coral acclimation question

[gunnarmcc]

1st question
I Will be receiving my first online coral shipment tomorrow and am a little lost on the acclimation/ dipping process. I will be receiving 3 different Micro Lords, 1 Echinata and 1 Euphyllia. is there a different dipping process for different types or coral?
my plan.

step 1 temp acclimate in bag
step 2 dip in ????
step 3 rinse in bowl of tank water
step 4 rinse in bowl of tank water
step 5 place on frag rack in tank


2nd question
im getting to much sand movement given the flow in my tank and there is always a slight turbidity so im going to change my sand out for a coarser sand. my plan is to just suction out the old sand, rinse and dry new sand then add to tank let settle over night. will adding new sand create a mini cycle? obviously I understand it may cause a diatom bloom if there is any silica in the sand but trying to avoid a mini cycle.

thanks

 

[Sophie"s mom]

1st question
I Will be receiving my first online coral shipment tomorrow and am a little lost on the acclimation/ dipping process. I will be receiving 3 different Micro Lords, 1 Echinata and 1 Euphyllia. is there a different dipping process for different types or coral?
my plan.

step 1 temp acclimate in bag
step 2 dip in ????
step 3 rinse in bowl of tank water
step 4 rinse in bowl of tank water
step 5 place on frag rack in tank


2nd question
im getting to much sand movement given the flow in my tank and there is always a slight turbidity so im going to change my sand out for a coarser sand. my plan is to just suction out the old sand, rinse and dry new sand then add to tank let settle over night. will adding new sand create a mini cycle? obviously I understand it may cause a diatom bloom if there is any silica in the sand but trying to avoid a mini cycle.

thanks

For corals, after temp / salinity match, I use Tropic marin dip, and the instructions are very clear. As for the sand, why not just change the flow a bit?

 

[One Reefing Boi]

1st question
I Will be receiving my first online coral shipment tomorrow and am a little lost on the acclimation/ dipping process. I will be receiving 3 different Micro Lords, 1 Echinata and 1 Euphyllia. is there a different dipping process for different types or coral?
my plan.

step 1 temp acclimate in bag
step 2 dip in ????
step 3 rinse in bowl of tank water
step 4 rinse in bowl of tank water
step 5 place on frag rack in tank


2nd question
im getting to much sand movement given the flow in my tank and there is always a slight turbidity so im going to change my sand out for a coarser sand. my plan is to just suction out the old sand, rinse and dry new sand then add to tank let settle over night. will adding new sand create a mini cycle? obviously I understand it may cause a diatom bloom if there is any silica in the sand but trying to avoid a mini cycle.

thanks

Very exciting getting more coral! For acclimation, usually most people use the “drip” method using airline tube to drip over the course of an hour or so. Lots of posts here but you essentially take the coral and the water they came in into a bowl. Then use airline tube or a specific drip acclimation kit to create a little siphon that drips, about 1-2 drips per second. Do that till the water 2x or 3x the initial volume. Like I said, usually takes about an hour for me depending on water volume.

Dipping, I’ve always just used CoralRX and dip everything and gently use a Pipette to blast them. About 10 min. Final rinse in a cup of tank water and go in.

Haven’t lost any to dips this way


Sand is a bit tricky to change, sorry not to much I can help there I just know the answer is usually “not” to but if the tank is old enough and stable enough, you might be able to get away with it

 

[gunnarmcc]

For corals, after temp / salinity match, I use Tropic marin dip, and the instructions are very clear. As for the sand, why not just change the flow a bit?

it doest really strike me as a "flow" issue, obviously it is if its blowing sand around, but what I mean is I have an echinata that is on the sand that is super happy and fully inflates and a lobo which has been down on the sand for 4-5 days now and is inflated and happy so I don't want to decrease flow around them.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

it doest really strike me as a "flow" issue, obviously it is if its blowing sand around, but what I mean is I have an echinata that is on the sand that is super happy and fully inflates and a lobo which has been down on the sand for 4-5 days now and is inflated and happy so I don't want to decrease flow around them.

Ahh, gotcha! Well lets see what others here have to say about the sand switch, as I am not sure.

 

[Biokabe]

On corals:

I've been in the hobby for 15 years now. In that time, I've gone through many different acclimation methods, including slow drips, coral dips, float and fill, and basically every method under the sun.

