First fish Acclimation.

[Hudsonfo]

Hi all,

I have some questions regarding acclimating fish/corals. Prob some stupid questions but any help is so valuable to me.

1. Do you drip acclimate fish if you get them locally; or do u just float to temp acclimate and then release (if salinity is close).

2. If I drip acclimate won’t the water in the bucket get cold again - what’s the point of temperature acclimating if it gets cooler again if dripping for 30mins plus? Or do I need to get a specific heater for the bucket - or float bag in the sump and drip into the bag?

3. Should I turn ato off if drip acclimating? Worried about water levels dripping and too much RO being put into water.

4. Do you dim your lights when you first add fish, and for how long? Just thinking about existing corals etc and affect on them? Lights are 3x ai hydra 32

5. When adding corals how long do u put the lights in acclimation mode? Is 3-5 days enough - just don’t want other corals in tank to be affected negatively?

thank you -

 

[sunken3]

There are exceptions to the rule, however, you can usually float and drop in. I save drip acclimation for certain inverts like shrimp and esp starfish (like linkia, chocolate chips are usually fine). I have never lost a fish from not acclimating them - from an LFS... I do a little more when shipped just because who knows what they've gone through.

key is your water isn't too far off from the bag water. and yes, usually a little better to dim the lights when you drop them in.. more so so they dont get harassed by your existing fish (and not as much for the sake of the fish you're dropping in).

I say all of this because I have been keeping fish for decades. So if you use this to guide your minimum standards, everything else you do above and beyond is just icing on the cake.

 

[Hudsonfo]

I know they are coming from a very good system - it’s a guy who does TTM on all the livestock and quarantines for us - he even makes sure they are feeding well etc

 

[sunken3]

There are exceptions to the rule, however, you can usually float and drop in. I save drip acclimation for certain inverts like shrimp and esp starfish (like linkia, chocolate chips are usually fine). I have never lost a fish from not acclimating them - from an LFS... I do a little more when shipped just because who knows what they've gone through.

key is your water isn't too far off from the bag water. and yes, usually a little better to dim the lights when you drop them in.. more so so they dont get harassed by your existing fish (and not as much for the sake of the fish you're dropping in).

I say all of this because I have been keeping fish for decades. So if you use this to guide your minimum standards, everything else you do above and beyond is just icing on the cake.

I know they are coming from a very good system - it’s a guy who does TTM on all the livestock and quarantines for us - he even makes sure they are feeding well etc

ya.. the one thing I would say is QT... that is one of those things that is hit or miss... years skipping without an issue .. and one fish can take your whole system down.

 

[tundraguy1106]

ya.. the one thing I would say is QT... that is one of those things that is hit or miss... years skipping without an issue .. and one fish can take your whole system down.

What about PH? I usually salinity and temp match and drop in. However the company I ordered my fish from say to drip them due to PH difference. They include an ammonia blocker for the drip method. Just a little confused now.