drip acclimating

[misskeeter2766]

hmmm... saltwaterfish.com says I should not drip acclimate coralsor anemones, but I should float them for thirty minutes and then release them into the aquarium... is this true???? I drip acclimated my anemone... is that what killed it???

I also drip acclimated my zoas and mushroom frags this morning too... shoot.

 

[Zer0]

What? Float them? That seems like the lazy version of introducing new livestock to your tank. I know TONS of people, including myself, that drip acclimate all of their new livestock, and IMO, that's the safest way to introduce livestock to your tank.

If you drip acclimated, then your better than fine. Assuming you did it correctly..

 

[CementShoes]

If you expect them to honor the guarantee then acclimate as the vendor indicates. Many vendors have found that drip acclimation, while better for ph acclimation, exposes the livestock to overly high levels of ammonia and nitrite accumulated over the course of shipping. As a vendor they have weighed the cost/benefit and built their guarantee around their experience in shipping livestock.

 

[Zer0]

Indeed.. but lets see what we have here.

You say, livestock is exposed to overly high levels of ammonia and nitrate accumulated over shipping. Well then keeping them in that bag of their water which has "overly high levels of ammonia and nitrates" for the 30 minutes of float time surely won't be any better for them.

The way i see it is, you put the water from the bag in a container, and then as you drip your tank water into the container(the whole drip acclimating concept), and then start to cup out the water as it accumulates, then most of the "ammonia" and "nitrates" will begin to diminish since the ratio of bag water to tank water is less. And assuming your tank is cycled.. you shouldn't have ANY ammonia, and little nitrates.

So i find the float method to be a slackers way, and less dependable, regardless of what saltwaterfish.com says. Since when were they acclimation guru's?. Floating is the sort of acclimation that petsmart employees tell you to do for their freshwater fish..so why would you ever do it for saltwater if they don't even sell saltwater livestock?

Also, i may have not found it, but where in this link does it say anything about NOT drip acclimating fish OR inverts? It says here on their page that the ONLY method they support is Drip Acclimation. misskeeter can you link me to where you found information saying NOT to drip acclimate coral or anemones?

This is the link i found saying they support drip acclimation:

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Acclimation_ep_48-1.html

They also say this: "This method allows for the fish, coral, or invertebrate to adjust to your aquarium parameters at a pace that is acceptable for that particular animal."

And anemones ARE inverts.

 

[CementShoes]

Since they offer the money back guarantee they should consider following the conditions of said guarantee.. If the purchaser is not interested in said guarantee then they are free to follow the opinions of whom ever they wish. If they are interested in the guarantee then it would behoove them to adhere to said policy.

 

[Aquarium1]

Well those aren't guarantee requirements. It's a reccomendation, and a bad one at that. Drip acclimation is one of the best forms of acclimation for sw fish. They're going to have ammonia either in the bag or the bucket. Also when your drip acclimating it would be diluting the ammonia in the water.

 

[melosu58]

I agree. If your fish dies and you tell them you drip acclimated you`ll likely not get your guarantee. I dont drip acclimate and am not in no way saying dont do it but I float the bag and then add a 1/2 a cup of tank water every 20 minutes for a couple hours.

 

[neilanh]

I think that's pretty much accomplishing the same thing as Dripping, Mike.

As stated above, they say when shipping corals don't drip, but get them out of the nasty water as fast as you can. You still want to match temperature, because it can be done relatively quickly (30 min seems long to me) to attempt to minimize somewhat any additional stresses on the corals.

Personally, I always drip acclimate. Just when I receive stuff through the mail, I don't do a slow drip, I do it quickly, and I guage my completion point by when I've gotten 3-4x the quantity of water they came with. But that's just me. My theory is that any adjustment time, even if it's short, is better than shocking them when they're already stressed out beyond belief already.

 

[misskeeter2766]

Okay.. wow.

First off.. here's the link to their acclimation instructions.. the part about not doing this for corals and anemones is on the 15th slide I think...

