I read an article about how drip acclimating isnt necesary and advised against b/c of amonia build up in bags. can someone point me in the direction of this article. thanks!

I can't direct you to the article, but I can tell you that I don't drip anything and I haven't lost any new livestock in a very long time. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I had something die shortly after being added to the tank.

I can't find the article now of course

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=212736

The wetweb article FWIW

http://wetwebmedia.com/acclimat.htm

there are only a few items that need to be drip acclimated. Any thing shipped is a big no no.

I drip acclimate everything, and everything I buy is shipped in (I also dose prime halfway through the process).

I've taken to dripping everything. Not everything needs it, but imo, some fish really need it, wrasses in particular come to mind. If you're worried about ammonia build up, there are effective products that you can use just for acclimation that you would normally not use otherwise.

it just amazes me how passionately someone can berate you for doing things one way when there are so many different ways that work equally as well. i just had to see who really drips everything....

I've dripped, I've not dripped, I've used a spoon and added water to the bag every 5 minutes, etc etc.

I've done everything shy of not acclimating at all and I never add the bag water to my tank. Never lost a fish due to what I thought was a lack of acclimation.

When I have something particularly fragile, I usually will drip, just to make sure.

I never have and never will. The longer the fish is bagged the worse off it is.

Welcome to a hobby, enjoy your stay

I don't drip acclimate my fish, or coral (just temp, since it takes me all of 10 min to get home from my LFS where I buy their water as well). I've drip acclimated some of my inverts (cleaner shrimp) and I've not drip acclimated others (urchin and hermits). Have yet to lose anything (to acclimating that is...my blood cleaner murdered my skunk cleaner shrimp but that's different).

Same here. Been reefing for close to 5 years now and have done everything from really slow drip to just temp acclimation and in they go.

Anymore, unless it's a really prized piece that needs a little extra time to acclimate, it's a 10 minute float and drop them in. Have yet to lose a single piece or fish this way.

Like they say, different strokes for different folks

+1

I'd say that unless you have something particular delicate or VERY expensive, a temp acclimation is fine. Unless you know there is going to be an extreme change in water quality/make up.

Couldn't agree with you more. Fish in general that are considered to be durable; clowns, gobies, etc, don't really need excessive acclimation whereas some fish that are more delicate such as butterflies and some wrasses, could benefit from the dripping but I wouldn't say that they necessarily need it. I did have a male anthias jump out of the thing I was trying to temp-acclimate him with and he dove right into the tank. Little bastard is still alive and trying to kill my Pyle's male three months later. But, he was going from QT into the display.

The main thing I'd suggest doing is checking the differences in salinity and alkalinity. If there's a wide difference in these, you may run the risk of shocking the fish and at that point, you should consider dripping. I drip everything (fish only, everything else gets temp-and-dunk) just because it's easy and it puts my mind at ease.

For fish: I do a temperature acclimation, open the bag, match the tank salinity to the bag (QT tank), capture the fish with a plastic container (never a net!), and add it.

For corals: Remove coral, add to tank.

For certain inverts: Drip acclimation...just to be on the safe side.

I once saw a LFS employee open a shipping bag and add an airstone to it...yikes! Worst thing you could possibly do.

Yikes, indeed!

I've dripped, not dripped, added water to the bag, temp acclimated, and just dumped things in. So far, I haven't had any losses due to acclimation- whatever gets the job done

I think acclimating snails is a joke, I find them on the outside of the glass, on the counter, even on the floor and just toss them back in, and the crawl off within minutes.

I've been dripping all my shrimp and fish tho for 30+ min after the short 20 min trip from LFS with good success, figure over acclimating can't hurt them (unless shipped for days)

screw drip acclimation.....

I drip stars, urchins and fish. I don't drip anything else that I can think of.

Shipped livestock have been in the bags for so long already, drip acclimating for another 30 minutes won't hurt a thing.

There's also the use of airstones or air pumps to keep the water oxygenated, but again, it has already been in the bag for so long. Airstones and air in general will change the pH anyway. I think the biggest concern of acclimation is the reduction of dissolved oxygen.

30 minutes tops for acclimation would probably be good. Fish probably need a lot less acclimation, probably just temp acclimated and 5 - 10 minutes.

Inverts I know are extremely touchy though. I have found that a really solid 30 min drip acclimation of 3 - 5 drips per second works 90% of the time, and otherwise inverts die within a week. Well some. Nudis, sea slugs, urchins for sure. snails and hermits, not so much.

If they have been in the bag for days the ammonia will go through the roof, but the PH will drop causing the ammonia to become less toxic. By dripping or adding an airstone to the bagged water you are increasing the PH which thereby makes the ammonia toxic again and making the acclimation process worse then if you just floated the bag and released into tank.

From personal experience, there's no need to drip stars. I bought a blue linkia three months ago for my harley and the harlequin dissappeared (assuming he died of old age, but no idea). I temp acclimated then chucked it in. Stupid thing is still going as is the leg I cut off. I did the same with all of the stars purchased for the shrimp and the only one that ever died was one of questionable health to begin with. But, to be fair, most were sand-sifters.



Airstones is a horrible idea in general for shipping bags. They're weak, but airstones do run on the same principles that protein skimmers do, so you're creating a mini-skimmer in your bag.

I general don't bother...unless the SG is wayy off. I run my tank at 1.25 and last time I had to accimulate was when I bought clowns and the SG was 1.20

i microwave the fish a couple minutes to defrost, thaw further under hot water, heat up some oil in the pan and toss it in. never burned a fish yet.

I only drip fish, but if they're flipping out in the acclimation tank than I'll just net em in. Yes, I said net, it's the easiest thus in my opinion least stressfull on the fish. If I'm moving a very spiny fish I'll reconsider.

No spices?

Who let you out of the lounge?

Easiest for you?

Sorry, yes. I find I have to chase fish a lot with plastic containers where as the net is quick easy and painless.

You use a clear container? I find the exact opposite!

I'd also rather wear a fish out than scrape its skin and eyes with a rough net. They make really soft nets, almost like cotton cloth, but they are all but impossible to find at a local fish store!