In that time, the method I've settled on to minimize coral loss is:

1) Unload from the shipping box

2) Temperature-acclimate the corals for 30-120 minutes in my sump (in the dark)

3) Remove from bags, place directly in the tank.

That's it. Nice, simple, and fast.

I'm not going to say that dipping is worthless, there is good reason to dip, especially if you have any questions about the vendor you're buying from. If I were buying from a new vendor, or one that I'd received suspect frags from in the past, I would dip.

But these days I mostly purchase from just a handful of vendors whose tanks I trust to be pest-free. This allows me to skip dipping, and that's not just a matter of laziness. Coral dipping is like chemo; it hurts the pests more than it hurts the corals, but it still hurts the corals. So if you can skip dipping, your corals will be better for it.

This is also why @WWC have changed their acclimation instructions in recent years. In the past, they advocated for a fuller, more traditional acclimation procedure: Temperature float, place the corals in a tub, blow off large debris, drip-acclimate, then dip the corals, and then place the dipped corals into the tank.

These days, their instructions are simpler: Temperature-acclimate the corals, blow off large debris, then place them in the tank directly. No dripping, no replacing water. Float, then place. If you want to dip, they recommend letting your corals rest for a day or two before dipping. Afterwards, place the corals back in the tank - either in their final home, or gradually light-acclimating the higher-light corals.

As for sand - I would not ever recommend changing out sand in an active tank. Sand traps all manner of nasties, most of which are slowly processed by bacteria and microfauna in your sand bed. If you disturb the deeper layers of sand, you're very likely to release some very nasty toxins directly into your water column, in concentrations that your tank can't process. I've lost individual fish and corals many times over my time in the hobby, but the only times I've had full tank crashes have been when a heater broke while I was on vacation... and when I disturbed the sand on a large scale.

If you still feel compelled to switch sand, do it slowly, over the course of multiple water changes. Start the water change, remove some sand, siphon out the cloudy water it releases, and replace it with well-rinsed new sand. Replace no more than 10% of the sand at any given time.

 

[JNalley]

Since you're being talked out of replacing your sand, and I don't want to cause an argument. The one thing you can do is buy some larger grain sand, rinse it, and then add that as the top layer of sand increasing the thickness of your sandbed overall.

Edit: As far as acclimation goes, I am with Biokabe on this, I never dip, and never drip acclimate. I temp acclimate and then place on a frag rack in the display for a week, then place them where I think they're going to like things and let them sit for a week, and if they like it, mount them, if they don't move them for another week and repeat until you find an acceptable location.

 

[gunnarmcc]

@Biokabe thank you, Corals are coming from Aquasd. I think I’ve convinced myself to go temp acclimate with light off, coralRX dip for 8-10min, double rinse in tank water buckets, put in tank.

@JNalley As for sand I think I’ll probably just do that. I don’t have a super deep sand bed as is so if adding some on top is a viable option that’s an easy choice.

 

[JNalley]

@JNalley As for sand I think I’ll probably just do that. I don’t have a super deep sand bed as is so if adding some on top is a viable option that’s an easy choice.

Yep, try to make it a good 3/4" - 1" thick on top of the existing sand or more (personally I prefer 4"+ sandbeds, but I'm one of the few who enjoy such things, lol) But you'll need at least that much so the finer sand can't easily find its way back up and out. However, sand sifters and pistol shrimp may put a dent in those plans if you have any...

 

[Sophie"s mom]

@Biokabe thank you, Corals are coming from Aquasd. I think I’ve convinced myself to go temp acclimate with light off, coralRX dip for 8-10min, double rinse in tank water buckets, put in tank.

@JNalley As for sand I think I’ll probably just do that. I don’t have a super deep sand bed as is so if adding some on top is a viable option that’s an easy choice.

Both sound like great choices.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Yep, try to make it a good 3/4" - 1" thick on top of the existing sand or more (personally I prefer 4"+ sandbeds, but I'm one of the few who enjoy such things, lol) But you'll need at least that much so the finer sand can't easily find its way back up and out. However, sand sifters and pistol shrimp may put a dent in those plans if you have any...

I agree. I think mine is about 2 1/2 to 3".