Acclimating Shipped Corals

[AV8er]

I came across a coral auction on ebay (I don't have the link, but its an active auction), and was a bit puzzled that it warned, "drip acclimating corals will void any guarantee." The seller explained that "gas builds up in the bag and when opened can be lethally toxic to corals." He suggested that after a 15 min temperature acclimation to just gently place the coral in the tank.

His reasoning was that the water in the shipment bag becomes a "toxic soup" and the corals should not be in there longer than needed. Is there any merit to this?

It only resonated with me because I always wondered whether the danger to the corals from sitting in the shipment water any longer then necessary is more dangerous than the risk of plunging a new coral into new water params. Any thoughts, or is this just really poor advice.

 

[dz6t]

Is the coral he is selling a SPS or LPS or leather?

 

[AV8er]

LPS (blasto. m.)

 

[marco67]

Just SLAM IT!




seriously the best thing you can do for that coral is to get it out of the crappy bag water.

 

[AV8er]

Really... so just do a temperature acclimation and plunge the sucker in the tank?

 

[TomD]

I have never dripped a coral. Treated, but never dripped. I agree they are stressed out enough from shipping.

If you have a QT even better, just plop um in!

 

[reverendmaynard]

One of the issues here is ammonia and PH and how they interact.

In the bag the coral is producing both ammonia and CO2. As the ammonia builds up, the CO2 also accumulates and causes the PH of the water to drop. Ammonia is less and less toxic as the PH decreases.

Once you open the bag and release all the CO2 rich air from the bag, the CO2 content of water starts to equalize with the outside air, raising the PH back up to normal SW levels. At that PH (8.2) even a little bit of ammonia can be extremely toxic. So, you should never leave any critter that's been shipped in the shipping water for more than 15 mins after the bag has been opened.

 

[AV8er]

Okay, that makes sense. Does anybody drip acclimate local purchases?

 

[TomD]

I used to but then I was told by an unamed very knowledgable BRS'er that it was not really needed unless it is an extremely rare sensitive coral.