Acclimating inverts

[Kial]

Have been reading some stuff online recently about acclimating inverts. Some say to drip acclimate, some say just temp acclimate and add them to the tank.

I have a shipment or snails and hermits coming this week and trying to figure out the best way to add them.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[gbroadbridge]

I just float for 20 mins, rinse in a container of tank water, and chuck in the tanks.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I always drip the inverts, the longer the better imo

 

[rmorris_14]

I just float. I've also never purchased anything online though. If I was going to drip, and the livestock were being shipped, I would find out what salinity they were coming in. Make a bucket of fresh water to match that, then drip, so they aren't sitting in the shipping water any longer than they need to. If the salinity was close to what my tank is, I would just temp float and drop.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Inverts I buy in the store I will acclimate by putting them in a bucket of water and pouring some tank water in every few minutes…I gotta learn how to set up a drip.
I did get a shipment from reef cleaners recently, and they said all you have to do is dump them right in after temp acclimation. This seems to be the best go for shipped inverts. Still be careful not to get any bag water in the tank.

 

[MoshJosh]

I try to always drip if possible. I had a crab and snail die shortly after "plop and drop" method, but never with drip acclimation (so far anyway. . fingers crossed)

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Have been reading some stuff online recently about acclimating inverts. Some say to drip acclimate, some say just temp acclimate and add them to the tank.

I have a shipment or snails and hermits coming this week and trying to figure out the best way to add them.

Any advice would be appreciated

First, make sure whoever your purchase them from does not already have an acclimation protocol. Sometimes if you do not follow their protocol any DOA guarantees or policies will be void. Also, I would trust their sources protocol because I would assume they have tested it under the conditions of how they ship their inverts. Most good online vendors will send you a protocol when you make the purchase or will send you a protocol with your shipment.

 

[Kial]

So all inverts have been in a few days now. They arrived in 1.029 salinity, I run mine at 1.026.

I temp acclimated and then just did a short acclimation by adding some of my water in and taking the bag water out. Max 15 mins.

Everything is alive, hermits are all moving around the tank. Turbos were tiny unfortunately but can see the odd one or 2 kicking about. The stromb snail I got has annoyingly joined my other stromb by just staying under the sand all the time

 

[gbroadbridge]

Everything is alive, hermits are all moving around the tank. Turbos were tiny unfortunately but can see the odd one or 2 kicking about. The stromb snail I got has annoyingly joined my other stromb by just staying under the sand all the time

The Strombies do that. Give them a week to settle.

 

[Oceanwolf]

I bought one large size emerald crab and 5 hermit crabs, some blue some red. After I float the bags for an hour or so for temperature adjustment, I checked the salinity of the LFS water which was 1.013, my tank is 1.024. So I removed most of the transfer water and drip my tanks water until I see 1.024. I transferred the crab and the hermits to my tank. The crab sat like stunned, I could see his mouth was moving but it was like he was in shock. He didn’t survive the night. Two of the hermits had the same fate. I wonder if the parameters were too much apart even though I did acclimation. I feel bad since he was doing just fine in the LFS tank.

 

[Stomatopods17]

Personally I float for 30 minutes, then just scoop and pour water from the bag/cup until I'm pretty sure its just water from my tank. Better than dropping them in at once and shocking them.

I don't like drip, and if I do its less of a drip and more 'who didn't turn off the sink completely' line speeding it up. IMO its more dangerous to leave them in their filth water and ammonia/PH can do some funky stuff when the oxygen suddenly changes. That's usually what causes ammonia poisoning.

If its something that doesn't stress and produce a lot of ammonia (echinoderms, coral, anemones, etc) then there's not much harm in doing the slow method except for PH.

Everyone has their own method that works, personally whatever method I try/practice I never run into problems either way, except for arrow crabs idk I'm cursed when it comes to arrow crabs, 2/3 died instantly when touching the water and one of them I was just transferring from a different tank.

 

[The Natural Coral Depot]

Have been reading some stuff online recently about acclimating inverts. Some say to drip acclimate, some say just temp acclimate and add them to the tank.

I have a shipment or snails and hermits coming this week and trying to figure out the best way to add them.

Any advice would be appreciated

For the inverts you should be fine with just floating them for a good 45 minutes to an hour at most but using drip acclimation could never hurt and is always safer if you have the time/patience.

 

[Jedi Knghit]

Have been reading some stuff online recently about acclimating inverts. Some say to drip acclimate, some say just temp acclimate and add them to the tank.

I have a shipment or snails and hermits coming this week and trying to figure out the best way to add them.

Any advice would be appreciated

The best way is whatever the vendor recommends....

 

[Ryebreadiest]

A lot depends on the inverts. Many crabs and snails come from tidal zones where they could experience swings in temp, salinity etc naturally.