Drip acclimate or not?

[afboundguy]

I have noticed a lot of overnight shipping vendors are now suggesting just doing a temperature float acclimation and then immediately transfer them into the tank. Reasoning is when air is exposed and fresh tank water is slowly added the pH rises in the bag increasing the toxicity of the ammonia. Theory is that the salinity/pH shock is far less damaging than the ammonia toxicity and curious what everybody's thoughts are?

I have seen the trend to do this new method for acclimation after overnight shipping and I have done it without issues for a few overnight shipped fish but still see some vendors saying drip acclimation is the way.

 

[edsbeaker]

I don’t use drip. I will usually float to match temp. If salinity is the same, they go right in. If there is a large difference, then I remove about 1/3 of the shipping water and add that volume back from the tank water, and repeat every 10 minutes 3 times, then in they go.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I generally use a different method.

I make some tank water to the same temp and salinity as the incoming water, immediately transfer to that clean water, than slowly adjust the temp and salinity by periodically adding more tank water.

That avoids ammonia issues in the incoming water as the pH rises.

 

[fishywishy]

I only do drip if I buy from a local store and the fish/invert is sensitive.

I do the cup method for everything else.

 

[Lavey29]

I toss my fish in to the pool.

 

[BryanM]

I generally temp acclimate, then I usually transfer the fish and water into another vessel where I can catch the fish and put it in my tank. I try not to use water from any source outside my control

 

[rishma]

I have always wondered why we don’t put a drop of ammonia neutralizer into the bag or into the water we are adding in case of drip/cup additions method.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I have always wondered why we don’t put a drop of ammonia neutralizer into the bag or into the water we are adding in case of drip/cup additions method.

Some do. Prime or amquel.

 

[rishma]

Some do. Prime or amquel.

Ok. I’d never seen anyone talk about but it Seems like like a good idea. Wonder what the downsides are.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Ok. I’d never seen anyone talk about but it Seems like like a good idea. Wonder what the downsides are.

I agree. Some say prime doesn’t really work. Honestly I don’t know what the downside is and why we don’t use it more.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The downside is just a false sense of doing something useful.

 

[rishma]

The downside is just a false sense of doing something useful.

Say more. Do ammonia neutralizers not work? I don’t use them for anything so I don’t know anything about them.

 

[jabberwock]

The downside is just a false sense of doing something useful.

You sound like a scientist.

 

[Patx]

Easy.

:grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Personally,
coral: float bag for temp. > dip > tank
Fish only at LFS : cup technic.

 

[Waters]

I do whatever the vendor tells me to do lol. Some, like Marine Collectors have in their instructions that they have an ammonia blocker in their shipped water (what it is I don't know) and they give instructions to drip acclimate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Say more. Do ammonia neutralizers not work? I don’t use them for anything so I don’t know anything about them.

The testing linked below was very extensive using a wide array of test protocols, including the exact way that Seachem recommends testing ammonia when using Prime. The evidence is quite conclusive (IMO) that nothing sold to the hobby binds a useful amount of ammonia at the doses recommended.

taricha's conclusion in the third link:

"The amounts of the active ingredients in recommended doses of these “ammonia neutralizer” products are small, safe doses that are far below the amounts actually needed to do anything measurable to remove ammonia."

Personally, I think the reason so many people think these products are useful is that they overestimate how toxic ammonia actually is. They measure 1 or 2 ppm ammonia, use a product, their fish lives, and they believe it worked, when it reality, doing nothing would also work. These sorts of issues were largely the impetus for my ammonia article: to get folks to see it takes a lot more than 2 ppm ammonia to kill a fish in a few days.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/does-prime-actually-detoxify-free-ammonia-nh3.849985/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/prime-does-not-remove-ammonia.885857/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a...prime-cloram-x-rongalite-and-friends.1064206/

 

[LPS Bum]

I float for temp and dip my corals, then put them directly into my display. Fish get the same temp float and a fast/aggressive 30 min drip, then straight into QT.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

I stopped drip acclimating about 6 months into the hobby. Strictly bag float for 30 minutes and drop it in.
Unless its something that is known to be very sensitive to sudden shifts in PH or salinity.

I have 98% success rate.

 

[rishma]

The testing linked below was very extensive using a wide array of test protocols, including the exact way that Seachem recommends testing ammonia when using Prime. The evidence is quite conclusive (IMO) that nothing sold to the hobby binds a useful amount of ammonia at the doses recommended.

taricha's conclusion in the third link:

"The amounts of the active ingredients in recommended doses of these “ammonia neutralizer” products are small, safe doses that are far below the amounts actually needed to do anything measurable to remove ammonia."

Personally, I think the reason so many people think these products are useful is that they overestimate how toxic ammonia actually is. They measure 1 or 2 ppm ammonia, use a product, their fish lives, and they believe it worked, when it reality, doing nothing would also work. These sorts of issues were largely the impetus for my ammonia article: to get folks to see it takes a lot more than 2 ppm ammonia to kill a fish in a few days.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/does-prime-actually-detoxify-free-ammonia-nh3.849985/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/prime-does-not-remove-ammonia.885857/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a...prime-cloram-x-rongalite-and-friends.1064206/

Wow, thank you. I had no idea.

 

[design.maddie]

I have adopted the method temp acclimation then replacing 1/3 of the water in the bag with tank water every 10 minutes for 30 minutes. If the vendor gave exact instructions I will follow those.