acclimating new fish

[thirty6]

whats your method?
curious to know what others are doing. I am picking up a fully qt'd fish during the week and was wondering the best way to go about doing this. i currently have a pair of clowns in a 150 and they are getting lonely, time to start adding some life

 

[peteyboyny]

I'm gonna catch hell for this...I drip acclimate my fish very slowly (7-9hrs). Haven't lost any fish since I started doing this. My lights g out at 8pm, so I time my drip period to match this. (fish enter the DT after lights out).
I used 1/4" RO tubing with a valve installed to control the drip. I don't QT either.

 

[fishman1069]

I drip acclimate fish also. I usually drip.for an hour or so. I try to get the water in the bucket to match the salinity of the tank

 

[thirty6]

so you mix up fresh batch of water to use while doing the drip or do you place the water the fish comes with in a bag and slowly drip into that? i dont recall what i used to do, and i have been basically tankless for 2 year period with a brief stint that a 120 was up and then destroyed due to power outages

 

[tunicata]

I drip acclimate as well.
I use a hose system from drsfoster, it's just a little U tube, with hose line attached. I can hang it on the tank and then let it run into a little critter cage.

I first start it on a slow drip, then after 30min turn it up a bit, then by the end of the hour let it run pretty consistently. I usually end up going longer than an hour since I multitask...i.e. go play online.

I always make sure that the temperature is close though.
At the very end I may just take a cup of water from the tank and pour it all in at once.

Other times, when I am hard up for time or cant find a big container, I pour in a quarter of a cup of water every 10 min

 

[Crowder]

Keep in mind when you drip a fish for a long time the water gets cold
One of the most important things when you acclimate fish is temperature
You can match the ph and salinity but if the water is cold and then you slam them into
warm tank water your doing more harm than good
I have always tried to match temp and see how far apart the ph and salinity are from the tank I am adding them to ,remember we freshwater dip fish and they are fine
So where ever you are transferring the fish from the ph and salinity should match or be very close. I have always tried to do a quick acclimation and reduce the stress on the new fish. If you are ordering fish from overnight shipping take a little bit longer
If you are buying the fish from a LFS the salt and ph should be very close already,so a quick acclimation should be fine. And like was previously stated turn lights out for a minimum of 2 hours, or the rest of the day would be ideal as far as stress is concerned

 

[Nottick]

I was told by someone who was in the hobby and has done extensive research that fish take about a week to adjust to salinity. So personally I match temp then net the fish and throw in dt. Have not had any issues yet. Temp is what shocks em not salinity or ph IMO

 

[thirty6]

nottick, how long would you say your total process lasts?

the thought of a fish laying in a bucket with no filtration just seems odd to me,like keeping it in the bag excessive amount of time

 

[jhart]

I was told by someone who was in the hobby and has done extensive research that fish take about a week to adjust to salinity. So personally I match temp then net the fish and throw in dt. Have not had any issues yet. Temp is what shocks em not salinity or ph IMO

Ph is the most important aspect .
How I acclimate fish is I get the bag, I wipe down the bag clean , dont no what was picked up on the outside of the bag.. I take the bag put it my sump and acclimate the temp. Then I drip 100% clean tank water . When it reaches 100% volume , I discard 50% of the water and countinue to drip till its at 100% again..
Temp acclimate in the dark in the sump , drip 2xs then add to system with no lights on..
Now If the fish were shipped more than 10 hrs other precautions are taken because of the drop in ph .
Fish use water for there oxygen and discreet co2 through there gills which stays into the bag lowing the ph to deadly levels.. Air stone is usefull , co2 ,can be useful and sometimes adding the fish immediately is better than acclimating depending how the water is . Fish poop raises ammonia levels where acclimatinting would take to long and kill the fish so dropping the fish in clean water is the best thing to do.. Many variables need to be taken into consideration .

