How do you acclimate your Acropora?

[Hemmbone20]

Anybody care to share their process for acclimating a new Acro frag to your tank?
Not so much the dipping and receiving, but acclimating long term to adapt to your flow/lights/placement?

I’m fairly inexperienced in caring for Acros. I got my first acro frags a few months ago and so far all but 1 are still alive.
I did have some setbacks though and I am almost positive it has to do with them acclimating and placement in my tank.. I had them on a frag rack in high flow for the first month, and saw noticeable growth. Once the plugs were encrusted I moved them to my main rockscape and almost overnight 3 out of the 4 browned out bad and one suffered some serious tissue loss. My guess was too drastic of a change in lighting?

 

[tzabor10]

Damaged tissue on an acropora can cause harm to the entire thing. I would recommend working with a trusted store for some suggestions on hardy acros. In my experience, some are so easy while others are impossible.
I have always placed them in high flow height light right away
I’m sure someone will chime in about your tank not being established, or bad parameters. But you can do it with patience and money.
I can certainly recommend
Garf bonsai,
Red planet,
Green slimer
But email WWC @WWC to start a conversation.
Good luck

 

[Hemmbone20]

Damaged tissue on an acropora can cause harm to the entire thing. I would recommend working with a trusted store for some suggestions on hardy acros. In my experience, some are so easy while others are impossible.
I have always placed them in high flow height light right away
I’m sure someone will chime in about your tank not being established, or bad parameters. But you can do it with patience and money.
I can certainly recommend
Garf bonsai,
Red planet,
Green slimer
But email WWC @WWC to start a conversation.
Good luck

Ya, I’ve only tried easy ones. And I can get them to grow in the frag rack so I think my water is fine. Just frustrating to see them struggle so immediately after moving them to the scape.

Is it typical for people to have to try multiple locations before an acro looks happy?
Do people start them low and gradually move them up into higher light and flow?

 

[tzabor10]

Ya, I’ve only tried easy ones. And I can get them to grow in the frag rack so I think my water is fine. Just frustrating to see them struggle so immediately after moving them to the scape.

Is it typical for people to have to try multiple locations before an acro looks happy?
Do people start them low and gradually move them up into higher light and flow?

Mine always go to high light and flow. Just not so much flow that the flesh rips off.

 

[Hemmbone20]

Mine always go to high light and flow. Just not so much flow that the flesh rips off.

Do you go right into that spot out the gate though?

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

My acros all have been on a rack for 2-3 days while I see if they will 100% make it through shipping, and then they go to their permanent spot. High light and flow and haven't had any issues so far.

 

[cilyjr]

Do you go right into that spot out the gate though?

If it's a frag from a local reefer or a place like battle corals, then I dip the heck out of it then right into the tank where I want it.
If it's a wild colony then I chop it into pieces and let the pieces sit in observation for a while. Once I'm ready to put the piece into the display tank though it just goes right in where I think it's going to live.

 

[temphermitcrab]

I start the Acro in the sand by pushing the frag plug in. In a week I glue the plug to a temporary rock and move it to the lowest point on my rocks. Every week I move it up to a new level. The process takes about 4 weeks to get it to where it’s likely happy and I glue it permanently. It could be a coincidence but I have only lost one frag since I started doing this. I’ve heard the frags could lose coloration with the low light but I haven’t seen that with mine. The reason I think this has helped has been the variety of conditions in frag grow out tanks where the frag was before I bought it. Some I have seen have had very different light and flow than the colony tank where it came from.

 

[cilyjr]

I start the Acro in the sand by pushing the frag plug in. In a week I glue the plug to a temporary rock and move it to the lowest point on my rocks. Every week I move it up to a new level. The process takes about 4 weeks to get it to where it’s likely happy and I glue it permanently. It could be a coincidence but I have only lost one frag since I started doing this. I’ve heard the frags could lose coloration with the low light but I haven’t seen that with mine. The reason I think this has helped has been the variety of conditions in frag grow out tanks where the frag was before I bought it. Some I have seen have had very different light and flow than the colony tank where it came from.

A guy I really trusted back in the early 2000s once said this to me and it stuck.
” every time you move a coral, you're reacclimating it to new conditions and it's got to start all over. Why do that to it? Why not just put it where you want it and let it do what it needs to do to get settled in. ”

Since then I stuck with the sit-it and forget it method.

I've obviously lost more than one Coral since I started. But I started in 1998. My success rate has been pretty high overall, including more sensitive pieces like acropora speciosa and acropora tenuis.

In fact, I had a speciosa that I had left in one spot for about 3 months and it was happy and growing. I decided I wanted it in a slightly different spot and it started to die back pretty quickly.

