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Knowing how to acclimate corals is essential to smoothly transition new corals to your tank. If new to the hobby or have been at it for years, the excitement of adding new corals to your aquarium never gets old. However, introducing corals to a new environment can be challenging and stressful for both the corals and their caretakers. That’s where acclimation comes in. Acclimation is the process of slowly and safely introducing corals to their new environment, giving them time to adjust to changes in water chemistry, temperature, and lighting. In this blog, we’ll explore the importance of coral acclimation and provide you with some tips and tricks to help ensure the health and success of your new coral additions. So, whether you’re a seasoned coral keeper or just starting out, sit back, relax, and let’s dive into the world of acclimating corals!

Do I Need to Acclimate My Corals 

When you get your new corals you most likely have the perfect place in mind and want to add it to your tank right away. That being said, it is strongly recommended that you do not directly place your new coral into your tank. The process of moving a coral from one tank to another causes extreme stress. By placing it in a new system, without acclimating it first, you risk shocking your new coral and potentially killing it. By acclimating your coral you allow the coral to gradually adjust to the new water conditions

The primary reason for acclimating corals is to give them time to adjust to changes in water parameters such as temperature, salinity, and pH. These parameters can vary greatly between different aquariums, and sudden changes can shock and stress the corals. Acclimating the corals gradually over a period of time allows them to slowly adjust to the new conditions, reducing the likelihood of stress and health problems.

Acclimation also allows the corals to adjust to the lighting conditions of the new aquarium. Light is essential for the growth and health of corals, and sudden changes in lighting intensity can cause the corals to bleach, which is a condition where the corals expel their zooxanthellae (photosynthetic algae) and turn white. By slowly acclimating the corals to the new lighting conditions, you can help prevent bleaching and ensure the corals remain healthy and vibrant.

Overall, acclimating coral is a critical process that should not be overlooked. By taking the time to acclimate your corals properly, you can help ensure their health and longevity in your aquarium.

How to Acclimate Your Saltwater Coral 

Here at Sunnyside, this is the acclimation process that has helped us to see a lot of success when it comes to adding new corals into our tanks.

1. Float your new corals in the bag they arrive in, in your tank.

2. Introduce your coral slowly to your tank water.

3. Dip your corals.

4. Rinse your corals.

5. Place your new corals in your tank.

1. Float your new corals in the bag they arrive in, in your tank.

Start by floating the new frag in the tank or sump in order to get the temperature up. The goal is to get the water your new coral came into the same temperature as the tank before you start introducing it to new water.

2. Introduce your coral slowly to your tank water.

Take the water from the bag the coral came in and place it, as well as the coral, into a separate container to start the process. Do a slow drip or a series of small cups full of your system’s water and add it slowly to the container until you have at least doubled the water that the coral came in so it is a 50/50 ratio of your tank water and the new coral’s old water. This process should take 5-10 minutes. 

3. Dip your corals

At this point, you want to put our corals through the dipping process. Learning how to dip your corals is key to a healthy system and should not be skipped even if you are worried about the health of your coral.

4. Rinse your corals.

After our coral has been dipped, always do a rinse with the water that you are moving the coral into. Typically let the coral sit in clean tank water in the container for approximately 5-10 minutes before moving it into its new home. 

5. Place your corals in your tank or QT tank

All of our corals are acclimated and placed into a quarantine tank when we first get them and then we acclimate them again when we move them to their final destination. Some hobbyists recommend starting your frag lower in your system to provide it with low flow and lighting and then moving it slowly until it’s placed where you want it to go. The idea behind this is that you can avoid bleaching your coral by acclimating it to the flow and lighting. We typically choose to directly place our corals where we want them to be instead. This allows them to be where we know they’ll be happiest. 

However, acclimating the lighting and flow can be helpful if you’re just starting out and are concerned about placement. We have a lot of experience with the types of corals in our systems, allowing us to have a pretty good idea of where they need to be. That being said, we do continue to watch them after they’ve been placed to see if any adjustments need to be made. If so, we them move them accordingly. 

Ultimately it’s important to note that every tank is different. There are a lot of factors that contribute to keeping your coral happy and healthy. We have found that this process works the best for us, but also encourage you to use this as a guide for your own system and find what works best for you. Please, reach out to us if you have any questions and one of our experts will be happy to help you.

