Corals Acclimation Procedure
Another challenge that you will face when keeping a saltwater aquarium is corals acclimation.
Here are the corals acclimation procedures that you can follow to help you do this. Following these steps and AGAIN “being patient” pays off.
It will cause less stress to your fish and you will have healthy inhabitants.
Let’s start with how to hold them. How do you do this correctly? They seem so delicate. Well, there are different types that require different techniques on how to hold them.
Beginner corals such as soft corals, polyps, and mushroom are usually attached to a small rock when you purchase them.
Handle them only by the rock and try to avoid touching the polyps.
Hard corals have large and fleshy polyps and have hard exoskeleton on their base.
Handle them by the base. Others are mostly attached to a plug or rock and should be handled by the base as well.
Using a pair of gloves will decrease the possibility of irritating and stressing them when handling. Always handle all them gently so you can avoid the chances of damage.
Lighting acclimation is of great importance for them.
Since there are many different species available, there are also many differences in where they grow and the lighting conditions that they survive in.
Some are more sensitive than others in terms of lighting conditions.
Others get sunburned by your lighting if it’s too intense, and others need intense lighting in order to grow and survive.
It takes time for them to acclimate to its new environment. So try again to be patient!!
Follow these easy steps for proper corals acclimation into your saltwater aquarium.
Turn of the lights in your saltwater aquarium so it can slowly acclimate to your system lighting condition.
Some of them slime during shipping. This is normal! Don’t panic and think that their health condition is bad.
Have the unopened bag float into the display or the quarantine tank for a good fifteen minutes.
This way the temperature in your tank will match the temperature of the water in the bag where the specimen is and vice versa.
Open the bag.
Add about a cup of water from the aquarium to the bag where your corals are.
Repeat the process every 5-10 minutes for about ½ an hour.
Place them on the lower part of the aquarium leaving your lights off.
Leave your them alone and the lights off for about 3 hours. Do not get to anxious turning on the light and admiring your new addition to your saltwater aquarium. AGAIN! Patience!!!
You will know that they already adjusted to the new environment when they appear fully expanded and shows full coloration.
Now, you can move them to your desired location. Aquascape with these amazing creatures.
Continue to monitor them when you move it to its new location. If they seem not to fully expand and there’s a decrease in coloration, try to move them again to a lower position in your aquarium.
Research the their lighting, water flow, nutrition requirements.
Also find out about their aggression toward other inhabitant in your saltwater aquarium.
There is a chance that your coral may get knocked over by snails, hermit crabs and other cleaners in your tank (happened to me a lot!), try using an epoxy that is safe to be used underwater.
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