How long to drip and float acclimate fish?

Josett Waid · Oct 26, 2016

Hi! I wanted to ask and see some of y'alls opinions on how long to drip and float acclimate. Usually we drip and float acclimate our fish for at least 1 hour and maybe 20 minutes tops. We asked our LFS if this was the best recommended time to do so and they said to only do it for 30 minutes tops.. So I would love to see your opinions on this and the time y'all dip/float acclimate and if it's worked out good for y'all.

Thank you,
Josett Waid

eatbreakfast · Oct 26, 2016

Drip acclimate as little as possible. I just acclimate fortemp, that's it.

Josett Waid · Oct 26, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
Drip acclimate as little as possible. I just acclimate fortemp, that's it.

Alright thanks! The reason I ask also is because we've been to another fish store that's not our usual LFS and they said to acclimate for the 1 hour and 20 minutes so this was confusing us quite a bit.

Bmartinez76 · Oct 26, 2016

If the salinity is the same in your water vs the lfs water then I would say minimal. If the levels are far apart I would acclimate for at least 30 minutes.

malacoda · Oct 30, 2016

If it's a fish from an LFS, longer would be better (it actually takes fish a few days, not a few hours to 100% acclimate to a higher salinity).

If it's a fish that was ordered online, no more than 30 minutes - and even that is pushing it. When the bag is opened and the water exposed to fresh air, it allows the trapped CO2 to escape, which in turn allows the less harmful ammonium that has built up in the water to turn into much more toxic ammonia.

The only way to prevent serious harm to the fish is to get them out of it fairly quickly ... or to add a few drops of a water conditioner such as Seachem Prime, Seachem StressGuard, or Kent Ammonia Detox (to name just a few) to transport water the moment you begin acclimation.

NOTE: I would NOT use such a conditioner when acclimating fish from an LFS. They will not have been in the transport water long enough to cause any real ammonium build up. AND, some LFSs used copper meds in their water. Most ammonia removing conditioners will chemically react with the copper and form a poison that is just as toxic to the fish as ammonia (if not more so).

eatbreakfast · Oct 31, 2016

malacoda said:
If it's a fish from an LFS, longer would be better (it actually takes fish a few days, not a few hours to 100% acclimate to a higher salinity).

Intertidal bony fish don't possess any special mechanism for dealing with salinity changes than full marine bony fish. So if you think how quickly salinity can change in intertidal zones, whether the tide is coming in or going out, salinity going up or going down. Bony fishes are well equipped to handle these kind of changes.

If you have a qt, using that to acclimate the fish gradually to a higher salinity is great, but if a fish is being added straight to a dt, the acclimation process is very stressful.