acclimation help

[m3rcury]

ok, so i'm going to be picking up my first larger sps tonight. it is about 3 inches in diameter (not sure the exact species, but it is def. an acro). anyhow, it just arrived at the lfs yesterday and they are currently acclimating them by having the lights completely off in the tank and then slowly turning the lights up over the next day or two.

i have a 40 breeder with 250w 14k HQI light. the lfs said if i just put the acro directly in the tank it will bleach and kill it. so, i have a pretty large cave in my rockwork and they suggested i put the acro back inside the cave to shade it from the light for a couple of days, then slowly move it out into the light and up toward the top of the tank over a week or so.

the other option is to put it into the fuge where there is just a 15w light strip over the cheato. i could, of course, turn this light off completely. there is very slow flow through the fuge as well.

what would be the best way to acclimated this? i really don't want to lose this piece due to my inexperience. i have 6 or so frags in the tank that are all doing well, but they came directly from someone else's frag tank so they were already acclimated to the light.

thanks in advance folks. i'll post a pic once i get it home and into the tank.

[m3rcury]

no one can help with this... ?

[Serioussnaps]

All you have is the 250? no supplemental actinics like T5, Vho, or PC?

answer this and ill help you more

definitely dont shoot it to the top of your tank when you get it but you know that..also,

you can acclimate by adjusting the photoperiod...but the problem with that is i think you only have one light and you risk stressing the acros you already have....

answer my question and ill brainstorm it up for you....

if you only have the 250 you may want to go to home depot and get some window screen(like 3 bucks for a roll, very cheap)...put the new acro on the bottom over in a corner but not in a cave....just above the new acro put 3 layers of screen(checkerboard them)....let sit for 2 days....take off 1 screen and let sit for 2 or 3 more days...take off the second screen.....let sit for a couple more days.....take off the last screen....let sit for a couple days...then you can start moving it up as needed.....make sure it GETS GOOD FLOW DURING THIS PROCESS

you may speed this process up as you see fit or how the peice responds...it may acclimate quickly...or if you put it on the bottom you may only start with two peices of screen...just depends on the particular acro and how it responds....look for things like PE, color etc etc

[Serioussnaps]

when i say put the screen over the new acro i mean sit it on top of the tank...not in the tank

[m3rcury]

yes, it is just the 250w MH. no other lighting on the tank. i had them under the rockwork for yesterday, and have moved them off into the corners of the tank for today. the MH is a pendant style, so the intensity of the light falls off pretty quickly when it is not centered under the light.

as i go through this process, what should i watch for that would be negative signs?