move it ten times

[reefkprz]

ok just a little side rant. (caused by a discussion with a person about one of my frags that hadnt opened yet after 4 hours)
new frag. place it. leave it. dont readjust it to get the "perfect" conditions. overcompensation is a big killer of frags.
(as CFR would say) discuss. hah! couldnt resist.

 

[jerryatrick]

No patience. Most corals will adjust to whatever flow / lighting they are given right off the bat. I could see placing a coral then an hour later moving it because you feel that the new area is perfect. After that you have to leave it alone. I have seen certain types of corals take months to get situated and open up.

 

[privatejoker]

WOW IT DIDN'T OPEN AFTER FOUR HOURS!!!

Holy S%^^. LOL If someone complains about that I would tell them to wait about 2-4 weeks to see whats happens. I've had some corals that took 6 months to get happy. Just because they're brown doesn't mean it dead.

 

[reefkprz]

I know, I had just fragged it (four hours ago) and he was looking at the frag in my tank and was telling me I should move it to a "better" spot. he's still kind of new to the hobby (less than a year doing SW and ohnly in the last couple m,onths getting into corals. so we had a long discussion about the different things corals need to do to acclimate to different flow and lighting conditions, encompassing zooxanthellae growth or expulsion, color pigmentation addition or reduction (for UV protection), and how any changes the coral has to make costs it energy, energy it should be using to recover from the trauma of being hacked up by yours truly. he walked away from the conversation with a whole new perspective on how to manage new arrivals and fresh cut frags.