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Coral Acclimation Procedure
Coral acclimation like Saltwater fish acclimation takes time but will reduce your disappointment of watching the coral fade away and die we need to follow proper acclimation to reduce the likely hood of failure.
Handling Corals
Different corals will require different handling techniques for others. For instance, soft corals, polyps, and mushroom corals will normally arrive attached to a small rock, therefore nly handle them by this rock.
Hard corals with large fleshy polyps can be handled by their base, which is the hard exoskeleton. Other hard corals, including SPS corals, should be handled only by the base where it was fragmented, or by the plug or rock it is attached to. A pair of Aqua Gloves is highly recommended in handling all corals, and will reduce the possibility of irritating the coral when handling it.
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Acclimating New Corals to Your Lighting System
Among the many species of corals available to the hobbyist, there are many differences in where they grow in nature and the corresponding lighting conditions they need in order to survive. Corals are highly adaptive to different lighting conditions, but some are more sensitive to change than others. It takes time for a coral to acclimate to its new environment, and care must be taken to help the organism adjust. This is especially important with some of the very intense lighting systems, like metal halides and T-5 fluorescents.
Some corals, when not acclimated properly, can actually be “sunburned” by the artificial lighting, which opens the door to infection and possible demise. Place your new coral on the bottom of the aquarium in the substrate until the coral adjusts to the new lighting. A good sign that the coral has adjusted to the new system is when they appear fully expanded and display full coloration. Now the coral can be moved to the desired location. Continue to monitor the coral’s response to its new location, and if its coloration and expansion appear to decrease, relocate the coral to a lower position.
Proper Placement of Corals
When determining the final placement for your new coral, research its lighting and water flow requirements, and especially the coral’s aggression toward other inhabitants within the aquarium. With all of this in mind, and an open space within the rockwork that affords room for future growth, gently move the coral to its new position. Since the coral may get knocked over by snails, sea urchins or large hermit crabs, we recommend that you use a reef-safe underwater epoxy or Epoxy Putty.
Steps for Coral Acclimation are as follows:
- To help reduce the additioanl stress added to the corals we should turn off the saltwater aquarium lighting so that they can slowly acclimate to the lighting environment.
- Float the bag inside your saltwater aquarium, for approx 15minutes to allow both the bag water and the saltwater aquarium water to e the same.
- Cut open the bag and tie it against the side of the aquarium with a clothes clip or other device.
- Now add about 1/4 cup of tank water into the bag and wait 10mins.
- Repeat step 4 again.
- Now scoop about 1/2 cup of tank water and add to the bag and wait 10mins.
- Repeat step 7 again.
- You may find the coral is coated in slime, hold the rock that the corals attached and gently shake the coral in the bag to remove the slime. Never touch the fleshy part of the coral.
- Place the coral in the saltwater aquarium near the bottom (see above for more details) and keep the lighting off for the next 3 hours.
- Discard the bag water
- Over next two weeks gradually move the coral to the corrct position by slowly moving it up the aquarium nearer to the lighting.
Strange Behaviour of Acclimating Creature’s
“My fish is dying! he’s laying on bottom of the bag…”
Many fish will end up in this situation, so don’t worry it’s not dying, its just stressed! The fish is gill heavy and is a the bottom of the bag, take time to successfully fish acclimation so be patient.
The following are some common characteristics before, during and after acclimation:
Marine Fish: The fish may start to breathe rapidly during acclimation, this is common and species like the Angelfish, Triggerfish, & Tangs will lay on their side when in the bag or acclimating
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Wrasse: They may lay on their side when in plastic bag or in the acclimating container and may spin harmless cotton substance in bag and even “play dead”.
Shrimp: May act motionless for up half a minute or so when first introduced into tank, so move them around
Crabs: May act motionless when first introduced into the saltwater aquarium, move them around
Starfish: May stay motionless or not move for days at a time, pick up and inspect for signs of disintegration
Snails & Conchs: May not open or move for days at a time, pick up and see if it smells rancid.
Puffers: Generally like to lay on bottom of the aquarium.
Corals & Anemones: May take hours or days to fully open or inflate to their true form
Anemones: If shipped in little or no water within the plastic bag they will inflate and shrink, but disintegration is only indicator of death.
Hope these points will put aside any fears or worries you may have.
Further reading:
Learn the important elements to do a Safe acclimation procedure
For more information click on Acclimation Guide
Correct Acclimation Procedure
Correct fish acclimation to your saltwater aquarium is the most important thing.
This is to make sure after buying salwater fish the transition between the bag and aquarium is smooth.
It can be compared to us working in airconditioned room then walking outside n a hot summers day, it can be hard and stressful on our bodies, must like fish and invertebrates.
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They become stressed when they are taken from the ocean or from your local fish store to your saltwater aquarium at home. Common characteristics of stress caused by acclimation on creatures are for example motionless, playing dead and loss of colour.
All fish, coral and invertebrates are very sensitive to any water temperature, salinity and pH levels in our saltwater aquarium.
The following 3 steps will help to ensure a smooth transition:
- Temperature
- Salinity
- Saltwater Aquarium pH
As there is traveling time from the shipping the fish and even from the Local Fish Shop to your home, the water temperature will most likely be lower than your saltwater aquarium, so a proper procedure will take care to bring the fishes water temperature to match that of your home aquarium.
This is the specific gravity in your water. When there is low salinity level, this means that your fish is receiving higher level of oxygen when they breathe.
If your salinity level then is higher than normal, your fish are prone to common ailments such as ich. Maintain a salinity level of 1.019 – 1.022 for fish only aquariums and 1.025 – 1.028 if you have corals and/or clams.
Reef system requires higher salinity for optimum growth and color of the corals too.
Keep your pH level to 8.2 – 8.4. Water change and using pH buffer will help maintain this level.
When your fish releases ammonia, this will cause the pH in the saltwater in the bag to drop. Slow acclimation brings back to a normal pH level.
Here are the procedures on Safely acclimating Saltwater Fish and acclimating Coral.
Text and Photo Source: Saltwater Aquarium Online Guide
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