Hello Everyone,
I have been pondering the age old question of "drip/slow" acclimation vs "plop and drop" in Saltwater Aquaria. As I turn the idea over, I feel that conundrum I run into is the fact that Reef Aquarists, LFS, and the hobby as a whole maintain unbalanced parameters for there aquariums. Personally, I keep Natural Sea Water parameters or as close to it. I target the parameters in Red Sea Salt: Blue Bucket. Overall, I feel that gradual acclimation for reef fish is beneficial, but it is not a requirement.
I have kept saltwater fish for approximately 5+ Years. During this period of time, I have gradually acclimated and plop and dropped my reef fish. I know *gasp, boo, hiss* On average, I have not lost my fish at a rate that exceeds death by natural causes. On the whole, I can count the SW fish on one hand which have died of unnatural causes. Freshwater fish otoh have very short life spans. I know SW fish are more expensive then FW, so why not. Let's baby them. But on the whole, I feel that most of the stress/lack of eating/and Stressful crap on the whole stems from unstable params and the treatment of the fish while moving them from site to site to site.
Imagine if you were plucked from NSW drip acclimated to unbalanced hobbyist saltwaterat the local LFS and then moved to a new radically different saltwater environment 3x sometimes in the Course of a month. Just because you are drip acclimated over the course of a few hours does not make it any less stressful. It just spreads the stress out in tiny bites.
I am not advocating that everyone does X or Y. I would like to open a channel for discussion. These fish have evolved to live in very large, stable bodies of water, seas and oceans. Because of this, they are not used to change overall.
Personally, do you all feel that drip acclimation causes a tangible increase in survival rate on fish and corals. Overall, I am highly skeptical. FYI, I kept unbalanced params as well, and I rarely had issues introducing fish into my aquarium. Typically the pain points I would run into were poor fish from the place of purchase, which were kept in stressful environments.
Sidenote: I am highly skeptical that LFS drip acclimate their fish overall.
I have been pondering the age old question of "drip/slow" acclimation vs "plop and drop" in Saltwater Aquaria. As I turn the idea over, I feel that conundrum I run into is the fact that Reef Aquarists, LFS, and the hobby as a whole maintain unbalanced parameters for there aquariums. Personally, I keep Natural Sea Water parameters or as close to it. I target the parameters in Red Sea Salt: Blue Bucket. Overall, I feel that gradual acclimation for reef fish is beneficial, but it is not a requirement.
I have kept saltwater fish for approximately 5+ Years. During this period of time, I have gradually acclimated and plop and dropped my reef fish. I know *gasp, boo, hiss* On average, I have not lost my fish at a rate that exceeds death by natural causes. On the whole, I can count the SW fish on one hand which have died of unnatural causes. Freshwater fish otoh have very short life spans. I know SW fish are more expensive then FW, so why not. Let's baby them. But on the whole, I feel that most of the stress/lack of eating/and Stressful crap on the whole stems from unstable params and the treatment of the fish while moving them from site to site to site.
Imagine if you were plucked from NSW drip acclimated to unbalanced hobbyist saltwaterat the local LFS and then moved to a new radically different saltwater environment 3x sometimes in the Course of a month. Just because you are drip acclimated over the course of a few hours does not make it any less stressful. It just spreads the stress out in tiny bites.
I am not advocating that everyone does X or Y. I would like to open a channel for discussion. These fish have evolved to live in very large, stable bodies of water, seas and oceans. Because of this, they are not used to change overall.
Personally, do you all feel that drip acclimation causes a tangible increase in survival rate on fish and corals. Overall, I am highly skeptical. FYI, I kept unbalanced params as well, and I rarely had issues introducing fish into my aquarium. Typically the pain points I would run into were poor fish from the place of purchase, which were kept in stressful environments.
Sidenote: I am highly skeptical that LFS drip acclimate their fish overall.