BYU Clean Up Crew Acclimation

[noodle5673]

So tomorrow my clean up crew from liveaquaria will be arriving. It has snails, small hermits, shrimp, sea star, sea urchin. On the website it says for clean up crews to float the bags 15-20 mins, dump ALL the inverts into ONE bucket, and drip acclimate. Has anyone else done this before? Can I trust that they all are in water with identical parameters?
If anyone has experience with acclimating a diverse clean up crew, I'd like advice on the safest but most efficient way possible. If I can acclimate them in the way described above that would be great cuz doing it by individual species will take forever. I just don't wanna mess up, though.

 

[Waters]

Normally a LFS or any retailer would keep all of their inverts in the same system, meaning they are all sharing the same water. You shouldn't have any issues dumping them into one bucket and acclimating together.....especially since that is what they are recommending.

 

[BaritoneJP]

I found this information to be helpful >>> Link

It is based upon how this person ships, but the information was understandable to me with a bit of "why" answered too.

 

[booth2010]

Reef Cleaners suggests no need to drip acclimate clean up crews just let float for 15 mins and then put em in. http://www.reefcleaners.org/acclimation

 

[Daniel@R2R]

IF no instructions were given from the shipper, I'd probably drip acclimate the star and urchin for sure because neither of those do well with sudden shocks. I might drip the shrimp, as well, and I would probably just add the snails and hermits directly. I think Reef Cleaners info is primarily due to how he ships.

Having said that, I'm a firm believer in following the vendor's instructions for acclimation. They know what their systems are like and how their livestock should be treated generally. I also think that if you have any issues at all, one of the first questions they will ask is whether or not you acclimated according to the instructions they give.

So, if I buy from Reef Cleaners, I follow his instructions. If I buy from LA, I follow theirs.

 

[saltyphish]

I always float/drip acclimate all of my cuc for an hr just to be sure everything does alright.

 

[mrjlopez731]

IF no instructions were given from the shipper, I'd probably drip acclimate the star and urchin for sure because neither of those do well with sudden shocks. I might drip the shrimp, as well, and I would probably just add the snails and hermits directly. I think Reef Cleaners info is primarily due to how he ships.

Having said that, I'm a firm believer in following the vendor's instructions for acclimation. They know what their systems are like and how their livestock should be treated generally. I also think that if you have any issues at all, one of the first questions they will ask is whether or not you acclimated according to the instructions they give.

So, if I buy from Reef Cleaners, I follow his instructions. If I buy from LA, I follow theirs.

I agree with this comment because I have purchased from different vendors in the past and for some reason they have different way about doing things. It can be a clean up crew and one say one thing and the other says something else. So I do what they say because if something does go wrong, I'll say; I followed what you said and then hit him with I purchased before from someone else and they told me to do it their way and everything went fine but I tried it your way and it didn't work. Where's my refund or give me what I paid for back and I'll try it the other way because it's worked in the past for me.

 

[noodle5673]

everything survived but the hermit crabs. I drip acclimated it all for like an hour and a half and the hermits all died within a day. Everything else is thriving though! My brittle star and urchin are crazy active... and someone brought along a itty bittyyyy starfish whos also doing good! The kind that supposedly eat corals, but mines been on the glass so I think hes harmless

 

[jofost1216]

i used to do the drip acclimation but when i get a large quantity of clean up crews i float the bag to get the temp up. then put in a bucket and add a cup or 2 of my water every 10 minutes or so for about an hour until you triple the amount of water in that came in the bag and then put them in. IME hermits and snails are pretty hardy, i cant give advice on the urchin however, no experience. Good Luck

 

[BaritoneJP]

I hate to hear about your hermits ... I have been reading about this with hermit crabs because I am about to order a clean up crew as well ...

Based upon what I have read about hermit crabs, when they are shipped, the ammonia in the bag goes up. However, the pH goes down causing the ammonia levels to be less toxic. When DT water is dripped into the shipping bag water, the pH goes up and the toxic effects of the ammonia rise as well.

 

[mrjlopez731]

everything survived but the hermit crabs. I drip acclimated it all for like an hour and a half and the hermits all died within a day. Everything else is thriving though! My brittle star and urchin are crazy active... and someone brought along a itty bittyyyy starfish whos also doing good! The kind that supposedly eat corals, but mines been on the glass so I think hes harmless

HARMLESS? No way Jose. Ok they look cute but when they start to multiple.

 

[Yatish]

Reef Cleaners suggests no need to drip acclimate clean up crews just let float for 15 mins and then put em in. http://www.reefcleaners.org/acclimation

I followed their advice and did just that.. 2/3 nassarius snails survived and all 3 hermit crabs died instantly. I didn’t buy from them, since I don’t live in the States. I wrote to Reef Cleaners and they said listen to your LFS. I think this advice (no drip acclimation) should only apply to inverts your buy from Reef Cleaners..