Adding Corals for the first time

Ocean’s Piece

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In this video, I add some corals I got from @AquaSD . I’ll show you how I go about adding new corals to my tank. I got several new corals to start filling up my reef tank. This is an honest review of AquaSD. Watch until the end to see a sneak peek of my next video. Everything is going to change so you do not want to miss. Please Subscribe and like if you enjoy my videos. It means a lot to me and shows me you want more content!
Disclaimer: I’m not sponsored by AquaSD and the corals in this video were bought with my own money.
 

JNalley

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So, I don't dip my corals, and this isn't a criticism of you, your process, or your video. But I have a question. Why go through the trouble of doing a temperature acclimation (this I do), just to put them in a bucket to dip them with vastly different temp, and rinse them with what I assume is also another different temp? I can deal with pests that come in on my corals, but this step in the process always confused me. Are both buckets filled with harvested tank water? or?
 

muzikalmatt

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Enjoyed the video. Nice and concise and gave me some reasons to tune in next time. (Smart. ;)) I consume quite a bit of reef related content on YouTube and it's nice to have videos for all different scenarios, long videos to listen to/watch when I have the time or short ones like this one. I also enjoyed the background music. Very chill and relaxing.

So what are your overall thoughts on AquaSD? Any particular reason you chose to order from them over other vendors?
 

muzikalmatt

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So, I don't dip my corals, and this isn't a criticism of you, your process, or your video. But I have a question. Why go through the trouble of doing a temperature acclimation (this I do), just to put them in a bucket to dip them with vastly different temp, and rinse them with what I assume is also another different temp? I can deal with pests that come in on my corals, but this step in the process always confused me. Are both buckets filled with harvested tank water? or?
It looks like he had a heater in the rinse bucket of saltwater, which I assume he used to make the dip. I typically do it this way. As long as you have some pre-made saltwater that's up to temperature you can keep the coral at a consistent temperature throughout the dipping process. (Other than the slight temperature drop during the actual dip.)
 

JNalley

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It looks like he had a heater in the rinse bucket of saltwater, which I assume he used to make the dip. I typically do it this way. As long as you have some pre-made saltwater that's up to temperature you can keep the coral at a consistent temperature throughout the dipping process. (Other than the slight temperature drop during the actual dip.)
For some reason I thought it was a powerhead and not a heater, a heater definitely makes more sense. (I thought it was a freshly mixed bucket of saltwater, hence the powerhead)
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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So, I don't dip my corals, and this isn't a criticism of you, your process, or your video. But I have a question. Why go through the trouble of doing a temperature acclimation (this I do), just to put them in a bucket to dip them with vastly different temp, and rinse them with what I assume is also another different temp? I can deal with pests that come in on my corals, but this step in the process always confused me. Are both buckets filled with harvested tank water? or?
Sure. So I do temperature acclimation because I use the same temperature water the whole time. The water in the bags (the water that is temp acclimated) is the water used for the dip. Then the water in the bucket for the rinse is the same 78 degree water my tank is. It’s just water change water though from the last water change. So the dip water is the bag water and the rinse water is water change water.
Enjoyed the video. Nice and concise and gave me some reasons to tune in next time. (Smart. ;)) I consume quite a bit of reef related content on YouTube and it's nice to have videos for all different scenarios, long videos to listen to/watch when I have the time or short ones like this one. I also enjoyed the background music. Very chill and relaxing.

So what are your overall thoughts on AquaSD? Any particular reason you chose to order from them over other vendors?
Thanks for the kind words, means a lot. I chose AquaSD mainly because of a sale they were having (plus they just have great prices) and the wide selection of corals. I would definitely order again.
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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So, I don't dip my corals, and this isn't a criticism of you, your process, or your video. But I have a question. Why go through the trouble of doing a temperature acclimation (this I do), just to put them in a bucket to dip them with vastly different temp, and rinse them with what I assume is also another different temp? I can deal with pests that come in on my corals, but this step in the process always confused me. Are both buckets filled with harvested tank water? or?
Forgot to mention. I find it a waste of time to drip acclimate corals. That subject is pretty controversial but I believe this because for one, the parameters are different in the rinse water, two, stability in parameters is more important than worrying about quick shifts in parameters during this process and three, I have had 0 deaths from not doing it.

Now that I realize it, the title may have misleading. I have corals, this is just adding corals from online for the first time.
 

JNalley

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Forgot to mention. I find it a waste of time to drip acclimate corals. That subject is pretty controversial but I believe this because for one, the parameters are different in the rinse water, two, stability in parameters is more important than worrying about quick shifts in parameters during this process and three, I have had 0 deaths from not doing it.

Now that I realize it, the title may have misleading. I have corals, this is just adding corals from online for the first time.

