Best ways to introduce new corals

fishyfun2

fishyfun2

Member
Hi,
I'm just starting to load up on some new frags, they are coming tomorrow. Right now I just have some mushrooms in my tank. I researched lighting requirements, flow etc. before I purchased them. My question is concerning placement. Do you glue your frags in place or just let them attach themselves to the location you put them in? And if you glue them, how do you know they will be happy there? What if you slightly change direction on a PH and they don't like it? Sorry if these are dumb questions, it's just a little puzzling to me. I only have like 3 mushrooms, one is very sensitive about flow, and another one is tiny and is constantly getting knocked off the rocks I set him on. The third one seems fairly happy where ever I have put him.
Thanks for any help and advice.
 
superhero

superhero

Member
you can either glue them yourself or put the frags in a container with a little sand and let them attach to the sand and then glue them to the rock... i suggest the latter it is much easier and as long as introducing them just float the bag for 20 min then put them in probally as low as possible then slowly bring them up to their proper location so they do not get blasted with light
 
windlasher

windlasher

Member
Originally Posted by FishyFun2
http:///forum/post/3065092
Hi,
I'm just starting to load up on some new frags, they are coming tomorrow. Right now I just have some mushrooms in my tank. I researched lighting requirements, flow etc. before I purchased them. My question is concerning placement. Do you glue your frags in place or just let them attach themselves to the location you put them in? And if you glue them, how do you know they will be happy there? What if you slightly change direction on a PH and they don't like it? Sorry if these are dumb questions, it's just a little puzzling to me. I only have like 3 mushrooms, one is very sensitive about flow, and another one is tiny and is constantly getting knocked off the rocks I set him on. The third one seems fairly happy where ever I have put him.
Thanks for any help and advice.


IMO, DIP THEM before adding them to your tank. I have gotten frags from people and then dipped them to see a whole host of critters burst out from the rock or whatever. Better safe than sorry.
I use three containers. I drip acclimate them into one container and then when thats done, I take a quart of water from my tank, with the coral dip/cleaner added, and dip them for a minute or two, and then rinse them on the third before adding them to my tank.
 
fishyfun2

fishyfun2

Member
Thanks for the help, both good advice. Is there something you can make from materials at home to dip them in to get rid of hitchhikers? My LFS choices here aren't very good so I usually order online. There is little chance of getting something here before the corals arrive tomorrow. Any ideas?
 
cablebox615

cablebox615

Member
Originally Posted by FishyFun2
http:///forum/post/3065406
Thanks for the help, both good advice. Is there something you can make from materials at home to dip them in to get rid of hitchhikers? My LFS choices here aren't very good so I usually order online. There is little chance of getting something here before the corals arrive tomorrow. Any ideas?
I use the seachem coral dip. It works good. Sometimes I get stuff comming out of the rocks Ive never seen before. But I think its some good stuff.
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
if the frags come in a plug, i use epoxy to secure to rocks. if it comes on a samll rocks, i also use epoxy. no need to really qt frags, since they come in such small pieces.
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
i think the dip mentioned above is for corals coming on rock?
with frags they are usually pretty small and u can tell by looking if they have a hitchhiker on them.
 
fishyfun2

fishyfun2

Member
Originally Posted by nycbob
http:///forum/post/3065534
if the frags come in a plug, i use epoxy to secure to rocks. if it comes on a samll rocks, i also use epoxy. no need to really qt frags, since they come in such small pieces.
So how long should I test out a location to make sure it is working OK before I glue them down? Don't some corals take a week or two to adjust after shipping?
 
windlasher

windlasher

Member
Originally Posted by FishyFun2
http:///forum/post/3065406
Thanks for the help, both good advice. Is there something you can make from materials at home to dip them in to get rid of hitchhikers? My LFS choices here aren't very good so I usually order online. There is little chance of getting something here before the corals arrive tomorrow. Any ideas?
I use MELAFIX, but in a pinch you could use 1/2 teaspoon of tea tree oil to 1/2 gallon of water.
MELAFIX is mostly tea tree oil and your local drug store or natural foods store would have it in stock. Just make sure it's ONLY tea tree oil.
 
fishyfun2

fishyfun2

Member
Ok, I'm sure I can find that here. I may also check the dreaded P*tco tomorrow for the other stuff.

Any ideas on my last question? Thanks for the advice, BTW!
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishyFun2
http:///forum/post/3065670
Ok, I'm sure I can find that here. I may also check the dreaded P*tco tomorrow for the other stuff.

Any ideas on my last question? Thanks for the advice, BTW!
you may want to make sure u have everything ready to do ur acclimation process.
Ex. have containers ready and tubing/valve if that is how you do it.
i think it would be a pain to realize u just got say 5 corals and only have one place to acclimate them in. i would try to keep each bag's contents together.
 
fishyfun2

fishyfun2

Member
Do you drip acclimate your corals? I have done that in the past to the few mushrooms I have in my tank, so I expected to do it that way this time too. Although, I see SWF.com says on most stuff just to temp acclimate, I assume that means just float the bag? That's a good idea to have separate containers, never really thought about that, but it makes sense b/c there's no guarantee they were all kept in the same tank. Hmmmm....
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishyFun2
http:///forum/post/3065689
Can I just latex medical gloves, or does it need to be something heavier?
on the latex gloves there is a powder coating stuff.. bigg no no lol
rubber gloves work well.
temp acclimate means float the bag.
IMO i think its a good idea to full out acclimation. it is a gaurantee it will be happy in the tank and survival rate will be higher.
we pay a lot of cash for expensive corals and livestock.. why not take the time and do it the same way we acclimate fish?
it seems to work for me!
 
fishyfun2

fishyfun2

Member
I ordered 2 zoos, 1 blue paly, 1 neon GSP, 1 blue centered candy cane, 1green/blue favites, and 1 yellow button polyp. These are 10 polyp frags, except the 2 LPS (the candy cane is 2 heads, and the favites is like 1"x1"). I hope things go Ok. The frags were only like $9.99 each and cheap shipping, so I don't have a whole lot to lose. My lighting is moderate (PC at 130 watts, 29 gal tank), so I was planning on putting the zoos at the top, the GSP and possibly the paly in the middle area, and LPS at the bottom level. See any flaws in my plan?
Oh, and the gloves. Just pick them up from walmart or somewhere, in the cleaning supply section? Just the yellow rubber gloves, right?
Thank you.
 
small triggers

small triggers

Active Member
yep, yellow cleaning gloves, work great (unless your trigger tends to bite you through them) BUT rinse them off, inside and out very well before you use them in your tank...they have that funky plastic smell to them when you bring them home...
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishyFun2
http:///forum/post/3065789
Oh, darn, a trip to wal-mart is on tomorrow's agenda then.

Thanks for the pointers on the gloves!
LPS. needs to be at the top.
pc isnt very strpmg lighting.
softies on bottom to mid.
ur lps at the top and zoas can vary.. mid to top or some on the bottom.. its a guess and check
i have my lps a the middle and at the top in my tank. i have t-5's with parabolic reflectors. its a n 8 bulb fixture.. it allows me to keep anything but pc is not as strong as many think
for lps thought.. Frog-Spawn, Brain and Torch should do well with sufficient pc lighitng. Bubble is a maybe
 
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