I NOW BELIEVE IN THE DRIP METHOD!!

[Max_in_SD]

Everytime before i added fish i tried all the other methods and within hours or the following day the fish would croak. So I started my drip line after I purchased six damels and left it running for about 2.5 hours since I was no rush and they were in a big container. Well after the drip was over I placed them in the tank and now its been 3 days and no deaths. Happy eating fish and moving all over the place. Not saying I am out of the woods but i will preach on the drip method....

[Fluff]

I drip acclimate everything.

[IndyReefMan]

I would like to drip acclimate my livestock too but I have a problem. My tank is in the basement and it is always very cool down there. Since you're not floating the bag and drip acclimating takes so long, how would I keep the livestock warm while they are acclimating? Any suggestions?

[Fluff]

What I do is (for fish) hang the bag on the side of my bucket for dripping. Have to dump the water from time to time. Then after a few hours (depending on what it is), I float the bag to get it to the same temp. For corals, I put the critter in a bucket to drip, then re-bag to float it. It's more work but has worked well for me.

[IndyReefMan]

So, it sounds like you are acclimating thru the drip method and then equalizing the temperature before release. Is that right? If so, what about the temperature drop during acclimation... won't that hurt the livestock. It's 65 degrees in my basement.

[Fluff]

That's right.
I can do this since my tanks are on the main floor, don't know about the basement. Hmm. You know what you could do is, have a bucket of water with a heater set at the temp of your tank. Then you could float the bag in that while dripping. Once the drip is done, you could add the fish/critter to the tank. Just a thought. One I may try myself. Be quicker than having to float the bag afterwards.

[fishfreek]

Six damsels is alot to be adding at one time. How big is the tank? Be watchful for tank quality issues due to ammonia.

[IndyReefMan]

I'll try that, I have an extra heater. Thanks, Fluff. That basement sure is cold but at least I don't have to worry about temperature increase with my MH. See ya.

[Phyl]

One more thing to note. No matter how long the acclimation process the important things to check before releasing the critter are pH & SG. You want those to match before release. If they don't match drip (or otherwise acclimate) longer. The slower, more gradual the transition the better, especially if these numbers are off drastically to start with. I have a pH meter and a refractometer which makes getting a baseline and testing along the way very easy. If the parms match right away great and if they don't then I acclimate until they do match. Hopefully (?!) all of your damsels make it!

[maxamillion]

I too just added 2 clownfish and 1 polyp frag (I need an ID on it, I'll take pictures once the lights turn back on.)

[Max_in_SD]

My tank is 125 Gallons 80 lbs LS and 15 lbs LR. Its been running for 2 months before i added any fish just had the shrimp and LR,LS.

One more thing to note. No matter how long the acclimation process the important things to check before releasing the critter are pH & SG. You want those to match before release. If they don't match drip (or otherwise acclimate) longer. The slower, more gradual the transition the better, especially if these numbers are off drastically to start with. I have a pH meter and a refractometer which makes getting a baseline and testing along the way very easy. If the parms match right away great and if they don't then I acclimate until they do match. Hopefully (?!) all of your damsels make it!

Now that was the amazing part of all this. I do not understand how the damels from the LFS survive when i dumped in the bucket the PH measured from PH Monitor was 7.0. so it took a long time for it to get to 8.0 thru the drip

[Walpurgis]

Can someone explain how to do this drip method. We always just float the bag and add a little water over the course of a few hours.

thanks!!

[Fluff]

Well, you take a peice of airline hose and get a syphon going, then tie a knot in the line to slow it down. Tighten the knot to get a good slow drip. Then you put your critter in a bucket and have the line drip into it.

[Walpurgis]

Thanks! we will have to try that when we are ready to add fish back into our tank.