 

[Jarrett]

Put him in a bowl take a cup of water and pour it in little by little over the course of an hour haven't lost a fish yet

 

[peteyboyny]

so you mix up fresh batch of water to use while doing the drip or do you place the water the fish comes with in a bag and slowly drip into that? i dont recall what i used to do, and i have been basically tankless for 2 year period with a brief stint that a 120 was up and then destroyed due to power outages

I always have fresh salt water mixed up ready to go (to refill 7hrs of drip). I empty the bag or whatever the fish is in into a 5g bucket, then setup my drip line and adjust to a slow drip (1-2 drops/second). I drip til the salinity matches. Most LFSs keep fish only systems at 1.019, my reef is at 1.025. Once they match, and the lights are out, I dump the water into a net and put the fish in and discard the water. Then, replace whatever water was removed from the tank (usually 2-3g). Lights out introduction reduces stress from other fish and give the new fish time to adjust to his or her new surroundings.

 

[vio]

Ph is the most important aspect .
How I acclimate fish is I get the bag, I wipe down the bag clean , dont no what was picked up on the outside of the bag.. I take the bag put it my sump and acclimate the temp. Then I drip 100% clean tank water . When it reaches 100% volume , I discard 50% of the water and countinue to drip till its at 100% again..
Temp acclimate in the dark in the sump , drip 2xs then add to system with no lights on..
Now If the fish were shipped more than 10 hrs other precautions are taken because of the drop in ph .
Fish use water for there oxygen and discreet co2 through there gills which stays into the bag lowing the ph to deadly levels.. Air stone is usefull , co2 ,can be useful and sometimes adding the fish immediately is better than acclimating depending how the water is . Fish poop raises ammonia levels where acclimatinting would take to long and kill the fish so dropping the fish in clean water is the best thing to do.. Many variables need to be taken into consideration .

+1,keep the bag on swamp (for temp.) when drip.

 

[thirty6]

thanks for all replies!

 

[MikeC]

Fish from LFS (never ordered fish online?)
Place bag in sump to acclimate temp.
Test salinity.
Drip accordingly/ drip hose from DT into fish bag in sump. (on a average 1 hour)

 

[Paul B]

Put him in a bowl take a cup of water and pour it in little by little over the course of an hour haven't lost a fish yet

Thats basically what I do, I don't usually do it for an entire hour but maybe 45 minutes, unless the salinity is way off, then I will wait a little longer, and like everyone else I never lost a fish. Doing it that way for almost fifty years so 9,000 fish. OK, I didn't count them.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

Now If the fish were shipped more than 10 hrs other precautions are taken because of the drop in ph .
Fish use water for there oxygen and discreet co2 through there gills which stays into the bag lowing the ph to deadly levels.. Air stone is usefull , co2 ,can be useful and sometimes adding the fish immediately is better than acclimating depending how the water is . Fish poop raises ammonia levels where acclimatinting would take to long and kill the fish so dropping the fish in clean water is the best thing to do.. Many variables need to be taken into consideration .

i thought that the use of air stone is not recommended for acclimation of fish that had been in the bag for a long trip. the air stone would raise the ph too quickly and therefore raise the ammonia to a toxic level.

a good acclimation guidelines from dr.foster's
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=19

 

[SanmanReefer]

Ph is the most important aspect .
How I acclimate fish is I get the bag, I wipe down the bag clean , dont no what was picked up on the outside of the bag.. I take the bag put it my sump and acclimate the temp. Then I drip 100% clean tank water . When it reaches 100% volume , I discard 50% of the water and countinue to drip till its at 100% again..
Temp acclimate in the dark in the sump , drip 2xs then add to system with no lights on..
Now If the fish were shipped more than 10 hrs other precautions are taken because of the drop in ph .
Fish use water for there oxygen and discreet co2 through there gills which stays into the bag lowing the ph to deadly levels.. Air stone is usefull , co2 ,can be useful and sometimes adding the fish immediately is better than acclimating depending how the water is . Fish poop raises ammonia levels where acclimatinting would take to long and kill the fish so dropping the fish in clean water is the best thing to do.. Many variables need to be taken into consideration .

+1 on that, I do the same plus I throw the fish on a bucket filled with RO water like a dip (just kidding) On a serious note, I think your procedure is spot on!!!

 

[LowezAkar24]

LowezAkar24

My Style:

- Float Bag (if you have it in a bag) for 15 minutes to match temperature.

- Take Out 2 Cups of Water/ Replace With 2 Cups of Your Tank Water
Every 15 minutes (3 Times)

- Add Fish To Tank With Net (Do not put any of that acclimation water in your tank).