Coral Help!

I agree that these precautions are overwhelming. I do not dip, I do use a skimmer finally. You don't need one, but it adds to you success, and greatens your chance of not having water quality issues. What's overwhelming, is when you do get parasites and all the measures that take place in correcting the problem. Its more unlikely you will get pests, but it's more comforting when you use preventative measures. If it makes you sleep good at night do it.

 

I don't dip either, but everything comes from a good friend of mine and he does the dipping.. So I'm lucky I guess.. as for water changes I try for once a week but It's more like once a month...

 

I do 10-20% water changes once a week. Now that I have a skimmer it'll be every two weeks. Water changes are vital, because they replace trace elements that you corals use up. Again preventative measures promote long-term success. I've head of people who don't do water changes with success.. to each his own.

 

My skimmer went down for like two weeks. Even though I know people who are having plenty of success w/o skimming, I hated the way my water looked w/o it. I could not wait to get the beasty running again. I finally fixed it last night and I am ecstatic. I will never run a tank w/o a skimmer again. I think most advantageous aspect is that it allows you to have more fish and feed them more often. It allows you to enhance another dimension of your tank, I guess you could say.

 

I agree 100%. In just 4 days I have never seen my tank look so good. the yellowish water tint is gone, and my corals polyps extend more than I have ever seen them. My fish are happier, too. The difference is night and day. Do you have to have one.. no.. should you or will it be more beneficial... YES!

 

Well you guys are pretty much proving my point (which isn't to say you were arguing it in the first place, but yea). Certainly a few of these suggestions could prove to be beneficial. Even I myself am going to invest in a skimmer soon. But my point is that a lot of this stuff isn't completely vital to your success. Everyone does things their own way.

Hell one of my greatest lessons for KISS on here came from Tangster. I had a long and drawn out sump/fuge all planned out. He got on my case about separating them and not bothering with baffles and bubble traps and all that jazz. It turns out he was right on the mark!

My sump is a rubbermaid container. That's it. Literally....so acclimate your coral and put it in the tank! It's as simple as that, baby!

Oh and by the way, you can touch your coral. With your bare fingers. I promise you it wont die. Try it! It's an interesting feeling. So gooey

 

LOL.. yea I'll admit I've touched my zoas, xenia, and shrooms with bare hands... no probs. I like gloves now, because I use a lot of chemicals at work.. I use gloves there too.. peace of mind I guess. Maybe I'll do a Rubermaid sump someday.

 

theres a million ways to skin a cat! i agree but at the same time this is a little harsh, theres a few tanks here,(..} who's owners have an entirley different philosophy behind them than my tanks do. I've been keeping it REAL simple compared to some with mixed results.
it's all in the eye of the beholder at the end of the day,how you get where you want to is irrelevant. theres too many variables from tank to tank,owner to owner,water source to water source,for anyone to claim a "bullet proof" aproach.
as far as your acclimation "approach" goes...
i do the same damn thing! lol! i consider myself EXTREMELY lucky not to have added any serious "undesirable" hijackers and not having killed any corals yet,at the same time, i cant deny i' be alot safer if i was "rigid" about it and after i crash a tank i'm sure i lean towards safety,and since theres a limited number of these "pets" in the world,maybe to err on the side of caution is a much smarter approach.. bleh, who cares

 

I really think the best advice to give newbs is to go by the book and do things according to the standard conventions that we all know. Once an aquarist has reached an advanced level they can, and certainly will, do things their own way. It's like teaching little leaguers to catch the ball with two hands--the pros may not do it that way but if you have never caught a baseball before it is good advice.

 

Don't touch your corals unless you know for sure they are safe. I do it, but not my palythoas. I don't really want to touch the polyps of my Euphylia's either. Just about every coral or anemone we keep can sting us. Some can be very toxic. Some just secrete toxins instead of inject it.

I am sorry, but this is simply terrible advice for a newb.