What is your acclimation procedure?

[Sol]

I was talking to someone who was startled by the length of my acclimation procedure; he said he just floats a new speciemens bag for 20 mins and then dumps them in. I float their bag for 20 minutes, and then setup a drip acclimation @ 1 drip per second, and fish are drip acclimated for 45 minutes, inverts for 2 hours.

 

I thought that my procedure was pretty typical, but this conversation with this guy has made me wonder...What do y'all do?

 

-Sol

[cyenna]

Depending on where I get the critter from, I will either just scoop the fish out and put it in my tank or I float my bag, scoop a cup of my tank water in, wait a few minutes, scoop some more water in, then I dump the critter in and dump the bag water down the drain. I tried the drip acclimation and didn't see any benefits of it. IMO, it's probably better for the fish to be in a stable environment after being tossed around during travel.

[vanz]

1. Float bag in sump

2. Get airline tubing long enough to reach the display tank to the floating bag in the sump

3. Get siphon started from top tank to bag, then tie a knot in airline tubing to slow down the drip rate to about 1/sec.

4. Leave for 30 mins.

5. Come back to check water level in bag, if full, use turkey baster to remove water and discard.

6. Repeat 4 and 5 until it's been 3 hours.

 

That's pretty much what I do. Seems overboard, but that's how i roll.

[Guest Mbeef61]

pretty much the same as vanz....i think everything needs slow acclimation.

[impur]

I add about a cup or a full turkey baster of water to the bag floating in my sump every 20-30 min for 2-3 hours for everything. Then QT for a month.

[Lowman]

Slow drip for everything.

[Chief]

I slow drip for 2 hours.

 

Jay

[Barleychown]

Slow drip for at least an hour, more for inverts...

[cyenna]

wow. I don't slow drip, I use tap water, and I don't have a skimmer or sump. I'm surprised my tank has lasted so long! You guys are hard core. :p Maybe I should consider some changes....

[reefgeek84]

Only drip fish and inverts. Corals and pretty much everything thing else is floated for about 20 mins and then straight in.

[Twitterbait]

for everything but linka stars...

 

float for 15 min

add 1c tank water, float 5 more min

add 1more cup tank water, float 5 more min

empty bag through net into large bowl, toss critter into tank.

 

for corals i will also dip to avoid disease, if they have bryropsys then i will torch that portion before adding.

[Nyles]

I dont drip, simply had to many problems, but I put them in the display floating in bag and add a 1/2 cup of water every 5-10 min for hour or so (till I fill about 4 times original water level) then I net them out of that water and dump in tank making sure not to get any old water in.

[ThePremiumAquarium]

My process all depends on where I get the fish or invert from. I usually float for about 15-20min, then I add about 1/2cup of water from tank and then float for another 5 min. Then I take a close look at the new item to make sure there is no unwanted side affects. If not, another half cup and wait a couple of minutes. A net to make sure no crap water gets in my system and all done. If they are specimens with any question of health or disease, I will quarantine or not buy them at all. I also will occasionally resort to a fresh water dip of coral specimines if they look suspicious. I know many people who will just foat for a few minutes and dump the fish in. This works fine most of the time, but I prefer as low a stress situation as possible.