Where do you keep new frags before final placement?

[Shawty-Lo]

I’ve been thinking more about what happens after a new frag enters the tank, before it gets its final spot. I’m starting to realize there’s a lot more to that first few days or weeks than just light acclimation. It seems like placement, tank stability, fish messing with the plug, flow, pests, and observation all play a part.

Do most of you put new frags straight on the rockwork, keep them on a frag rack for a while, use QT, or move them around depending on how they’re looking? Curious what everyone’s process is before a frag earns its permanent spot.

 

[exnisstech]

Assuming your talking about SPS I usually put them on a rack with similar lighting as the area I want to place them permanently. I've never felt the need to start them low and gradual raise them higher. I never QT coral usually I'll dip them and inspect but that's about all. What ive found to be the most important thing is to not buy fresh cut pieces. I try to only buy pieces that are starting to encrust.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I place them on the sand until the weekend when I do the water change, I find it easier to place frags when the water level is lower. It also gives me a couple of days to figure out where to place it.

I feel the sooner a coral goes into its final location the better. No point in acclimating it to one spot then moving it again and resetting the acclimation. IMO

 

[KrisReef]

The first two answers are spot on, encrusters are awesome! and corals that move around (in the wild) are dying branches that broke off the main colony. They may survive, but a stable mount allows the coral to adjust itself to the conditions available and it will grow there if light, water movement, and detritus deposition factors are favorable for it to survive, and then thrive.

Back when I took care of my reef, I would risk fresh cuts, but only if I was heading straight home to glue them into the rockwork. It's been awhile since my reef was in it's prime.

 

[Shawty-Lo]

I place them on the sand until the weekend when I do the water change, I find it easier to place frags when the water level is lower. It also gives me a couple of days to figure out where to place it.

I feel the sooner a coral goes into its final location the better. No point in acclimating it to one spot then moving it again and resetting the acclimation. IMO

That’s kind of the balance I’m trying to understand. Giving yourself enough time to watch it and pick the right spot, but not moving it around so much that it keeps having to adjust again.

 

[Shawty-Lo]

The first two answers are spot on, encrusters are awesome! and corals that move around (in the wild) are dying branches that broke off the main colony. They may survive, but a stable mount allows the coral to adjust itself to the conditions available and it will grow there if light, water movement, and detritus deposition factors are favorable for it to survive, and then thrive.

Back when I took care of my reef, I would risk fresh cuts, but only if I was heading straight home to glue them into the rockwork. It's been awhile since my reef was in it's prime.

Sorry to hear your reef isn’t in its prime anymore. Sounds like you had a lot of experience with it though.

 

[KrisReef]

That’s kind of the balance I’m trying to understand. Giving yourself enough time to watch it and pick the right spot, but not moving it around so much that it keeps having to adjust again.

I would like to point out that most of us do not have lighting that rises on one side of the tank and sets on the other. Our tanks are very one dimentional as far as lighting compared to nature. Presuming that your tank has adequate amounts of photons in the placement area, gluing it down so that it doesn't move in relation to the light source provides the best possible hope for the coral to adapt, survive, and eventually thrive in captivity.

Moving corals up and down, and changing the direction of the light source in the aquarium seems to be potentially a very stressful activity for the coral to undergo.

I got old, and I don't have the energy to keep up with the maintenance, so I am adapting my efforts and hoping to find a pleasant medium. It's getting close, but it's terribly frustrating to know how much better it has been- Thanks for the sympathy! PayPal Also Accepted!

 

[dvgyfresh]

Ye I never thought like that , I would put the coral into its permanent spot immediately, but I also buy coral with intention and have a plan prior to purchase

 

[exnisstech]

The guy that owns my go to LFS once said every time you move a coral it's like a total reset. Set it and forget it was his recommendation

 

[Shawty-Lo]

I would like to point out that most of us do not have lighting that rises on one side of the tank and sets on the other. Our tanks are very one dimentional as far as lighting compared to nature. Presuming that your tank has adequate amounts of photons in the placement area, gluing it down so that it doesn't move in relation to the light source provides the best possible hope for the coral to adapt, survive, and eventually thrive in captivity.

Moving corals up and down, and changing the direction of the light source in the aquarium seems to be potentially a very stressful activity for the coral to undergo.

I got old, and I don't have the energy to keep up with the maintenance, so I am adapting my efforts and hoping to find a pleasant medium. It's getting close, but it's terribly frustrating to know how much better it has been- Thanks for the sympathy! PayPal Also Accepted!

That's a great point about our lighting being so different from nature. In the wild a coral experiences the sun moving across the sky, but in our tanks the light source is pretty much fixed. Once a coral starts adapting to a particular spot, constantly moving it around probably does create unnecessary stress.

I think that's one of the reasons I started this discussion. There are so many different acclimation methods, but the common thread seems to be getting the coral into a suitable permanent location as soon as possible and letting it adjust.

And I hear you on the maintenance side. One of the things I've learned is that the older I get, the more I appreciate stable and simple. The corals don't seem to care how much work we put in, they just want consistency.

 

[Shawty-Lo]

The guy that owns my go to LFS once said every time you move a coral it's like a total reset. Set it and forget it was his recommendation

"Set it and forget it." The problem is most of us prefer the "set it, move it, stare at it, move it again, and ask Facebook if it should be moved" method.

 

[BryanM]

They typically get dipped, placed on the sand bed for a moment, while I try and pick their new homes.

But I usually decide the same day they go in the tank where thier permanent home is going to be.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Place them on the sanbed and they get moved to the aquascape after a couple of days