Drip method

[boxfishlover]

Hey I have a couple of questions. First what does FOWLR stand for? I apologize for my ignorance. Second what are the thoughts on acclimating with the drip method? I have heard some controversy on this that it can actually in effect torture a fish and cause it to release ammonias and basically kill itself. Has anyone else heard this? When I get a new tank mate I am currently just floating the bag until the temps match up and then just submersing and letting the fish swim out. My friend keeps driving it home to me that temperature is the critical thing that most fish can survive a salinity change and as long as the rest of the tank levels are supporting fish the new fish should do fine. he owns a store and says his stock loss was cut in half when he went to this method verses the drip method. Any thoughts?? Thanks

 

[Sadielynn]

FOWLR = Fish Only With Live Rock Do NOT apologize for that ...
Some do the float successfully I personally like the drip method as it gives me a chance to observe the fish ... I use a dark bucket to "reduce" stress and then lights out in the tank all day after they are in ..
I have never heard of the release of ammonia unless your roomie is saying they pee themselfs which could be, I dont speak fish
Perhaps they are refering to the fish that can put out toxins ? I do not know ...
Temp is critical , but so is ph and other things as well ..
But I do know that I would not want the the fish store water in my system , to many unknowns such as medication , diseases etc....
With the drip the goal is to replace the "shipping" water 100% with your system water ... Sure a little may not make a diffrence and I am anal but I dont chance it .,..Now I have not bought any fish in a loooooooong while but I would still do it the same way .
With the drip you are acclimating to temp as well
Dripping is a slower way to adapt them to any changes at a bit slower pace ... it also sets you up for a small H20 change in the process that can be helpful as well JMHHO

 

[Andrewz00]

if you "hover" your mouse over the acronym.. most ones on here will tell you exactly what they mean... FOWLR is Fish Only w/ Live Rock...

if your tank parameters are fine, then no ammonia should be transfered via the drip method to acclimate a new fish. if your concerned i would test your water first.

temperature is very important, but there are a few issues i see with your method:
1. i would never introduce LFS (local fish store) water into my tank, just never a good idea, you dont know what is lurking in that bag!
2. it doesn't sound like you are using a QT tank.. (quarantine). im sure someone will be along shortly with a good link about that!
3. your not matching your PH levels.... which is probably the torture part. the drip method insures that the new fish gets acclimated to your PH levels slowly not to cause stress/shock.

 

[boxfishlover]

I agree with the fish store water thing for sure, i am just alway leary netting a fish, I try not to freak them out if that possible. But maybe netting them is less of a risk than dumpin unknown water in my tank. As far as the ammonia goes my friend says the fish that is being added will actually produce high levels of ammonia when stressed out and that he feels the drip method stresses them. I would like to have a quarentine tank but am leary about moving fish from tank to tank (the handling part) I didnt realize that a differnce in PH could cause that shock. I guess I could test the pet store water vs mine and then decide if dripping is necessary. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Jimbo7]

I would like to say that I drip acclimate everytime, but im not that good about it. I do however float for 30 min then every 15 min you add half a cup of your tank water to the bag. Do this till the bag is almost full, then pour half out and repeat until the bag is full again.

A lot of time netting a fish is a lot less stress then the shock of a new system. Imagine being pushed underwater then coming back up and the air is full of smoke or something. You have to live with the smoke till you adjust, rather then being dunked and coming right back up to air you are used to.

Just how I have always thought of it. Not trying to lecture.
Good Luck!

 

[Crepe]

I drip acclimate and I do freshwater. It's easy. Ask for extra water in the bag at the LFS and then just put the fish in a bucket with a small heater. Use airline hosing and a flow-control valve for airpumps to regulate the drips per second. 1 per second for 30 minutes is what I do.

 

[Andrewz00]

I drip acclimate and I do freshwater. It's easy. Ask for extra water in the bag at the LFS and then just put the fish in a bucket with a small heater. Use airline hosing and a flow-control valve for airpumps to regulate the drips per second. 1 per second for 30 minutes is what I do.

1 drop per second for 30 min?
1 drop X 60 seconds X 30 min = 1800 drops?
500-600 drops per ounce..... is my math right here?

3.6 ounces?

 

[Jimbo7]

yeaaa that seems super slow. I always go 1-2 drops a second.

 

[Crepe]

It's always worked for me. Although it could be that I count my seconds too fast.

 

[Andrewz00]

yeaaa that seems super slow. I always go 1-2 drops a second.

i wasnt even saying slow... i was questioning the actual amount of water required to bring PH/temp to the same level as your tank...

3.6 oz is like 4 shot glasses.... i normally end up using like 4 quarts (obvi no drip method here)

EDIT: Crepe - not attacking you by any means... just scratching my head a lil.... if it works... IT WORKS!

 

[Jimbo7]

i wasnt even saying slow... i was questioning the actual amount of water required to bring PH/temp to the same level as your tank...

3.6 oz is like 4 shot glasses.... i normally end up using like 4 quarts (obvi no drip method here)

EDIT: Crepe - not attacking you by any means... just scratching my head a lil.... if it works... IT WORKS!

I'm going to guess it was a typo, but if not, same as above. Whatever works.

 

[Crepe]

It takes about 12 drops to equal 1 ml. 1oz is 30 ml apprx So 360 drops per ml 1oz per 6 minutes and 5oz in 30minutes. Which is about equal to the amount of water I get in a bag for small fish. Big fish on the other hand I would drip at a faster rate.

That's at 1 drop per second, two drops per second is 10oz.

 

[Andrewz00]

It takes about 12 drops to equal 1 ml.

and there, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference in the metric system!

the "metric" drop, 1/20 mL
the medical drop, 1/12 mL
the Imperial drop, 1/288 of an Imperial fluid ounce
the U.S. drop, 1/480 of a U.S. fluid ounce

-Quoting Drop (volume) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Jimbo7]

haha wow. I didn't even realize the drop was so regulated. interesting stuff.

 

[Crepe]

I just used an old pippete to calibrate drops per mL. I guess there was a point to 12 per ml lol.