No worries, and I just made the same mistake you did the other night with getting glue on the coral. But mine was the 2 part marine epoxy by Fluval, and a Psammocora, I kneaded the epoxy in my right hand and placed the coral with my left, but when I lifted, the epoxy hadn't taken hold yet I guess, and the coral fell at an awkward angle and without thinking I reached in with my right hand, grabbed it, and placed it... smh... I hope it makes it... only time will tell...
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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No worries, and I just made the same mistake you did the other night with getting glue on the coral. But mine was the 2 part marine epoxy by Fluval, and a Psammocora, I kneaded the epoxy in my right hand and placed the coral with my left, but when I lifted, the epoxy hadn't taken hold yet I guess, and the coral fell at an awkward angle and without thinking I reached in with my right hand, grabbed it, and placed it... smh... I hope it makes it... only time will tell...
I’m glad I’m not the only one . Super glue underwater is so messy. I try to use it as little as possible because I know some of it will be stuck on my hands and finger nails for as much as 5 days. But thankfully, the coral seemed to have been able to move the remainder of the glue I couldn’t get off, off of its flesh and it seems to have healed (little spoiler). Hope that coral makes it through!
 

JNalley

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This is mine, all the white you see on the coral is the epoxy putty. I tried everything I could immediately to get it off of there, even took a soft bristle toothbrush to it, but no go... it's stuck...

20211128_102314_HDR.jpg
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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This is mine, all the white you see on the coral is the epoxy putty. I tried everything I could immediately to get it off of there, even took a soft bristle toothbrush to it, but no go... it's stuck...

20211128_102314_HDR.jpg
Hopefully the flesh can move it off. What kind of coral is it and how long has the epoxy been stuck on there? Mine was able to move it off within a few hours
 

JNalley

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Hopefully the flesh can move it off. What kind of coral is it and how long has the epoxy been stuck on there? Mine was able to move it off within a few hours
It's a Psammocora I think (pretty sure anyways), and it's been on there for 2 days. It looks a little better today than it did yesterday, but it's still pretty bad... But lesson learned, going to knead the epoxy with gloves on from now on and remove when placing the coral
 

JNalley

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it looks a lot like this one, but the ridges around the eyes aren't as defined:
 

MaxTremors

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Forgot to mention. I find it a waste of time to drip acclimate corals. That subject is pretty controversial but I believe this because for one, the parameters are different in the rinse water, two, stability in parameters is more important than worrying about quick shifts in parameters during this process and three, I have had 0 deaths from not doing it.

Now that I realize it, the title may have misleading. I have corals, this is just adding corals from online for the first time.
Drip acclimating corals can actually be detrimental. The sooner you can get them into flowing water so they can respirate, the better. Corals take in and expel water through diffusion, they are self-acclimating. The way you floated them and then added the dip to the bag water and then rinsed in temp controlled water change water was perfect, exactly how you should do it. You should still drip acclimate fish (though it’s not always necessary) and inverts (clams especially need slow salinity and ph acclimation), but corals you should just float, dip, and put in the tank.
 
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Ocean’s Piece

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Drip acclimating corals can actually be detrimental. The sooner you can get them into flowing water so they can respirate, the better. Corals take in and expel water through diffusion, they are self-acclimating. The way you floated them and then added the dip to the bag water and then rinsed in temp controlled water change water was perfect, exactly how you should do it. You should still drip acclimate fish (though it’s not always necessary) and inverts (clams especially need slow salinity and ph acclimation), but corals you should just float, dip, and put in the tank.
For my fish, I do what you said, a 30-45 min temp acclimation and a 45 minute drip acclimation (that short only because my LFS keeps the salinity at 1.024 and my tank is 1.026.
 
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Ocean’s Piece

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Drip acclimating corals can actually be detrimental. The sooner you can get them into flowing water so they can respirate, the better. Corals take in and expel water through diffusion, they are self-acclimating. The way you floated them and then added the dip to the bag water and then rinsed in temp controlled water change water was perfect, exactly how you should do it. You should still drip acclimate fish (though it’s not always necessary) and inverts (clams especially need slow salinity and ph acclimation), but corals you should just float, dip, and put in the tank.
Also, now that I remember, how’s your trachy doing? You can see mine in the vid (recorded about a month or two ago though). Mines been doing really well. It has grown just a hair from what I can tell. Been feeding reef roids weekly. Here’s what it looks like now
2F709C93-49A6-4B24-8B56-2599C37359D8.jpeg
 

MaxTremors

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Also, now that I remember, how’s your trachy doing? You can see mine in the vid (recorded about a month or two ago though). Mines been doing really well. It has grown just a hair from what I can tell. Been feeding reef roids weekly. Here’s what it looks like now
2F709C93-49A6-4B24-8B56-2599C37359D8.jpeg
It’s doing great, it’s grown maybe a quarter or a half inch (kinda hard to tell), but it’s gotten really fluffy and more colorful, this is the most recent pic I have of it (it’s a couple weeks old). I was actually going to message you and see how yours was doing, it looks great!
AD9F3462-B829-4265-967A-DA7989005063.jpeg
 
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Ocean’s Piece

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It’s doing great, it’s grown maybe a quarter or a half inch (kinda hard to tell), but it’s gotten really fluffy and more colorful, this is the most recent pic I have of it (it’s a couple weeks old). I was actually going to message you and see how yours was doing, it looks great!
AD9F3462-B829-4265-967A-DA7989005063.jpeg
Looking good! as well as that beautiful scoly!
 
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