I called them about this, because I wanted to know about the feather duster I thought was dead... and they said they have not updated the slideshow, and insead prefer that the bag be floated and tank water added every 5 minutes for an hour... (I dont get how this is better than drip acclimating.. but whatever... lol.. )

I have been drip acclimating everything... (I did do the toadstool leather and feather duster in the floating and adding water method they prefer... I want my 15 day guarantee)

and p.s. I figured out how to start the water without getting it in my mouth now. go me!

 

[SHARPiE]

I forget where I saw it, but levels of ammonia are highest upon openening the bag. IE - they are at an acceptable level while the bag is sealed, but as soon as the bag is opened and oxygen is exposed, the levels of nitrite and ammonia sky rocket.

This is an extract from the artice I was reading: "With most reasonable alkalinities on the shipping water, the pH will decrease fast enough in a shipping bag to prevent any ammonia toxicity from occurring while the animals are in the bag. If animals have been in the shipment bag and the ammonia has built-up in concentration, opening the bag and allowing the CO2 to leave the water can result in ammonia toxicity and animal stress, tissue damage, disease and death."

 

[CementShoes]

in their opinion, it's better because the solution to pollution is dilution (in large quantities over a shorter time span) would be my guess

 

[CementShoes]

This is an extract from the artice I was reading: "With most reasonable alkalinities on the shipping water, the pH will decrease fast enough in a shipping bag to prevent any ammonia toxicity from occurring while the animals are in the bag. If animals have been in the shipment bag and the ammonia has built-up in concentration, opening the bag and allowing the CO2 to leave the water can result in ammonia toxicity and animal stress, tissue damage, disease and death."

Nice post..

 

[Son of Red]

So to me it sounds like it might be better for the livestock to float and dilute if they were being shipped as opposed to coming straight home from the LFS where timing may be less important and drip-acclimating would be more appropriate?

 

[Aquarium1]

Although i don't think drip acclimating would have hurt her anenome since it was from an lfs (I think, since her dad bought it)

 

[misskeeter2766]

Although i don't think drip acclimating would have hurt her anenome since it was from an lfs (I think, since her dad bought it)

yeah it was from the lfs...

okay.. I feel better now... I was afraid that I had doomed it even further..

 

[melosu58]

I think that's pretty much accomplishing the same thing as Dripping, Mike.

I like to call it a happy medium. Not dripping but not just floating.

 

[Zer0]

I think the lowest i'll ever go is Mike's way. But i'll never float. I think that if there's ever a large difference in the bag water and the tank water, for whatever reason, the shock will kill the animal or set it on a bad path to which it can't recover and dies over time from stress. JMO though.. maybe i'm paranoid?

 

[Aquarium1]

I think the lowest i'll ever go is Mike's way. But i'll never float. I think that if there's ever a large difference in the bag water and the tank water, for whatever reason, the shock will kill the animal or set it on a bad path to which it can't recover and dies over time from stress. JMO though.. maybe i'm paranoid?

That's not paranoia. Just being cautious lol.

 

[misskeeter2766]

That's not paranoia. Just being cautious lol.

I agree

 

[Innovator]

I figured I would chime in. For most of your fish I will float the bag(s) for 10mins. and then release the animals into some kind of clean container (usually a bucket). After checking salinity I will drip acclimate, but have the airline open at full stream for the entire 30-60mins depending on the specie(s). Once the salinity is within range they are released and usually after the bucket has been renewed at least once. Corals and other invertebrates are acclimated the same way, but may have a prolonged acclimation time due to sensitivities. In emergency cases I have literally applied the 10sec acclimation drop without casualty, albeit stressful. As far as NH3 toxicity, if purchasing from a local lfs I would not worry unless they have horrid water quality. Most concerns are with overnight shipping packages with the animal stressing and excreting ammonia and/or defecation along with corals sloughing tissue. Just so you know, anemones tend to slime quite a bit when stressed.