Acclimation procedures.

Redrider

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Hello all again
After reading an article by Evolved, I was convinced it’s time to get a QT and acclimation box.
I stumbled upon this acclimation procedure on another site:
Death in bags...acclimation fatality: why it happens
WHY should a creature 2 days in a bag alive suddenly die when the bag is opened?: poop. Respiration. In shipped livestock, or during a trip home from the store, the waste from the fish/invert hits the water and you have ammonium and co2 in that water. The moment you open the bag, you release the co2 and ph climbs. This ph change converts the harmless ammonium in the water to deadly ammonia. The longer the fish is exposed to ammonia (remember it's drinking it as well as breathing it) the more damage its internal organs take. Too long in the opened bag and the fish takes too much damage to live very long.
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First, you should know (phone) at what salinity your shipper ships certain livestock. They'll tell you. You should have a qt tank ready AT THAT SALINITY if you've got a fish. You can put inverts straight in.
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Step 1: DO NOT OPEN THE BAG. Float it for 15 minutes. This handles temperature.
Step 2: open bag and test the water to be sure you were told accurately. AS OF THIS EXACT POINT (look at the clock) YOU HAVE 30 minutes OR LESS to get that critter to a qt tank, if fish, or to your tank, if invert, and to dip it and set it safely on the bottom of your tank if coral. Remember acclimation is all about salinity. Be accurate. Be fast. If salinity matches within .001, that fish is good to go into that qt water. Instantly as you open the bag if you've got a near match!
Full procedure given here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1939508

It’s actually pretty much the same as what I have been doing at the advice from a LFS. Unfortunately, I have been experiencing a lot of fish deaths. It’s always the new ones. If they make it a 10 days, they live.
I test water regularly or have it tested at a LFS. It’s not the water per se that’s killing the fish. I do have low ph normally at 8.00 and salinity is low at 1.20. Ammonia, nitrites,nitrates all zeroes. I have good filtration and keep the temperature at 77.
The questions I have are:
Is it enough to match salinity, or is ph just as important?
How do you acclimate new arrivals?
Will the method outlined above stress the fish to a lower degree?
 
Me personally I temp acclimate for 15 mins by floating. Then open the bag and fish into a bucket. Using two small cups, like “Dixie cup” size, one to remove water and one to add water.

Every 10 mins remove water from the bucket and then add a cup of tank water. This goes on for no more than 20 -30 mins tops. Fish then goes into the tank with lights out. Into QT tank.

If the fish was eating and looked healthy at the LFS, acclaimed this way, I haven’t lost a fish in a very long time doing this.
 
One of the things I think that is important to note is that acclimation times vary by source method. If I bring a fish straight home from my LFS (less than a mile from my house) with nearly identical salinity, temps, etc. 15 minutes is the max time I acclimate, if I go to an LFS further away or order online it would definitely be longer and involve some form of drip acclimation.
 
I have never had luck buying fish online yrs ago. Now I only go to two different LFS I really like. Luckily I am a Wrasse fanatic leopards etc....so they are all kept in their coral system....so 1.025 salinity. So I drip them for 45 min to 1 hour regardless. With your question you will probably get a lot of different answers. For me from my LFS 45 min away I drip 45 min to 1 hour. That has always worked for me. [emoji16]
 
Hello all again
After reading an article by Evolved, I was convinced it’s time to get a QT and acclimation box.
I stumbled upon this acclimation procedure on another site:
Death in bags...acclimation fatality: why it happens
WHY should a creature 2 days in a bag alive suddenly die when the bag is opened?: poop. Respiration. In shipped livestock, or during a trip home from the store, the waste from the fish/invert hits the water and you have ammonium and co2 in that water. The moment you open the bag, you release the co2 and ph climbs. This ph change converts the harmless ammonium in the water to deadly ammonia. The longer the fish is exposed to ammonia (remember it's drinking it as well as breathing it) the more damage its internal organs take. Too long in the opened bag and the fish takes too much damage to live very long.
--------
First, you should know (phone) at what salinity your shipper ships certain livestock. They'll tell you. You should have a qt tank ready AT THAT SALINITY if you've got a fish. You can put inverts straight in.
----------
Step 1: DO NOT OPEN THE BAG. Float it for 15 minutes. This handles temperature.
Step 2: open bag and test the water to be sure you were told accurately. AS OF THIS EXACT POINT (look at the clock) YOU HAVE 30 minutes OR LESS to get that critter to a qt tank, if fish, or to your tank, if invert, and to dip it and set it safely on the bottom of your tank if coral. Remember acclimation is all about salinity. Be accurate. Be fast. If salinity matches within .001, that fish is good to go into that qt water. Instantly as you open the bag if you've got a near match!
Full procedure given here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1939508

It’s actually pretty much the same as what I have been doing at the advice from a LFS. Unfortunately, I have been experiencing a lot of fish deaths. It’s always the new ones. If they make it a 10 days, they live.
I test water regularly or have it tested at a LFS. It’s not the water per se that’s killing the fish. I do have low ph normally at 8.00 and salinity is low at 1.20. Ammonia, nitrites,nitrates all zeroes. I have good filtration and keep the temperature at 77.
The questions I have are:
Is it enough to match salinity, or is ph just as important?
How do you acclimate new arrivals?
Will the method outlined above stress the fish to a lower degree?
pH is important as well.... sorry I didn't see that part of the post. Does your pH stay at 8.0 all the time?
 
pH is important as well.... sorry I didn't see that part of the post. Does your pH stay at 8.0 all the time?
My ph varies some but I had been topping off with RO/DI buffered to maintain dkh and ph. It was slightly under 8 a few days ago.
Kinda a long story on the tank. I’d rather not open that box of worms so suffice to say; salinity and ph are low.
 
My ph varies some but I had been topping off with RO/DI buffered to maintain dkh and ph. It was slightly under 8 a few days ago.
Kinda a long story on the tank. I’d rather not open that box of worms so suffice to say; salinity and ph are low.
Gotcha! Salinity and pH are important when acclimating.....but how you acclimate like others said depends on if you buy a fish online or locally.
 
An option I’ve been considering is the AccliMate box.
I could take it to the LFS and use it in lieu of a bag. Upon getting home, it goes in the QT. Acclimate, Release, After whatever quarantine period is reached, trap the fish in the AccliMate. Then transfer to the DT. After 3-4 days, if all is well, release it.
Thoughts on this?
 

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