New take on acclimatisation of corals.

[atoll]

Bought a few frags today from my respected LFS. Now, I am aware of the various ways to acclimatise frags and corals which mostly include throwing away the transport water from the LFS along with the added water from the DT or QT tank. However, if you trust your LFS and his water quality etc what would you think of putting a small hole in the floating bag in the DT just below the waterline and allowing the water to mix rather than drip or slowly adding water from the DT r QT before throwing all the water away and placing the frag either in QT or the DT? Just a thought I had and thinking outside the box which I often do.

 

[elysics]

Your approach lacks dipping of any sort. Water quality isn't the only thing that can come in that bag besides the coral.

I just rinse off the bag, then float it in the tank to equalize temperature, then i dip them in a dipping solution, then in a cup with tankwater, then straight to the tank. If the LFS tank looks healthy, there shouldn't be any need to really acclimate by adding water, at least for coral.

 

[atoll]

Your approach lacks dipping of any sort. Water quality isn't the only thing that can come in that bag besides the coral.

I just rinse off the bag, then float it in the tank to equalize temperature, then i dip them in a dipping solution, then in a cup with tankwater, then straight to the tank. If the LFS tank looks healthy, there shouldn't be any need to really acclimate by adding water, at least for coral.

Correct but I thought I covered that in my post. Like I said, I am aware of the various ways you can acclimatise a frag or coral. By dipping you seem to be concerned of parasites entering the DT with the coral or frag which I understand to a point. I have dipped in coral dip and introduced corals with equalizing temp and water without issues from my fav LFS. Some might say that's playing Russian roulette with your corals without dipping but I have never had such an issue from my face LFS.
What I was aiming at the by introducing a small hole in the bag the water in the bag and the DT or QT would slowly mix.

 

[HuduVudu]

It seems to me the real problems if there are any will be ON the coral not in the water. I wouldn't think that this is a terrible idea. IMO.

 

[elysics]

If you don't care about dipping then i would say acclimating that way isn't bad per se, just a waste of time. Or do you have a problem with corals looking great in the bag and then taking a nosedive immediately upon putting them into your tank?

 

[BlennyTime]

It’s an interesting idea, but my main concern is you really wouldn’t have a way of knowing how much water was getting into the bag to mix. Without knowing that, it’s unclear how much of an acclimation the coral would actually get.

 

[HB AL]

I would just "KISS"

 

[hds4216]

I agree that with others that the dipping stepping is important, too much so to skip, and you wouldn't actually know how much of the water mixed.

 

[Biokabe]

Bought a few frags today from my respected LFS. Now, I am aware of the various ways to acclimatise frags and corals which mostly include throwing away the transport water from the LFS along with the added water from the DT or QT tank. However, if you trust your LFS and his water quality etc what would you think of putting a small hole in the floating bag in the DT just below the waterline and allowing the water to mix rather than drip or slowly adding water from the DT r QT before throwing all the water away and placing the frag either in QT or the DT? Just a thought I had and thinking outside the box which I often do.

Personally, I would never trust the water of any other tank. Frankly, I don't trust my own water, but I don't have any choice but to use it.

More seriously, though, I stand by never trusting anyone else's water. It's far too easy for a small thing to happen, contaminate the water, and get into your system. For example, at my LFS, they had received a bad batch of salt from Brightwell. It was heavily polluted with excess potassium, enough so that it nuked about 15 of their tanks. ICP testing showed that potassium was above 3,000 ppm in the impacted water. And the only way they had to find out about it was to use the salt for a water change and then watch as everything died.

And that's just one thing that can go wrong with your water. That's not to mention parasites, other contaminants, medicines getting mixed between tanks, human error... frankly, I just don't see what benefit you would get from acclimating your way over doing it the 'traditional' way that would justify the possibility of cross-contamination between tanks. Is the risk small, yes. You probably won't get much water with that's contaminated enough to actually harm your tank. But you could. And I just can't see any benefit to doing it that way to justify even a small increase in contamination risk.

 

[atoll]

It’s an interesting idea, but my main concern is you really wouldn’t have a way of knowing how much water was getting into the bag to mix. Without knowing that, it’s unclear how much of an acclimation the coral would actually get.

Over a period of an hour or two due to osmotic difference between the DT water and that in the bag I would expect the 2 waters to.mix quite well.
However, it was just an idea with trusted water and coral.

 

[atoll]

If you don't care about dipping then i would say acclimating that way isn't bad per se, just a waste of time. Or do you have a problem with corals looking great in the bag and then taking a nosedive immediately upon putting them into your tank?

