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Drip acclimation with small tanks!?


Jermz79

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I have a question on the drip method and a small tank (12gal.)!

 

Let's say you drip for 2 hours into the bag the coral is in ... since I don't know anyone that would actually want to dump that micture of water back into their tank (water from the LFS and your tank mixed) after acclimating ... what do you do to maintain your water level during the acclimation period? I would think with 2 hours of drip you could probably loose a couple quarts if not a gallon correct?

 

If your running the skimmer mod do you remove it while your acclimating?

 

Do you just refill with well mixed SW as you acclimate?

 

I have not had any problems acclimating with my 29gal, but that tank has twice the water volume as the 12!!!

 

 

Thanks,

Jermz

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The only thing I drip acclimate are shrimp. And If I know I am going to be getting one, I will mix an exra gallon of SW when I do my water change befor I goto the LFS.

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so you don't acclimate corals?? I thought they were UBER sensitive!!

 

so then best thing is to have reserve SW mixed ready to top off!!!

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Not realy, I keep my SG the same as my lfs. I just float them for 15min for temp then drop them in. Haven't lost anything yet.

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winniebagel

Since you're going to be losing the water that went into the coral bag, I just look at it as a small water change. The day before I pick up a new coral, I mix up some sw, make sure all the parameters are the same as the display tank, and let it aerate overnight. While drip acclimating the coral, I'll just scoop a cup of the new sw and pour it slowly into the display every 5-10 minutes. Works like a charm.

 

Edit: sentence had to be reworded.

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The problem I've had with drip acclimation is keeping the temperature correct in the new specimen's container. So after fooling with that a few times, I haven't done that in a while. I acclimate corals to temperature (sometimes) then just drop them in, or i drop them in right away. For fish/inverts, i float them to equalize temperature, then acclimate them basterful by basterful for an hour or so.

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Frankly, I think drip acclimation is a little overkill, and the temperature issue is a very good point--I've had the same problem. And I think it may be TOO long for some critters, causing more stress. (But that's just my speculation; make your own conclusions.) I follow about the same acclimation procedures as Steve, above, with excellent results. Note that inverts, especially shrimp, etc., take more time and care to acclimate.

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I always wondered what people did about temp when drip acclimating. I ended up using one of those room heaters blowing at the container. To keep the temp up.

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winniebagel

Maybe it's just me, but I clip the bag to the side as it's floating in the display during the dripping to bypass the temperature fluctuation probs. Usually takes 15-45 minutes depending on how much of a SG difference b/t bagged water and display's water.

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Wow ... O.k. cool! I think I will still do a little drip just to be safe. I'm new to corals and would hate to loose any!

 

Thanks,

Jermz

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winniebagel - that's a good idea. Maybe I'll try it sometime.

 

Very slow acclimation really isn't necessarily "overkill". If you can do it, you probably should. It's particularly important with mollusks (snails, etc) because they are some of the most sensitive organisms in your tank. For fish, they are very stressed from transportation and possibly multiple acclimations. Your fish will generally live longer if you give it a proper acclimation.

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newbiecarlz

i do something similar to winnebagel - i float my bag in the tank, clip it to the side so that the top is open, and then take a container of tank water and set it up so that its higher than the tank (so that i can use airline tubing to drip into the bag via gravity). that way you acclimate for temp and water params at the same time. you still need to have some new water on hand to replace what you took out, but i use nsw anyway which i always have on hand.

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VERY slow acclimation--some people take an hour or more--is overkill. THAT's what I'm implying by "very slow". Note again the part about inverts: they need a longer acclimation period. Just not an hour...

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Caesar, please provide some evidence that it's overkill. Or is that your personal opinion? If you like, I'll provide evidence to the contrary. In this hobby, opinions stated as fact can get others (who know less about the hobby and take a person's word as fact) into some trouble. I'd be interested in reading a research article that supports your opinion.

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I acclimate for about 10 minutes then drop the corals in, everything is thriving..

 

I dont need a stupid research article to show me that drip acclimating for over an hour is stupid...common sense

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I don't think it is stupid ... if you look at a lot of the forums around the internet and even in Bob Fenners book "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist", people agree that slow drip acclimation is the proper and BEST way to acclimate any organism FW or SW!

I will agree some things are more sensitive than others, but why take the chance on killing any living organism?

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I have acan lords, frogsawn, tons of zoanthids, etc etc and have never drip acclimated for over 20 minutes and they are all thriving...Its overkill...

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It might not nessicarly be over kill, but I have never done it and stuff is doin pretty good if i do say, I also know the temp is the main thing from my experiance, and drip dosent help the temp. Well either way to each his own and let it be.

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Originally posted by winniebagel

Since you're going to be losing the water that went into the coral bag, I just look at it as a small water change.

I do exactly the same thing. Usually drip for about an hour if the SG is significantly different from mine, until the bucket has ~3/4 my water and 1/4 store water. I top the tank up with pre-mixed SW (I try to always have some on hand) and consider it an extra little water change.

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I have been reading all these acclimation threads and I must say it is pretty interesting.

 

I keep a 55 galoon fresh, 40 gallon reef, 75 gallon FO with a touch of LR and a 29 gallon FO tank. I dont acclimate my FW fish except for temp, float the bag for 15-20 minutes then in they go.

 

I drip acclimate all my SW fish into a QT tank then once a month goes by I net them and put them directly into the tank they are suposed to go into, I keep all my tanks at pretty close to the same water parameters. Never lost a fish due to acclimation.

 

I have never acclimated corals, I was told "They dont really need anything other than a temp acclimation." All my corals are doing well.

 

Now then, I broke my own rule of drip acclimating fish twice last week. I bought a lawnmower blenny and a royal gramma and I didnt have time for a proper drip acclimation and only acclimated to temp and placed them in the tank, they are doing fine a week later.

 

I also broke another major rule of mine and placed the lawnmower blenny directly into the reef skipping a month in QT. I had gone on vacation to FL for a week and left a beautiful 40 gallon reef tank and came back to a 40 gallon algae tank!!

 

The royal gramma went into QT. Hopefully this one will survive, they are suposed to be easy fish to keep but I cant seem to keep one!!! They always meet some disasterous end, two have been eaten by anemones and another just disappeared after a month or two.

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Steve - Read my post again. "I THINK that very slow acclimation is overkill". The phrase "I THINK" means that it is my personal opinion. That implies nothing about fact. I explained further as to why I THINK it is. Besides, you said yourself that you don't like long acclimation. Why don't you question yourself, eh?

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You need to acclimate. The longer the better. Certainly some animals are much more capable of surviving a poor acclimation, corals I find to be very hardy for the most part. Many other inverts are not. And death from acclimation shock can be slow. I see so many posts from newbies (and others) talking about snails falling on their backs, or who are constantly adding new clean-up animals... WHY??? Most animals we keep in our tanks last for many years... Overstocking is a problem, but so is poor acclimation.

 

Persoanlly I used to drip acclimate with the bag clipped into the display tank... Now I use a turkey baster with the bag clipped in the tank... And over time I add water and take water away... If I had time for an hour I would do it (depending on the animal). Corals, maybe 20 minutes. And I do a small water change after adding acclimation.

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