Discussion of the week ~ How to buy corals~

[mojoreef]

Ok here is a good topic for us to share thoughts on. How do u buy you corals? online, local, dive, propagated. What do u look for when buying? What are the do's and donts. How do u acclimate them? DO you take hours of gentle acclimation or do u shoot from the three point line

Dont want to know what store you buy from (no commercial please) but just the methods


have fun


Mike

[Casey]

Hi Mike I get mine everywhere and anywhere I can get them online ,local it doesnt matter and I slowly drip aclimate mine,the
only dont I can think of is dont order online when it is real cold in your area to stressful on them and you. Casey

[alf2]

Well I've only gotten mine from the lfs. And acclimate them by the slow adding water to the bag thing

I have never ordered online only because I am always afraid I won't be home when they get here. I have been very tempted though. Which is why I only have a limited kind of coral in my tank. I'm just too afraid of something going wrong when ordering online stuff.

[Doug1]

I would normally buy from one store, after scoping them out real good, but I have arely turned down a free frag
Float, equalize temp, dip in Iodine solution

[CAT]

I check the condition of the coral and then the tank they're in at the lfs. I'm amazed at how many flatworms are floating around those places.

I dip them and do about an hour acclimating. Then I put them far from the bubble that is growing like a weed

[reefcam]

I used to get mine online, but now its through lfs and trades. If I get the corals online, then it's a little TLS (temp acclimation, lighting acclimation and salinity equilibrium). If I get them through trades, then right from the 3-point line, unless it's a large colony, then slow acclimation. I've seen and heard how the corals are collected in the south pacific and boy can it be distrubing, so I figure the corals are fairly tough. Unless the tank is completely out of whack, then I wait until the tank is stabilized.

[dark horge]

Buy?

BUY?????



You mean you people have to BUY your corals??
That's ...that's unfair!!!






.

[Jimbo]

Trades, anything that comes from a LFS, now gets acclimated as stated above and put into a dark corner of my tank. Have had to many frags from a LFS go south on me and can only attribute it to lighting. LFS's have there lights as far as several feet from the tank and my light is <8" from the water surface. I have not dipped them in the iodine solution, but will start doing that with any new frags Have any of you tried some of the other coral dipping solutions out there?

[Alice]

I have ordered corals on line before and they arrived in fine shape; I had them shipped straight to my office and then ran home with them

When I get new corals from LFS or trade, I look them over carefully for signs of flatworms, nasty coral-munching nudibranchs or their eggs, and any signs of decay or disease. If all looks well, the mushrooms, polyps and zoanthids get plopped in the tank, anything else gets varying degrees of acclimation.

If they don't look good, I dip them in an iodine solution or sometimes even a FW dip.

Alice

[coralkeeper]

Do you dip all the corals and frags that you get in iodine or just certain types ?

[MtnDewMan]

I buy ... I mean steal ... I mean beg ... I mean borrow ... I mean scam ... mine from Mike

[Alice]

Originally posted by coralkeeper
Do you dip all the corals and frags that you get in iodine or just certain types ?

I don't dip softies in FW as a rule, they tend to take it personally I do however, dip them in an iodine/SW solution if they seem to be damaged. I almost always dip the base rocks of them in FW. Better safe than sorry IMO; I can't stand the look of flatworms.

LPS corals like torches, hammers, and cynarinas don't take overly well to FW dips either but most others and SPS can take a quick dip if needed.

[Reedman]

Boy, If that's the case Chuck, I guess I shop almost exclusively in Mojo's frag department

I have also acquired a frag or two from the frag swaps with the local club here.

I look alot at the corals in the stores, but most seem to be overpriced and undercared for ...so I'll choose my pieces when I see them and acclimate carefully.

[Spanky]

Buy?

Ditto

[ChrisC1029]

For those that dip new corals in iodine:
Do you use a commercially available iodine dip, or is your dip DIY?