Preferred acclimation technique

[Dr.Brain Coral]

I will be ordering the majority of my corals and inverts since the lfs are a ways away. I have heard that if your salinity is the same just float it and set it free. But others say to drip for hours. I am so confused and need to know your opinions

[jservedio]

I always dump the bags out into a plastic paint cup and clamp that to the wall of my sump so the temperature adjusts and stays the same as my tank. Then I run a drip line from the DT to the cup and let it drip for at least 2 or 3 hours - for snails and other inverts I drip for 8 or 10 hours to ensure the best chance of long-term survival since they are really prone to dying from big changes in anything.

 

If it's an acro, I clamp the paint cup to my QT tank and use a turkey baster to add about 100ml to the cup every 15 minutes or so and after about an hour I put it in the QT tank. Since I do WCs on my QT tank using dirty water from my display, I don't have to acclimate them after QT.

 

Obviously, between acclimating and going in the tank they get dipped - alaway make sure the dip water is the same temperature.

[kdino]

temp float, then use the water the frags came in to do a coralfx dip, then quick rinse in clean water then into the tank. been doing it this way for years, soft, hard, sps, palys zoas, inverts and fish(obviously no dip) never did a slow acclimation. these animals are stronger than we give them credit for.

[hey]

No death's including snails from temp acclimations only. Granted I order very little and buy locally for 90% of my stuff.

 

I will however state that coming up on 2 years in the hobby my experience in acclimation is extremely small compared to many who do this as vendors or have been in the hobby for years and is best to follow their most likely very valuable experiences.

[Mr. Microscope]

Fish and inverts I slowly temp and water change acclimate for about an hour.

 

Nems (i know, it's an invert too, but not the way a shrimp is) and corals I float for a few minutes to temp acclimate and then just put it straight into the water. The way I see it, the sooner they get into ideal conditions the better.

 

The only exception to this is if I have a dipping protocol. Then, I do that before putting them in the tank.

 

http://reefbuilders.com/2013/12/12/acclimating-corals-wrong-2/

 

 

 

BTW, I also remove frags from plugs and remount on a fresh plug (or not at all) unless it's entirely encrusted. Even then, somtimes I'll clip it off. Plugs can come with a lot of nasties.

[D Z]

Acclimation is different for different items. This is what I do:

 

Coral: First, I float the bag for about 20 minutes just to let the temperature of the water in the bag adjust to the temperature of the water in the tank. This id debatable whether it really matters as coral in the wild typically can see temperature swings throughout the day. For me, it is one of those things I do just in case and because I usually cannot go straight into a dip as soon as I walk through the door from the LFS. Therefore I might as well just float the bags while I am doing what I need to do. After about 20 minutes, I pour the water into some kind of shallow tray, add about a half a capful of Coral Revive, mix well and then add the frag and let it sit in the dip for about 10 - 15 minutes. Then, remove the frag and dip it in a cup of tank water and then into the tank. I usually put new frags on the sand bed for a couple days to acclimate to the light in my tank and then when I feel it is ready, it gets glued into place.

 

Inverts: Inverts are a lot more sensative to changes, but I do not go nearly as far as jservedio. I float the bag to adjust the water in the bag to the temp of the water in the tank for about 20 minutes. Then, I pour the water and contents of the bag into a tuperware or bucket and setup a drip line from my tank to it. I usually aim for about 1 drip per second. I typically let this drip for about 30 minutes, and then add the inverts to the tank.

 

Fish: I typically float the bag for about 15 - 20 minutes to acclimate the water temperature. Then I open the bag and roll the opening of the bag loosely so that it will remain floating, but is open. Do this carefully as to not let any of the water in the bag into your tank. Then I add a little bit of water every 5 minutes or so. I do this for about 45 minutes to an hour. Then add the fish to your display or QT, which every you decide to do.

[ninjamyst]

for corals, float for 15 mins, dip in Revive for 5 mins, rinse, dump into tank.

 

for fish, drip line for 15 mins, dump into the tank (i get my fish locally so temp isn't a big issue. the drip line is mainly for salinity).

 

i like doing things the easy way...may not be the BEST way, but i would think the faster the coral goes into the tank, the better.

[jservedio]

Inverts: Inverts are a lot more sensative to changes, but I do not go nearly as far as jservedio.

 

I used to not do this, but I have had TERRIBLE luck with snails over the past 6 or 8 months. I started rebuilding my CUC which had been slowly dying off of "old age" (everything was at least 2 years old) and my 2 big astreas finally died off during my move - so I needed some more snails. Since my initial CUC, I have only had 2 new snails last for more than a couple months - and not due to predation. I see them flipped over with their foot hanging halfway out completely untouched - the hermits have more than enough food and never bother the flipped snails. I upright them (even snails that can right themselves) and eventually they just stop moving all together and then die. And it's not even a bad shipment or a bad LFS since it's happened with several. And the new ones are dying while a few of my older snails thrive.

 

I just don't know what it is with these new snails - and since doing the super long acclimatization with a few hermits and a new shrimp, they are still alive.

 

As for the amount of time - it's no problem to dump a cup in the sump and leave it there until the lights go out before I go to bed. No extra work for me.

[glennr1978]

I'll post my process and thoughts on the subject when I have a little more time, but kdino hit the nail on the head, the really are much more resilient than they get credit for.

[supernip]

i toss shit straight in

[LynkUK]

If I remember, John at Reef Cleaners just recommends temp acclimation then tossing the snails in, crabs etc in. As he mentions, they are very sensitive to ammonia, so if you add tank water through your acclimation the PH rises and therefore the ammonia level.

[jservedio]

If I remember, John at Reef Cleaners just recommends temp acclimation then tossing the snails in, crabs etc in. As he mentions, they are very sensitive to ammonia, so if you add tank water through your acclimation the PH rises and therefore the ammonia level.

 

That's only if they are shipped and there are a lot of animals in a single small bag. If they are coming from the LFS like I would imagine most people's CUCs do (since even Petco has snails), there isn't going to be any ammonia at all.

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Acclimation is different for different items. This is what I do:

 

Coral: First, I float the bag for about 20 minutes just to let the temperature of the water in the bag adjust to the temperature of the water in the tank. This id debatable whether it really matters as coral in the wild typically can see temperature swings throughout the day. For me, it is one of those things I do just in case and because I usually cannot go straight into a dip as soon as I walk through the door from the LFS. Therefore I might as well just float the bags while I am doing what I need to do. After about 20 minutes, I pour the water into some kind of shallow tray, add about a half a capful of Coral Revive, mix well and then add the frag and let it sit in the dip for about 10 - 15 minutes. Then, remove the frag and dip it in a cup of tank water and then into the tank. I usually put new frags on the sand bed for a couple days to acclimate to the light in my tank and then when I feel it is ready, it gets glued into place.

 

Inverts: Inverts are a lot more sensative to changes, but I do not go nearly as far as jservedio. I float the bag to adjust the water in the bag to the temp of the water in the tank for about 20 minutes. Then, I pour the water and contents of the bag into a tuperware or bucket and setup a drip line from my tank to it. I usually aim for about 1 drip per second. I typically let this drip for about 30 minutes, and then add the inverts to the tank.

 

Fish: I typically float the bag for about 15 - 20 minutes to acclimate the water temperature. Then I open the bag and roll the opening of the bag loosely so that it will remain floating, but is open. Do this carefully as to not let any of the water in the bag into your tank. Then I add a little bit of water every 5 minutes or so. I do this for about 45 minutes to an hour. Then add the fish to your display or QT, which every you decide to do.

This sounds pretty easy and good for me