How long to drip acclimate fish

Here at Glass Aquatics, we keep our saltwater fish in a salinity that is similar to yours: 1. We do not treat our showroom tanks with copper or other medications.

In store, we also offer a vitamin B booster shot as an option to reduce stress for the fish during the trip home. Now that you are home with your new fish, it is time to acclimate them and get them into the tank. We recommend floating the bag for 15 minutes, then cut open the bag and put the water and fish in an acclimation container.

There is likely going to some ammonia in the water so add a few drops of water conditioner in to the acclimation container most water conditioners, such as the Glass Aquatics Water Conditioner or the Sera Aquatan will also neutralize ammonia.

For freshwater fish, add a cup of water from your aquarium into the acclimation container. Let the fish acclimate for 10 minutes then add another cup of water from your aquarium.

Another 10 minutes later, net the fish and put the fish into your aquarium. For saltwater fish, we highly recommend doing a drip acclimation. The Innovative Marine Accu-Drip is made just for this task. Test the salinity of the water in the acclimation container then test the salinity of the water in your aquarium. For salinity differences, we recommend increasing salinity by no more than 0.

Healthy coral and healthy fish can take the difference of a few salinity points or differing ph without hours of slow dripping.

People cry the virtues of drip acclimation in one sentence, then in the second, tell you to freshwater dip your fish for 5 minutes to help with ich, flukes, etc. The fish is ok going from 35ish ppt to 0 ppt water, but 35 to 34 or 36 is somehow harmful? Doesn't track. I've eliminated drip acclimating out of my routine entirely unless salinity is drastically off.

At best, I'll float the bag if it's winter time. If I picked up the fish locally, then it goes straight in. None of the LFS here drip acclimate either from what I observe. Acclimation is pointless and can only do harm. Youre more likely to lose a fish acclimating it.

Ammonia builds up the second the fish is baged and becomes toxic the second its opened. All acclimation does is prolong the fish's stress and subject it to harmful chemicals. The quicker its out the bag, and shipping water, and into the tank the better. Still shipping water. Fish constantly produce ammonia and as I said it starts building up the second they're in the bag. It remains harmless while the bags sealed but becomes toxic the second its opened. While the amount of a ammonia will be less in your case acclimation will still serve no purpose other than to further stress the fish.

Simply get it out of the bag asap and into the tank. I dont acclimate at all, I just make sure I don't mix bag water with my water. Had an old school lfs that had tons of fish and open for decades reef greenhouse setup told me that it was ok to fresh water dip my fish in tap water from time to time to make sure they dont get sick He was right! I use tap to dip my fish now.

I dont acclimate. In my opinion drip is a waste of time. Doing the net thing can stress the fish out a bit, but I'd rather do that than add the LFS water to my tank. Sometimes their tanks are copper-treated and that's not something you want to add to your reef. Matt Rogers , Feb 26, Float the bag for 10 minutes or so, then decant the fish and transport water into a dedicated plastic container.

Then net the fish and into the tank with 'em. Rustynuts , Feb 26, I do what you do Matt, but I gently cradle the fish in my hand and remove them from the bag to place them in the tank.

One battle with Ich makes me a big believer in this method. Gresham where are you at? This new fish needs to settle into the new tank.

You can buy an isolation cage that just drops into the aquarium and is full of slots to allow water to move through it. Ensure your new additions are eating well and are not shying away from venturing out into the open space of the aquarium. Spot feeding new, shy fish with a turkey baster full of food may help them. This is another reason why quarantine is so important. Having your new fish-eating and fattened up before entering the chaos of the main aquarium could be the difference of them surviving those first few weeks.

It is my strong recommendation that ALL new purchases should be quarantined. Acclimation needs to be done both going into quarantine and from quarantine to your main display tank. In fact, anytime you are moving a fish from one tank to another, you need to acclimate!

For a detailed article on how to set up a simple quarantine tank, you can read my article HERE…. Acclimating your new fish is a simple process that does not take long.

Once you have done it properly for the first time you will soon become a Pro. Do not rush it and please, please get yourself a quarantine tank ready to go. I always medicate any new purchases no matter if they look healthy or not. You never know what parasites may be hiding inside them.