not have this garantee, but online stores do.
Your water will probably not have the same chemical makeup as the place you purchased from. A different pH or alkilinity is all it would take to kill a coral. Temperature need to be adjusted, and the coral is very sensitive to any changes. It has gone through enough before it reached your house. Why cause it additional stress that will kill.
 
kpogue

kpogue

Member
That's pretty much what I do...the way I see it when it comes to this hobby is, if you're not going to do it right, why bother? (!)
 
iechy

iechy

Member
I'll stick with the drip method as well then. While it may not be needed it certainly won't hurt and as stated I don't have the money to just throw away just in case. I'd rather spend the time to be safe. Besides, I'd be in front of the tank doing something else anyway so why not that?
Thanks for the opinions;)
 
saltyrich

saltyrich

Active Member
I guess that you could do that. It seems like a reasonable idea and probably solid advice. I've just never had any problems. Besides, sometimes it's pretty hard to follow. I'll float the bags inmost cases, but that's it. I probably will start slowly adding tank water from now on. Thanks guys. By the way, in my pathetic defense, it's damned hard to float a 2 1/2 pound piece of lr with green star polyps on it!!!! Same goes for some of my mushrooms too!!!
 
steamboat1569

steamboat1569

Member
No need to defend yourself! lol
I think you should do it the way you feel cofortable with. I myself do some things differently than some, and in a couple of cases, I have really been flamed for it.
We all have our own ways.
 
saltyrich

saltyrich

Active Member
Hey steamboat! I just got done doing some archaeology over in Oklahoma! Just finished up two projects, 1 in the Wister Lake area over by Poteau, near Spiro Mounds and the 2nd at Camp Gruber near Muskogee.
 
steamboat1569

steamboat1569

Member
I spent a weekend at Lake Wister a couple years ago. And have been through Muskogee many times.
I always thought that archaeology was fascinating, but did not consider that there would be much to find in Oklahoma.
Curious, could you share anything on what was found in those areas, if anything??
 
saltyrich

saltyrich

Active Member
A lot of historic Cherokee homestead allotments and Anglo homstead sites. Also several prehistoric sites. A few mound sites and some older lithic scatters (lithic being stone). The oldest sites found in both areas were later Early Archaic/early Middle Archaic which dates around to c.a. 4,000B.C.
 
saltyrich

saltyrich

Active Member
No. When I say lithics, I'm referring to thing like projectile points, tools, and the wasting flakes that are left as a product of creating those tools.
 
iechy

iechy

Member
Glad I asked I was worried that the guy at the LFS may have been giving me bad advice. Salty, I never thought about those big rocks, you have a good point. I have only added tiny pieces so far so it wasn't an issue.
Thanks for the replies I always learn alot from you guys (even about archeology now;) )
 
pstanley

pstanley

Member
When you are adding coral aren't they normally closed anyways? (meaning they are completely deflated and void of water). I have never acclimated coral either and have had no problems.
 
velbar

velbar

Member
I really appreciate being able to come in here and find answers from others. I have been working very slowly to build My tank into a reef tank and got enough rock in it that I was finally willing to get some coral frags but I was unsure about touching and placing them and you guys helped a lot.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
don't float then drip acclimation is the ticket
Quote:
Originally Posted by saltyrich http:///forum/thread/39786/acclimating-corals#post_233409
I guess that you could do that. It seems like a reasonable idea and probably solid advice. I've just never had any problems. Besides, sometimes it's pretty hard to follow. I'll float the bags inmost cases, but that's it. I probably will start slowly adding tank water from now on. Thanks guys. By the way, in my pathetic defense, it's damned hard to float a 2 1/2 pound piece of lr with green star polyps on it!!!! Same goes for some of my mushrooms too!!!
 
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