Don't get the waste of time. Put bag in tank puncture and leave to mix little effort or time involved.

 

[elysics]

Over a period of an hour or two due to osmotic difference between the DT water and that in the bag I would expect the 2 waters to.mix quite well.
However, it was just an idea with trusted water and coral.

Think about this: If you trust the water to be good, why would there be much osmotic pressure? That would either mean that the water isn't good, or that the water in your tank isn't good. You could just ask the store what salinity they run and measure the water in the bag to verify.

 

[atoll]

Think about this: If you trust the water to be good, why would there be much osmotic pressure? That would either mean that the water isn't good, or that the water in your tank isn't good. You could just ask the store what salinity they run and measure the water in the bag to verify.

Because no 2 tank waters are ever going to be the same there will always be slight variances. If my water is 1.024 and my LFS is 0.025 is his water any worse or better than mine.

 

[hds4216]

I really just think that not dipping is asking for trouble. It’s like not using a condom - you might be fine 19/20 times, but it only takes once...

 

[Tastee]

I don‘t really see a benefit in the approach you are suggesting. Firstly a small hole in the shipping bag will mean only a very minimal transfer of water to and from the bag and your tank will take place. Secondly as many have mentioned you have little idea what is in the water in the bag so it is a bit of a lottery.

Personally I would float the bag and gradually add tank water to it to acclimatise the corals to your tank water. Drip it in, occasionally pour it in, whatever you prefer. If you really want to balance the water, then remove some from the bag as you go and aggressively introduce more. Dump a litre or three of NSW in the tank if you are concerned you are taking too much out and reducing salinity.

I just float and add about 30% or more of tank water to the bag (30% of bag volume) over 20 mins and introduce the corals. If I was worried about quality I would dip them first.

 

[atoll]

I don‘t really see a benefit in the approach you are suggesting. Firstly a small hole in the shipping bag will mean only a very minimal transfer of water to and from the bag and your tank will take place. Secondly as many have mentioned you have little idea what is in the water in the bag so it is a bit of a lottery.

Personally I would float the bag and gradually add tank water to it to acclimatise the corals to your tank water. Drip it in, occasionally pour it in, whatever you prefer. If you really want to balance the water, then remove some from the bag as you go and aggressively introduce more. Dump a litre or three of NSW in the tank if you are concerned you are taking too much out and reducing salinity.

I just float and add about 30% or more of tank water to the bag (30% of bag volume) over 20 mins and introduce the corals. If I was worried about quality I would dip them first.

Like I said I am fully aware of all the accepted ways to add frags etc to the aquarium. However, I see your points.
I think the mixing of water would still take place slowly with a small hole in the bad as suggested. The introduction of parasites is a possibility of course and noted.

 

[hds4216]

Like I said I am fully aware of all the accepted ways to add frags etc to the aquarium. However, I see your points.
I think the mixing of water would still take place slowly with a small hole in the bad as suggested. The introduction of parasites is a possibility of course and noted.

You can study it. Take a bag full of water dyed a colour (red maybe) and float it in clear water with the small hole. Observe if the colours are homogenous at the end of the "acclimation" period.

 

[redeyejedi]

Here comes a shock to you all. Apart from having the bag floating in my tank for 30mins and a quick dip of the coral before she goes in, i have never acclimated a single coral. And have never lost one in the 4 years of my reefing career due to not doing so. Why stress it out more than you have to?

 

[LiamPM]

Here comes a shock to you all. Apart from having the bag floating in my tank for 30mins and a quick dip of the coral before she goes in, i have never acclimated a single coral. And have never lost one in the 4 years of my reefing career due to not doing so. Why stress it out more than you have to?

If its coming from a tank with ALK @ 7 to a tank of ALK @ 12 couldnt it be considered more stress by just dumping it in?

Arent we all trying to avoid parameter swings and to try and create stability. Ive always drip acclimated corals, simply to give them a better rate of stability in what ever differences in parameters their might be. Is it worth it, no idea. Some do, some dont.

 

[atoll]

If its coming from a tank with ALK @ 7 to a tank of ALK @ 12 couldnt it be considered more stress by just dumping it in?

Arent we all trying to avoid parameter swings and to try and create stability. Ive always drip acclimated corals, simply to give them a better rate of stability in what ever differences in parameters their might be. Is it worth it, no idea. Some do, some dont.

Do you dip your coral in some form of ciral dip firstIf so instant that going to shock them? I don't always dip my frags for that very reason but it depends where they have come from. Some would say I am.playing Russian roulette but it's worked for me for years.