How do I dip my new corals is one of the questions we often get from customers. While there are many methods to dipping your corals, this is the process that we use in order to kill any unwanted pests and not our corals, especially our touchy Acropora. You can use this same process or adjust it to fit your situation. We always recommend that you at least dip your corals once before they go into your tanks. No coral is worth introducing harmful pests into your tank.

Do I Need to Dip My New Corals?

For those of you wondering if you really need to dip new corals, the answer is YES. There is a risk that your new stunning coral might die but that small chance is a lot better than having a bug introduced to your tank that is a pain to get rid of and may kill other corals. If you follow our dipping method, your chances of killing any corals during the dipping process are very low. Dipping coral allows you to reduce the risk of infection, disease, and parasites. It also helps to sanitize and heal flesh wounds on the coral. Pests are able to hitchhike their way into your tank on corals, frags, mounts and rock. They can also be suspended in the water column or hidden in the sand. This means that by simply sharing water or sand from another tank, you can infect your system. In order to be proactive, it’s important to always dip new corals; regardless of whether or not they were dipped by the previous owner/ seller. Even if you trust the source you’re getting them from, there’s always a small risk of something being passed along. 

How Do I Dip My Coral?

Making sure you dip your coral correctly is crucial! Here is how we dip all of our coral to make sure there are no hitchhikers and your corals don’t die from dipping. You may not have a temporary quarantine system or any quarantine system but, having one is highly recommended! If you do not have one you can skip steps 4 – 7 and place corals directly in your tank.

1. Start the acclimation process.
2. Add Bayer 2-way formal to acclimated water with coral for 8 to 10 minutes. 
3. Rinse your corals for 8 to 10 minutes in clean tank water.
4. Put in a temporary quarantine system (optional)
5. Repeat the acclimation and dip process (optional)
6. Move to a permanent quarantine system (optional)
7. Repeat the acclimation and dip process (optional)
8. Move corals into your tank.

1. Start The Acclimation Process

When your corals first arrive you will want to make sure to float them in your tank as soon as possible. This allows the temperature of the water the coral is in to be brought up to the same temperature as your system’s water. This will increase the likelihood that your coral will survive. This should happen within 2 hours of arriving at your home. Coral should be floated in the tank water they’re going to be added to. 

Once the coral is brought up to temp pour out the coral and its water into a bucket (size depending on the quantity of coral). Then begin acclimating the coral by adding water from the tank the coral will be going into, to the container. The goal is to double the initial water volume for a 50/50 mix of the old water and your system’s water.

2. Add Bayer 2-way formal to acclimated water with coral for 8 to 10 minutes. 

Now that you’ve started acclimating our coral, it’s time to add our dip solution. There are a few different types of dips that we like. Coral RX and Revive are nice because they’re a clear solution; which allows you to see if there is anything coming off of your corals. However, these dips are harsher and are typically too harsh for acropora, especially deep water smooth skin acros. The brand we use the most is Bayer because we are heavy on sticks and Bayer does the job without being as harsh on the coral. Specifically, we use Bayer 2-way formula, which may not be available in stores but is available online. It’s important that you use this particular formula (0.72% Imidacloprid, 0.36% Beta-cyfluthrin, and 98.92% other ingredients) as there is a newly updated ‘complete’ formula that will kill your corals. It’s also important to note that you can not mix dipping solutions together. 

Corals are taken out of the acclimated water and placed into another bucket that is 100% from the temporary quarantine water mixed with the Bayer 2-way formula. A small pump is added to this bucket in order to circulate the dip solution. We don’t have an exact measuring system when it comes to how much we use, but as a general rule of thumb, we usually do about 1 lid full (8 oz) to every gallon. The water should look milky after the solution has been added. Leave the corals in the dip solution for approximately 8-10 minutes. 

3. Rinse your corals for 8 to 10 minutes in clean tank water.

Coral is then rinsed in another bucket with clean tank water. Let it sit and rest in that water for about 8 – 10 minutes in order to watch and see if anything else comes off the coral. Before taking the corals out of this bucket, it is best to give it a little shake in the water to make sure you get off any stragglers. 

