How long to drip/float acclimate your fish?

[Josett Waid]

Hi! I wanted to ask and see some of y'alls opinions on how long to drip and float acclimate. Usually we drip and float acclimate our fish for at least 1 hour and maybe 20 minutes tops. We asked our LFS if this was the best recommended time to do so and they said to only do it for 30 minutes tops.. So I would love to see your opinions on this and the time y'all dip/float acclimate and if it's worked out good for y'all.

Thank you,
Josett Waid

 

[Jack Eskay]

I usually try and do 30 to 45 minutes and a steady drip(try to double water volume) so that there's not a huge temp change and the fish doesn't get to stressed in the bucket or lose too much oxygen.

 

[fragit]

I float mine in the bag for about 15 minutes first, then do a nice steady drip for an hour, as stated above trying to double the water volume. I always dump some of the bag water before starting my drip. My specific gravity is set to my LFS's so all I'm worried about is PH differences if there is any.

 

[Brew12]

I drop an ammonia alert badge in my acclimation container. I will typically acclimate for 30-60 minutes if I don't see any ammonia. I will speed the process up if the badge starts changing colors.

 

[happyhourhero]

I will likely get flamed but I feed my tank and drop the new fish in. Have not had any losses doing it this way. Disclaimer is that most of these are fish I collected myself but not all.

 

[Josett Waid]

I float mine in the bag for about 15 minutes first, then do a nice steady drip for an hour, as stated above trying to double the water volume. I always dump some of the bag water before starting my drip. My specific gravity is set to my LFS's so all I'm worried about is PH differences if there is any.

Yeah we usually try to double the water volume, but we have been so confused as to the time requirements that are best. Since we've been to two fish stores and both always have different answers for us. So thanks for the replies!

 

[Lazys Coral House]

If you buy it from your local fish store 30-1hr is fine assuming they don't run low salinity. If purchasing online and it is shipped to you a couple hours may be necessary. Especially larger fish. The PH of the water is usually 7.2-7.4 from fish that get shipped due to high co2 and ammonia that builds up while in transit. I use muratic acid to lower ph and match salinity to replace the water immediately with no acclimation. Then oxygenate to raise ph and drip to raise salinity for shipped fish.

 

[Josett Waid]

If you buy it from your local fish store 30-1hr is fine assuming they don't run low salinity. If purchasing online and it is shipped to you a couple hours may be necessary. Especially larger fish. The PH of the water is usually 7.2-7.4 from fish that get shipped due to high co2 and ammonia that builds up while in transit. I use muratic acid to lower ph and match salinity to replace the water immediately with no acclimation. Then oxygenate to raise ph and drip to raise salinity for shipped fish.

Thanks! And yeah we will most likely do the 30-1hr like you said, and another question I have for anyone who might be willing to answer is that. Recently we had a huge lose in fish from both tanks due to velvet.. So now we are wanting to QT all our fish that we buy from any fish store. My question is how long do y'all recommend QT, and what to do after the fish have been in QT? Do we just acclimate them like we would if we were just getting them straight from the fish store or what?

 

[Mike in CT]

After losing a couple of online purchased fish during acclimation, I now immediately add the fish to the quarantine tank after bringing the temp of the water in the shipping bag to the same as the Q tank.
I have talked to people who have acclimated a lot of fish and was told this ended up being the best method for them. Now if the salt levels in the shipping water are much different, that can complicate things, unless it's your only fish in quarantine, then you can just raise or reduce the q tank salinity to match the shipping water. The idea is to get the fish into the best quality water as quick as possible, because it's already under so much stress. A locally acquired fish is different, and I use a 1/2 to 1 hour drip acclimation .

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I do not drip acclimate any fish I purchase online.

 

[TheRealDmorty217]

Never drip acclimate, it's a great way to kill your fish especially if they are shipped to you. I haven't drip acclimated in years and all the fish I get are fine being taken out of the bag and put right into my QT.

 

[ruha456]

Interesting tagging along.

 

[Josett Waid]

Alright, we haven't bought any online so far so I'll keep that info in mind if we ever do. But I also want to know since we will be QT from now on I just want to know the recommended time in QT and I read that it may be a good idea to acclimate before putting the fish in the QT tank also?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

There's nothing wrong with the process of acclimation itself. When I moved one of my lions from it's QT to the display, I acclimated him for an entire week. There was no hurry, because his QT had beautiful water and the display had beautiful water, they were just different. Now, when you bring a fish home in shipping water... well, that is not "beautiful water". Quite often it's nasty water. You need to get them out of that water as soon as possible and forgo the benefits of acclimation.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I used to test shipping water.... the yellow is the "control", the green is the shipping water.

 

[alyee5]

I have only purchased fish from LFS so haven't had to worry about pH dropping and ammonia build up in the bag.

I match my QT tank salinity to the LFS prior to purchase, float the bag to temp acclimate for 20 minutes then release in my QT.

I am a newbie, but 3 for 3 so far.

I QT for 4 weeks. 1 week to raise salinity to DT levels. 1 week of 2 Prazipro treatments, then 2 weeks of observation. I have copper and metronidazole on hand if needed (should have something for bacterial infections but don't right now)

 

[Tankr75]

Ok quick question. What about invers. Is floating for 15 minutes and then drip for 1 hour ok or longer? And what about qt inverts like snails crabs starfish extra. I am wanting to purchase some from online as my lfs is a petco over an hour away lol. And just about everything I have bought from petco has died so kinda wanna try something else. Sorry I am not meaning to hijack this thread I just thought it was kind of along the same topic.

 

[Josett Waid]

I've read and watched YouTube videos that say it's good to acclimate invertebrates for about the same time as fish and corals. And I would think QT wouldn't hurt either that's what we may do if we see something odd on one of the invertebrates or corals, just to make sure we don't bring a hitchhiker in the display tank. And I'm not too sure about what to do about online purchases since we have not purchased any online yet but hopefully some one might have more info for that on here for you!

 

[Tankr75]

ok thank you for the reply and if it helps I am thinking of either buying from aquariumdepot.com or liveaquaria.com if that makes any difference on the way they handle their animals.

 

[Josett Waid]

Yep! And I would just read reviews from the two from multiple people and just see if you think the two or one are better to purchase from. I've read reviews from liveaquaria.com and they seem to get good reviews. The only problem we have with wanting to purchase live stock and corals from online is that shipping is quite pricey but I guess it's better to pay that shipping to get them to you sooner and hopefully healthy and alive.