acclimating coral

[rjs5134]

I would love to see a sticky thread on the acclimating the different kinds of corals. I am currently drip acclimating 2 SPS frags that I got at the frag swap in NJ today and think I will be dipping in TMPCC before adding to the DT. Can anyone give some reccomendations?

Thank you

Rob

[Ninong]

I don't believe there is any consensus on the best way to acclimate SPS frags. If the frags are from captive-grown colonies and you trust the vendor, then maybe a very close visual inspection with a magnifying glass will suffice and you can avoid dipping them?

On the other hand, if you're talking about wild-collected or cultured colonies from Indonesia, then I think they should be dipped for 15 minutes before being placed into a quarantine tank. I used regular tincture of iodine to make the dip. The recommendation is 20 drops (1/4 tsp) per liter of saltwater but I usually used only 15 drops because some corals really slime up a lot and that's sorta scary. If you're using Lugol's, cut that in half because it's twice as strong.

I have to admit that I didn't have a quarantine tank, so my stuff went straight into the display tank after acclimation and dipping. I floated the bag first for about 15 minutes to equalize water temperature. Then I started adding about 1/2 cup of tankwater every five minutes or so until the water volume had doubled. Then I dumped out half of the water and repeated the process. This usually took about an hour at the most. Some people don't bother with this at all.

After the acclimation process, I might dip in an iodine solution but usually only for SPS that were aquacultured in the ocean, like the ones coming in from Indonesia. I did not dip SPS frags that I received from hobbyist vendors. I examined them carefully with a magnifying glass but skipped the dipping.

This is NOT a recommendation. You have to decide for yourself what is best. Personally, I would dip any SPS coming from the wild, whether collected colonies or aquacultured mini-colonies. And, if you want to be safe, you really should quarantine everything, including corals, for at least three or four weeks.

[rjs5134]

Thanks Ninong, that helps alot. I got these frags from Pacific-East Aquaculture. I've purchased a few things in the past and feel pretty good about them. I'll probably do a dip regardless. I purchased lugols and iodine already anyway.

[zhenya]

Thanks Ninong, that helps alot. I got these frags from Pacific-East Aquaculture. I've purchased a few things in the past and feel pretty good about them. I'll probably do a dip regardless. I purchased lugols and iodine already anyway.

Even though I trust Dr.Mac as well, I would go ahead and dip them. If you have quarantine tank then I would put them in there after dipping and watch for the couple of weeks to a month for anything unusual developing (bugs, flatworms).

How was that swap?

[rjs5134]

Thanks Gene,

I meant to say I already purchased Lugols and TMPCC. I did the dip using Lugols and inspected the frags with a magnefying glass and everything looked clean. I will QT for a few weeks.

This was my first swap so I don't have much to compare to. The hour long drive in terrential downpours with my 6 year old son was nice. The people there seemed great. Very nice and easy to talk to. My son was a little bummed there were no fish so he didn't let me stay too long. Other than that it was great. I didn't get to stay to hear any of the lectures so hopefully someone else can comment about that.

I did see a tank loaded with RBTA's, but obviously it wasn't you. I was kind of hoping to see some names I recognized. Maybe next time. I hope there's another in the area some time soon.

Thanks again.

[zhenya]

I did see a tank loaded with RBTA's...

If it was a 30g tank and guy name Ralph minding it then it was all my clones in there... He stopped by yesterday to get some more from me and supposedly took them down there that same evening.
I couldn't go myself but glad to hear it was a nice set up. When I first started in this hobby we had nothing going on in the state except for the reef club that had maybe 10-15 members. ;;

[rjs5134]

That was him Gene... Certainly was a site to see that many BTA's in a 30 gallon tank. He was generating a fair amount of interest the short time I was there.