4. Put in a temporary quarantine system (optional)

Now place our coral into the temporary quarantine system. A temporary quarantine allows you time to see if there is anything on the coral. While the 1st dip will kill pests, it won’t kill any eggs. However, the eggs will hatch within a week. After a week’s time, if we aren’t seeing any remaining pests, we restart the dip and acclimation process again in order to move the coral to our permanent quarantine tank.

5. Repeat the acclimation and dip process (optional)

Each time that you move corals between tanks, it is smart to dip and acclimate the coral again. This lessens the likelihood that you are moving pests between tanks and it gives the coral time to adjust to the new water. Dipping your corals so much can be hard on the coral. This is another reason why we use Bayer 2-way formula. It is not as hard on the coral but does a great job of killing pests.

6. Move to a permanent quarantine system (optional)

After a week in our temporary quarantine, we repeat steps 1-3 with our permanent quarantine system’s water and then move our coral into our permanent quarantine. Our coral stays here for a minimum of a week, but normally for about a month. This gives us an opportunity to observe the coral for any possible lingering pests and to watch the overall health of the coral

7. Repeat the acclimation and dip process (optional)

Each time that you move corals between tanks, it is smart to dip and acclimate the coral again. This lessens the likelihood that you are moving pests between tanks and it gives the coral time to adjust to the new water. Dipping your corals so much can be hard on the coral. This is another reason why we use Bayer 2-way formula. It is not as hard on the coral but does a great job of killing pests.

Dipping coral 3 times definitely makes the coral unhappy. Not all of our corals survive the process and those that do may need help brightening back up, but for us the risk is worth it. Our goal is to reduce risk to our systems as much as possible

8. Move corals into your tank

Once it’s determined that the coral is healthy, we start the dip and acclimation process for a 3rd time in order to move the coral into one of our permanent systems. The coral is then rinsed for a third time, and then finally, moved into its permanent home. During this time we also determine whether or not to cut off the plug/ base of the coral. Doing so can help reduce your risk of any hitchhikers, but it’s a personal choice based on the type of coral, whether or not it’s worth losing that growth, and what source you received your coral from. 

How To Set Up a Quarantine Tank 

While we recommend some type of permanent quarantine set up, we understand that that’s not possible for all hobbyists. However, we do recommend some type of quarantine, even if it’s a temporary set up. It’s a lot easier to empty, dry out and start over with a quarantine system than it is your show tank. 

Temporary Quarantine

Depending on the size and number of coral we use a 20, 30 and 50 gallon Rubbermaid Tupperware container for our temporary quarantines. When we set up a temporary tank the containers we use are completely dry and haven’t been used for weeks. We then add seasoned water from one of our systems into the container. 

Next we will add a small skimmer as well as an over the tank filter to run in carbon. The skimmer and tank filter both need to have been rinsed and dried for at least a week from last use. You don’t necessarily need to add a skimmer, but you will want to add an over the top filter. Our temporary quarantine tanks also have lights set up similar to our other systems. One of the most important things to note is that these quarantine set ups require daily water changes. We recommend swapping at least 20% of the water volume with water from your system. A lot of failure and unhappy corals stems from not providing these daily water changes

While you might not need a system as extreme as ours, it’s important to take precautions when it comes to bringing new corals into your tanks. Creating an effective dipping process is a key factor in a happy, healthy and thriving tank. We encourage you to find a system that works best for you. Please, reach out to us if you have any questions and one of our experts will be happy to help yo

Proven Track Record

Sunnyside Corals has a long track record of successfully growing a large variety of corals. Currently, we have over 400 different types of corals growing in our systems. While having success with a large variety of corals, our main focus and success has mainly been with Acropora. The setup that we describe in the post will be mainly focused on growing Acropora but, we do also include our lighting setup for our LPS and Softy tanks as well.  This post explains exactly what lighting we use and why so that you can replicate the success that we have. However, please note, that this is not the only way to do your lighting but just how we have found the greatest success in growing a large variety of corals, especially Acropora.

