Do You Drip Acclimate Your Livestock?

[vlangel]

I do the same as Paul, add tank water to bag and then release.

 

[sg88]

When I first started reefing, I drip acclimated everything. The info I read at the time said it was necessary for salinity and temperature differences. But nowadays, I don’t drip acclimate at all. I just float the bag for 30 minutes for temp, then dip or qt as required. What’s your acclimation like, do you drip acclimate your livestock?

How much cleaning of the bag do you do before floating in your tank? Nothing, rinse in tap water, soak in salt water, clean outside with some product? Are you floating in the display tank, the sump or elsewhere?

 

[vlangel]

How much cleaning of the bag do you do before floating in your tank? Nothing, rinse in tap water, soak in salt water, clean outside with some product? Are you floating in the display tank, the sump or elsewhere?

I never clean the outside of the bag. I float in my display if that is where the fish are going and in the sump if that is where the fish are going.

 

[Subsea]

When adjusting fresh water mollies to salt water, I drip overnight. Everything else gets 15 minute float. When transferring between tanks, livestock gets 15 seconds.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

I see no reason to drip acclimate unless the water parameters are way off that you could actually harm the animal.

PH and ammonia are also concerns when shipping. The risk is there and I see no season to add further stress.

Bag float-15-30 minutes and drop in. For corals same thing but dip them.

 

[Kooma]

I float with water exchange introducing tank water to the bag and removing bag water (Toss it). Once salinity is equal (take about 30 min to do this) I net and drop in.

 

[BryanM]

I have never drip acclimated anything. I float bags and add water to them for approximately an hour. I discard the water and add the critter to the tank.

 

[lombeard]

Nope. I've never understood the benefit of drip acclimating corals before throwing them into coral dip. Dip, rinse, tank. As for fish, they go right in and I've not had issues before.

 

[Nano_Man]

Yes I do with fish more matching salinity
Corals not so much

 

[Key Largo]

Corals, float for temp and drop em in. No dip unless I'm not confident of place where purchased.

As for fish, I'm paranoid of disease. I have a few fish 8 years plus that I want to protect. Do not want any stress induced outbreaks. All depends on salinity difference. slow drip, meanwhile removing some water they came in. I use a cooler and sometimes mini heater to equalize and keep temp stable. I may drip 2-3 hours, checking with conductivity meter for salinity. Then divide water and use Safety Stop as per instructions. By that point new fish are usually swimming normally. Lastly, perforated container (not net) to scoop them out and place them in main tank but in a segregated container. I can both view them and try various methods to get them eating. I also get a handle on any potential behavioral issues with existing fish. A few days and in the tank they go. I do not use quarantine unless I detect something I didn't notice at LFS. I feel that that additional step is just another point of stress. It also depends on their treatment at store before purchase. IE. how long was fish there? eating? the stores treatment program etc.

 

[Reefer Matt]

How much cleaning of the bag do you do before floating in your tank? Nothing, rinse in tap water, soak in salt water, clean outside with some product? Are you floating in the display tank, the sump or elsewhere?

I don’t usually clean the bags, but I do look at them before floating. I have a large offset sump for one of my frag tanks, so I float them in that. Corals get dipped and inspected, then into one of the frag tanks. Fish go into qt tank. Inverts go right into tank after floating.

 

[Jasonak]

I drip inverts except hermits and dip fish.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

When I first started reefing, I drip acclimated everything. The info I read at the time said it was necessary for salinity and temperature differences. But nowadays, I don’t drip acclimate at all. I just float the bag for 30 minutes for temp, then dip or qt as required. What’s your acclimation like, do you drip acclimate your livestock?

I float the bag for 20- then use airline tubing tied in a knot to drip for about 45 min. I speed the rate of drip higher as time goes on.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

I have never drip acclimated anything. I float bags and add water to them for approximately an hour. I discard the water and add the critter to the tank.

This is a really good way to do it. Maintains temp better. I will start doing it this way.

 

[Faurek]

Only things I would drip are mollies and guppies, the rest doesn't need it.

 

[Jungle Blue]

From what I learned in FW:
Fish expel waste/ammonia during transit. Ammonia gets stronger(?) when exposed to air (opening the bag). Which makes sense why temp and drop is better because if you were to drip acclimate in higher bioload bag water (inverts vs fish), they're exposed to higher levels of ammonia the longer it is being dripped. I don't see how it'll be any more different in SW.

(!) While typing this, if must drip fish, pour all contents into a bucket and pull a live rock or cycled media bag until ready for drop in. I would probably still acclimate for corals and shrimp though.

[Edit]
GPT:

Sealed Environment:

• In a sealed bag during shipping, the CO₂ levels rise due to fish respiration.
• CO₂ dissolves in water and forms carbonic acid, which lowers the pH of the water.
• At a lower pH, the ammonia predominantly exists as NH₄⁺, which is less toxic to fish.

 

[Sump Crab]

Nope, after 20 years I don't think I have ever lost anything to quick acclimation. I just float and then immediately place the critter in my tank.

 

[Patx]

If the fish bag is around 1.020 i do this.

 

[Holmes Grown Coral]

Shipped livestock i float to temp net and dump. Local bought livestock i float to temp add a cup of tank water then net and dump!

 

[TeeJay87]

~2 weeks ago I received fish orders from Marine Collectors and NYAquatic. Both were the most well packaged shipments I’ve received. They both had acclimation instructions printed with the shipment. I followed the instructions which included the drip method, even though I don’t normally do it this way. I don’t know what chemicals they have added to the bag and they ship for a living, so I figure best to follow the instructions from the shipper. One key piece of information seems to be to not temp acclimate or drip for too long. The whole process (temp float and drip) should take no longer than an hour.