Need help ASAP

[ReeferGirl]

I may be over paranoid but I just bought some coral 4 different pieces and on the way home my friend's car breaks down, 45 minutes away from my house. I am sending this with his phone...how long do I have before I should start worrying about my coral? I realize that coral gets shipped overnight and survives. But they are shipped in more water than what my coral is in and have ways to help maintain temp.

I live in Florida, and it's hot as shi* outside. Should I worry? I should be home within an 1-1 1/2 hours.

thanks guys/gals

 

[asianer]

do you have access to ice or can you get to a store that has ice? that would help you regulate the temperature in the hot weather.

 

[anthony27]

Make sure you keep the coral cool and out of the heat, if the bags start to heat up you are going to have major a major problem on your hands.

Put them out of light and some where cool. You should have about 2 to 3 hrs for the coral to be fine. as long as they are kept cool.

 

[ReeferGirl]

we are on the interstate....I may walk to the next exit and get some ice. How much ice?

 

[ReeferGirl]

and should I just go ahead and take them out of the bag? I am sooo stressing

 

[ZANYMASTER]

See if they sell one of those coolers and get ice,enough to surround the bag but not too much so that it may cause a sudden drop in temps.

 

[ReeferGirl]

will do, thanks zany, anthony, and asianer. On my way now to the jiffy store.

 

[ReeferGirl]

will post later if they made it...

 

[asianer]

I wouldn't take them out of the bag, but I would keep them in a shaded, relatively cool area of the car for now. Oh, and don't add the ice directly to the bag; keep the ice on the outside.

and should I just go ahead and take them out of the bag? I am sooo stressing

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Keep us updated

 

[AlohaTropics]

Honestly, I wouldn't really worry. If you can wrap the coral's plastic bag around some newspaper or any crumpled paper, that will help insulate the bag to keep cool. Make sure its out of the sunlight, you should have no problems for just a few hours. Be careful because ice around the bag will drop the temp a lot faster than the water will heat up if insulated properly.

 

[Reef Reaper]

They should be ok. Just keep them out of the sun and in the shade. If you are cool, they should be fine. Good luck!

 

[ming]

Honestly, I wouldn't really worry. If you can wrap the coral's plastic bag around some newspaper or any crumpled paper, that will help insulate the bag to keep cool. Make sure its out of the sunlight, you should have no problems for just a few hours. Be careful because ice around the bag will drop the temp a lot faster than the water will heat up if insulated properly.

+1
I think ice around the bag will cause the temp to drop too fast. Just keep it out of sun light wrapped in newspaper. If you're stopped, try keep the car on with A/C on to a comfortable temperature

 

[Simon Garratt]

Hi reefergirl.

As per other responses, wrapping in newspaper is a good way of limiting temperature fluctuations.

i transport corals by car all the time (sometimes for 7-8hrs or more) but i keep my AC at 25 which keeps things stable.

Just my approach, but if the corals have been in the bag for a long time or they are stressed/sliming due to temperature drop/rise i dont mess around when i get home, i just take them out of the bag and drop them strait into the tank giving them a little shake to get rid of any thick mucus coatings. Placing them on the sand in moderate flow, and then leave them there for at least 4 or 5 days to settle and recover. then i move them to where they need to be.

The method behind this madness is based on the fact that whilst the coral is coverd in stress slime in a bag of deteriorating water its basically suffocating. there isnt any water flow to aid gaseous exchange across the corals surface so the faster you get it out of that situation the better.

Basically ive never lost a coral using this method and i know a few dealers who now use this approach with all coral imports, be they softie, LPS or SPS.

Placing the coral at the bottom of the tank for a few days is basically to limit the chances of light shock seeing as many corals will loose some pigmentation during shipping or when stressed so it gives the coral the chance to regenerate slightly.

(please note though this method shouldnt be used for fish or orther inverts which do require gradual acclimatisation, especially Echinoderms which have highly sensitive hydrovascular systems)

regards and best of luck with your new corals.

 

[ReeferGirl]

thanks guys/gals! Everything went fine. I am just paranoid. All is alive and well. You can check out my thread, I have posted pictures.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?p=783123#post783123