Our Lighting Set up

Over the years we have tried and tested a wide variety of different types and have ultimately chosen to use a Radion and T-5 combo. We use Radion gen 3s and 4s for the most part but still run a few gen 2s. We use the ATI Blue Plus Bulbs with our T-5s. We found that by running a combination of Radions and T-5s we have the best success with coloration and growth with our corals, especially Acropora.  If you want to successfully grow lots of Acropora this is the setup that we recommend. However, if you only want to grow mainly LPS and Softy Corals with only a few acros, you can be successful with just running Radions and no T-5s. The problem with only running radions for an acro heavy tank is that you run into issues with the amount of light spread. Your acros will appear colorful on top but dull and brown on the underside. This will affect the acro as it grows into a colony as the base will not receive enough light and may affect growth. The way to combat that is by either having a higher concentration of Radions or adding a T-5 light. Often times people favor adding T-5s because they are known to perform well but also you can save a lot of money because T-5s are a fraction of the price of radion lights.

The Best Acropora Lighting

Acropora coral need a lot of light and as mentioned before a mixture of T-5s and Radions or a higher density of Radions is going to be best. We have our lights set up 12 to 16 inches above the tanks. This allows for there to be less heat transferred to the tanks but keeps the intensity of the lights strong. Here is a breakdown of our lighting above all of our Acropora and SPS tanks.

Radions: Below is our schedule for our radions. To start out we have a steep ramp-up period where we just blast the corals with a strong blue at 90% brightness and 90% intensity. We then transition into adding a small amount of whites, greens, and reds over the next hour. Our whites we bump up to 20% with the green and red run at only 5% strength. We run this setting for around 4 hours before we start to ramp it down again. During our final ramp down we switch back to heavy blues with no whites, reds, or greens at all. This ramp-down lasts for about another 4 hours for a total cycle time of 12.5 hours.

T-5s: Our T-5s are run mostly during the peak when we are running all blues with a mix of whites, reds, and greens. We run it for the same 7 hours or so and just run it on a manual timer that kicks on at the same time each day.

The Best LPS and Softy Tank Lighting

LPS and Softy corals don’t need nearly as much light as Acropora. On most of our tanks that do not have any acropora we hang the lights a little higher and run them at 85% intensity instead of 90% like we do on our SPS tanks. Our lights are hung as high as 24 inches above the water line for all of our LPS and Softy tanks.

Radions: Below is our schedule for our radions. To start out we have a steep ramp-up period where we just blast the corals with a strong blue at 85% brightness and 85% intensity. We then transition into adding a small amount of whites, greens, and reds over the next hour. Our whites are set to only 10% while green and red are as low as 5% strength. We run this setting for around 4 hours before we start to ramp it down again. During our final ramp down we switch back to heavy blues with no whites, reds, or greens at all. This ramp-down lasts for about another 4 hours for a total cycle time of 12.5 hours.

T-5s: We don’t run T-5s over most of our Softy and LPS tanks, however, we have seen that some LPS and Zoanthids do also benefit from having t-5s as well. For the tanks that we do have T-5s, we run them during the peak for about 7 hours on a timer. If you look at the schedule below, we would run our t-5s from about 12 PM until 7 PM for example.

Best Tank Lighting With Limited Space

Not everyone has space to put their lights up 24 inches. We have one tank that is set up with two radion gen 4s that are mounted using RMS XR30 G4 TANK MOUNT KIT  that hangs close to the water. The cons with this is first, it emits a lot of heat onto the tank and can make it hard to keep a constant temperature. It also can make it so your intensity needs to be dialed way back. Our tank also has a mesh screen covering it which blocks a large portion of the light. Here are the settings that we use for this tank and have seen our LPS and Mushrooms do great with.

Radions: Below is our schedule for our radions. To start out we have a steep ramp-up period where we just blast the corals with a strong blue at 80% brightness and 55% intensity. We then transition into adding a small amount of whites, greens, and reds over the next hour. Our whites are set to only 20% while green and red are as low as 5% strength. We run this setting for around 4 hours before we start to ramp it down again. During our final ramp down we switch back to heavy blues with no whites, reds, or greens at all. This ramp-down lasts for about another 4 hours for a total cycle time of 12.5 hours.

T-5s: We don’t run T-5s over this tank because we are not growing any SPS corals and for the setup would not be as esthetically pleasing. We only grow LPS and Softies in this tank.

Every Tank Is Different

Remember that every tank and setup is different. We have found that these settings and setup work best for us but we are always experimenting and adjusting as our corals grow and we get new stock. Some corals will love this setup and others may not however, we have been able to successfully grow more than 400 different types of coral using this setup and general lighting schedule. Please, reach out to us if you have any questions and one of our experts will be happy to help you.