 

[Hemmbone20]

I start the Acro in the sand by pushing the frag plug in. In a week I glue the plug to a temporary rock and move it to the lowest point on my rocks. Every week I move it up to a new level. The process takes about 4 weeks to get it to where it’s likely happy and I glue it permanently. It could be a coincidence but I have only lost one frag since I started doing this. I’ve heard the frags could lose coloration with the low light but I haven’t seen that with mine. The reason I think this has helped has been the variety of conditions in frag grow out tanks where the frag was before I bought it. Some I have seen have had very different light and flow than the colony tank where it came from.

Ya something like this is what I was getting at.. in my head this makes sense. I think the drastic change is what made the first batch stress out.
I have my frag rack up high but because it’s on the edge of the tank I don’t think the par is as high as it is directly under the light. I estimate about 150 par LESS on the frag rack.

A guy I really trusted back in the early 2000s once said this to me and it stuck.
” every time you move a coral, you're reacclimating it to new conditions and it's got to start all over. Why do that to it? Why not just put it where you want it and let it do what it needs to do to get settled in. ”

Since then I stuck with the sit-it and forget it method.

I've obviously lost more than one Coral since I started. But I started in 1998. My success rate has been pretty high overall, including more sensitive pieces like acropora speciosa and acropora tenuis.

In fact, I had a speciosa that I had left in one spot for about 3 months and it was happy and growing. I decided I wanted it in a slightly different spot and it started to die back pretty quickly.

I get this thought process too. I’m just gun shy after seeing them react so poorly to being moved into what I would assumed to have been an ideal spot for them. High light, lots of random flow.
Moving them slowly doesn’t seem that stressful? Especially if the mounting is the same like @temphermitcrab said. Just moving the small rock up while staying glued in place.

I guess I could do an experiment with the ones in my rack now.. try both methods!

 

[robanister]

Acros can be tough. I would suggest setting up a dipping station of kcl 2 tbsp gal for new frag and lugals iodine. Min 30 min dips. Lots of things can effect them. But once your parameters and everything stay steady...a must...you can get this. Notice how no acro is attached to main rock. Always mobile for dipping until I call it.

 

[cilyjr]

Moving them slowly doesn’t seem that stressful?

Maybe not, a pretty small change depth can be significantly different par. Any number of factors could effect flow at any part, think dead spots as an example.

I'm not sure how much of it matters really, I just know I stick them and leave them and it almost always works.

 

[Lavey29]

I don't acclimate anything. If that frag was getting 300 par at the LFS then as soon as it hits my tank it's in 300 par too.

 

[design.maddie]

I have always had the mindset with my Acros to acclimate to my water parameters, then to the sandbed for about 24-36 hours while I decided exactly where I want to try and place them. This gives them some time to adjust some more to my parameters. Then it is straight to the spot I think will be best. If I see issues with the corals after the move I will just dim my lights for a few days.

 

[CHSUB]

Get it, glue it and hope…

 

[skey44]

I was glueing straight into the rocks in a spot that seemed good for each specimen with success. Notably most of my corals have come from tanks with similar environment to my own. Some acros I bought off FB marketplace were brown and being kept in low light, these struggled to adapt for a month but they still all turned the corner and are thriving at this point.
I now let new frags rest on the frag rack for a week or two, where they seem to do well and then move them to their permanent home. This has been primarily due to lack of real estate and running out of spots and needing to plan or rearrange. Nonetheless this method is also working for me but did have a few of the more sensitive corals discolor (brown then light) for a couple weeks while acclimating to their new spot.

 

[skiergd011013]

I dont acclimate coral. I dip it, then put it in the tank where i think it will do good. If it doesnt do good (rare) then ill move it.

 

[Dburr1014]

I do temp, dip, sandbed for 1 week. Move to the scape.
I have a ton of flow in the tank.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I thought I’d share how we acclimate Acropora here at Camaro Show Corals


Whenever we get any new Acropora, we first inspect and cut all bases off. We then dip in coral RX with a small amount of Logols. Everything goes to a separate 80g system for a close watch. After a while of observation I then will do another round of coral RX and then another round 2-4 days after the second dip before moving to the main grow out. You can never be too careful especially in a large system with a heavy SPS load

 

[Hemmbone20]

I thought I’d share how we acclimate Acropora here at Camaro Show Corals


Whenever we get any new Acropora, we first inspect and cut all bases off. We then dip in coral RX with a small amount of Logols. Everything goes to a separate 80g system for a close watch. After a while of observation I then will do another round of coral RX and then another round 2-4 days after the second dip before moving to the main grow out. You can never be too careful especially in a large system with a heavy SPS load

do you do any acclimation to the lighting? Like starting in lower light then moving then up?