How long do you leave your lights off when acclimating new fish?

Daniel@R2R · Mar 10, 2021

How long do you leave the lights off when introducing a new fish to your reef? Do you leave them off overnight or just for a while?

Dbichler · Mar 10, 2021

I add fish about an hour before lights out then come back on in the morning most of my fish are in their bed about that time

zalick · Mar 10, 2021

Overnight. Just seems to reduce the stress on everyone, including my wife.

Daniel@R2R · Mar 10, 2021

It's interesting to me that so far, the majority is overnight, but the 2nd highest option is to not turn the lights out at all. I hadn't expected that!

sp1187 · Mar 10, 2021

is the question do we turn the lights out because we are adding a fish?
my lights run 13 on, 11 off.
fish get added an hour after I get home from the LFS, regardless of when that is in the lighting cycle.

Llyod276 · Mar 10, 2021

Daniel@R2R said:
How long do you leave the lights off when introducing a new fish to your reef? Do you leave them off overnight or just for a while?

Why bother? Shove me into a new environment and expect me to not explore? Then take away my sight. Nah.

redlinda1 · Mar 11, 2021

I added 2 fish yesterday to my tank for the first time, and they are hiding behind a rock. 1 covict damsel and 1 blue damsel. Is this normal? i did not turn the lights off till bedtime. Should one shut the lights when adding new fish

Dbichler · Mar 11, 2021

Llyod276 said:
Why bother? Shove me into a new environment and expect me to not explore? Then take away my sight. Nah.

You wouldn’t say that if you were a 2 inch fish going into a tank with 7”+ fish you would think you were being fed. It allows them to hide and find a spot first but that’s why I add my new fish when they are in their sleeping spot with the lights on though

Mr. Mojo Rising · Mar 11, 2021

I dont buy fish from online/delivery sources, I get them from different LFS's usually 15 min from my home. I've never turned out lights to acclimate fish and never lost a fish

Buckster · Mar 11, 2021

Most fish are an overnight delivery. I acclimate the water temp of bag in the sump. I then turn the lights off in the qt and add after drip acclimation. They have enough light since it is daytime.
I got an order from Dr. Reef yesterday (Paid extra as the fish were quarantined) which after temp acclimation I checked the salinity of the tank and bag water. Since the salinity matched I added the fish directly to the tank with the lights in feed mode for two hours. Waiting to see the new additions this morning!

CPC Reefer · Mar 11, 2021

I have never turned the lights off. Fish seem to do fine after acclimation. Plus I like to observe them after I put them into the tank and make sure that the fish patrol is not harassing them.

Llyod276 · Mar 11, 2021

Dbichler said:
You wouldn’t say that if you were a 2 inch fish going into a tank with 7”+ fish you would think you were being fed. It allows them to hide and find a spot first but that’s why I add my new fish when they are in their sleeping spot with the lights on though

Nope, and still with the lights off how am I to find the hiding spot. I think that were I to add 2 inch fish to 7inch fish, there may not be a 2inch fish when the lights came on. Nope leave em on.

MiniCoco · Jun 9, 2021

Daniel@R2R said:
How long do you leave the lights off when introducing a new fish to your reef? Do you leave them off overnight or just for a while?

I believe one should mirror relatively close to Mother Nature. Have a reasonable ramp up and down period that bookends an 8 to 9 hour day. I also like employing a moon light phase as well as running a refugium light opposite the display tank lighting.