Do you drip acclimate

[johnr2604]

OK I have seen some debate on this and just want to make sure I give my marine animals the best survival chances. Right now I just float my fish add some water to the bag then release them without letting any water from the LFS to my tank. I have done this for twenty years with no problems that I could associate to it. I have also been told that I dont need to even water acclimate my corals so I just float them for temp acclimation then reach in the bag and throw them in.

I know that during shipping the ammonia increases and the PH drops. I also have heard that ammonia is less lethal at lower PH levels. So is it better to try and get them out of the bag quicker when you raise the PH by adding your water or to drip and do this slowly? I have also heard that adding some prime will lock up the ammonia untill the are done acclimating Also what about Temp? by slowly dripping into a bucket on the floor wouldn't the temp in the bucket end up lower than the actuall temp in the tank?

I would really like to see some more discussion on this topic because like I said I just want to do what is less stressfull to the fish.

 

[budsreef]

I dip corals in half bag water and half tank water, then rince them in tank water and then put them in my frag tank for observation.

I float fish for about a half hour and then do a very long drip depending on the SG of the water in the bag. Some LFSs keep their SG at or near 1.020 so sometimes I slowly drop my tank SG while I'm dripping since I keep my tanks at 1.025-1.026. Usually I start with the drip container about 1/3 full, let it drip till almost full, empty it back to 1/3 and fill it again. When I'm ready to put the fish in the tank I either pour it into a net or empty the container and then dump the fish in.

Recently, I've been adding fish to tanks that had no other fish in them so I skipped the QT. If I add to an existing tank I QT first which makes the LFS SG a moot point since I can just match the QT water to the LFS's.

 

[rickey]

I do fish and corals the same way. I float sometimes but not often. Generally, I take a 1 gallon pitcher and put the water and fish/coral in it. Next I use an airline tubing with a loose knot so that it drips about 3 drops a second. I do this until the pitcher is full. Once full I dump about 3/4 of it out and let it fill once again. Once this is done I put the fish/coral in the tank but dump the water from the pitcher.

 

[basscyn]

I am a dripper!

 

[derek_s]

I have dripped and just thrown in, and have had much better luck with just tossing fish in after a 15 min temp acclimation. I dont have any empirical evidence, but it just seems to work better for me. I never lost a fish in acclimation by just thowing them so far...

 

[bobz]

I float and then I drip acclimate both (fish longer than corals). It also depends on the salinity of the source tanks and the pH. I try to match both in the drip container to my QT tank or frag tanks depending on where it is going. I don't worry too much about temp in the drip container since the fish room stays about the same temp as the tanks. The only time I screwed up was when I added a shrimp to a small nano tank that was at a much higher temp than the rest of the systems due to the heat from the light at the end of the light cycle. RIP Mr. shrimp.
Bob

 

[todd03blown]

subscribing....

 

[purplegorilla]

I chunk mine in and hope that it won't go into shock..Thats both for fish and corals.

 

[soarin']

Some things definitely need drip acclimation -- shrimp and snails (except for stomatella snails).

Drip acclimating corals seems a waste of time -- why get a bunch of zoas, do a freshwater dip to get rid of nudis etc, and then drip acclimate them?

And if FW dips are recommended for fish to help de-parasitize them, why do drips for them? Corvettecris says that he has better luck with just tossing them in, and I can imagine that the reason may be that the fish suffer a lot less stress if they are just thrown in after matching temps.

I imagine that some fishes might think of drip acclimation as a type of "chinese water torture" where they are trapped, can't hide, have been through a very stressful journey, and now they have to listen to the drips for a good while.

 

[johnr2604]

Soarin';216860 wrote: Some things definitely need drip acclimation -- shrimp and snails (except for stomatella snails).

Drip acclimating corals seems a waste of time -- why get a bunch of zoas, do a freshwater dip to get rid of nudis etc, and then drip acclimate them?

And if FW dips are recommended for fish to help de-parasitize them, why do drips for them? Corvettecris says that he has better luck with just tossing them in, and I can imagine that the reason may be that the fish suffer a lot less stress if they are just thrown in after matching temps.

I imagine that some fishes might think of drip acclimation as a type of "chinese water torture" where they are trapped, can't hide, have been through a very stressful journey, and now they have to listen to the drips for a good while.

I have never dripped snails or shrimp and havn't ever lost one due to acclimation. Not trying to urgue but trying to learn. Just wondering why this would be the case. Kinda like your zoanthid analogy my snails crawl out of the water column all the time.

 

[theplatypus]

I drip acclimate inverts only.

 

[ster]

I float for 30 minutes to match temperature and toss them in. Never had any issues with fish, inverts, or coral.

 

[nickskains]

Float and toss here too.

 

[skriz]

Float and toss.

The corals need to be put in clean water asap. This is also what Philip Root reccomends, and that's his business!

I have gone through the whole gamut of methodologies and I've found that I suffer fewer losses with the temp acclimation and toss in method. I do watch the fish while floating and will sometimes give them a medicine dip.

 

[bobz]

Interesting that not many people mentioned QT. For those of you that float and toss, Do you toss in to your display tanks or go the QT route to make sure the fish are eating and healthy? Just curious. I try to always segregate new fish to get them accustomed to eating and make sure they are looking ok before I put them in a display.

 

[stephenamsler]

i dont float because sometimes the oxgen dpletion can make them worse.

 

[nickskains]

I had a QT till I got a UV. Now I just get them temp acclimated and toss em in. When feeding though, I try to feed the Hog's on one side and the new guys on the other till they get used to the competition and can get food w/o getting bullied around. I still have my QT but its not set up. If/when I need one I will just pull some water out of my sump and treat. Not sure if this is a good valid answer. But works for now. :up:

 

[saltwater junky]

float and tosshere also.

 

[steve]

Assuming the fish aren't tank raised, and I buy them from a store I'll do a para-gaurd dip on the fish and a quick drip. I just dropped the ORA clowns I got right in and noticed them breathing heavy for a minute, but after that they were fine. I dip corals in the water they came in shake, and drop them in the tank.

 

[jcook54]

Float, slowly add some tank water then dump. So far so good. However, I'm in the process of "upgrading" myself and better using the equipment that I have and livestock acclimation is on the list of things to refine so I appreciate this post. Thanks for the replies.