Acclimating ?

[Petunia]

What method of acclimation does everyone use? Why?

Since I have a nine gallon nano (and hopefully moving up to a 30 gallon)... I was wondering about the drip method of acclimating. How do you do this?

[Cylenchar]

The drip method you take a flexible tube and run it from your tank into a bucket. in the bucket you put your fish, and then suck the air out of the tube so it will siphon water into the bucket. You can knot the tube to adjust the speed of the drip.

This is the method I use when buying fish from online. My LFS keeps their water parameters nearly identical with mine so I only need to do temperature acclimation. (Float the bag in the tank for 30-45 minutes).

[Liza]

ok... my method is a little different, but I will float the bags in my 12 gallon until temperatures are the same, then I put the new critter in a clean bowl/tupperware (I've also tried keeping the critters in the bag floating, rolled the sides down a little for stability, and added my own water to the bag with the critter still floating) and will spoon in water from my tank every 5 minutes or so. If the water level gets too high, I pour off a small amount right down the sink and continue adding my own water for as long as I can be patient.

[pogodzib]

I always float the bag in the tank (with the lights out) for 10-15 minutes followed by a drip acclimation. Cylenchar did a pretty decent job at describing the drip method. Just make sure that you tie a loose knot in the tube before starting the siphon and then tighten the knot to a drip after the siphon is started. I use the drip method with all purchases, no matter how simmilar the stores tanks are to mine. That way I don't need to worry about testing the pH and salinity of the stores water everytime I purchase their livestock. Besides, those pH test kits are so tough to read correcly anyway.

BTW - It doesn't take much suction with your mouth before the siphon starts. You'll know if you sucked to long on the tube. Nothing like the good ole taste of tank water.

[Petunia]

In't there a regulator or something that you can put on the hose, instead of tying it in a knot, to get the water to drip? So let me understand this... you put a critter in a bucket, with no sw in it? Then let the sw from you tank drip into the bucket with it? Do you have a heater in the bucket? Or, a powerhead? I'm not sure how to do this? How do you know when you can put the critter into the tank? Then you put that same sw back into the tank, or put in new sw?

[davidsreef]

I just keep my critter in the bag, and put the bag in a conatiner, don't know why - that's just how I do it. I suppose just putting the critter in the container is more logical. I have an old "cool whip" conatiner with a pin hole in the bottom and fill it with tank water and let it drip by gravity into the bag (I just put the "cool whip" on top of the container with a big of egg crate). I usually float the bag before I do this to stabalize the temp. I drip for about 45-60 minutes then put the critter in the tank.
Greg how long is it again that you acclimate??????????

[pogodzib]

Yes, you can get a valve or a IV type bag to use while drip acclimating, but I find tying a knot works just as good. You should only use small (1/4") hose for this to help control the drip amount.

For the acclimation, if the critter/coral got shipped in a wet paper towel, place it into the drip container and let the water drip into the container. You can leave a moist cloth over the item to keep it moist until water covers the item completely, then remove the cloth. For acclimating something that was shipped in water (fish), I like to place about 1"-2" of water that the fish came from into a 1 gallon ice cream bucket and let tank water drip into the bucket until it is full. Usually, this takes about 1 hour. You can either put a small heater into the container or have the bucket sitting in the sump water to keep it warm. The water temp can change quickly during a slow drip depending on your room temp.

Do not put a powerhead into the container. If you are worried about oxygen, you can add an airstone into the water. I don't though as the added air could cause your pH shift in the bucket.

Once the bucket if full of water, I usually do a dip (FW dip for fish or Seachem Reef dip for corals) and then place the fish into a Q-tank or the corals into my regular tank. Do not transfer any water from the drip container into your tank incase there is any pests/parasites in it.

[Sizzlersonthebrain]

Acording to Eric B. take a gallon of saltwater get it cold in the fridge, and it works better at stunning hitch hikers off your rock and corals than lugals, before you place them in the tank.

[Petunia]

Thanks Brian... just wanted I wanted to know.

[RichardS]

In't there a regulator or something that you can put on the hose, instead of tying it in a knot, to get the water to drip?

The little needle air valves that come with maxijet powerheads work great for this.

[DevilBoy]

i use the drip method for everything. Unless you ask Greg, he says the longer you take the more stress on the animal giving the animal less chance to survive... hmmm


Shelli- i have my 46g bowfront for sale. if you are intrested let me know.

[condiman]

I use a slow drip method using a hang on overflow box setup that I made.

[Loverotties]

I do the slow drip.