Acclimation the R/C Man Way

[The R/C Man]

Proper acclimation of your newly acquired fish is paramount for a stress free introduction to its new home. With that said I wanted to introduce you to an easy DIY way to drip acclimate fish as well as other critters. When you bring your new inhabitant home you first want to open the bag and float it in the sump for about 15 minutes in order to get the water temperature in the bag equal to that of your tank temperature. The next step requires the use of an air hose regulator (the type that hang on the side of your tank and have little adjustment knobs for air flow). These sell for a few bucks at the LFS. Hang this on the outside of your tank and attach a piece of air line to one of the nipples and insert it into the tank about 12”. Next attach another piece of air hose opposite the first and extend it down the outside of the tank into the bag containing your new fish. Open the little valve on the regulator and start a siphon. When the water starts to flow into the bag adjust it so you get about 1 drop per second. From this point I usually let it go for about an hour or so. Then be sure to stop the siphon. Before putting the fish into the tank, hang a net over a bucket and slowly poor the water and fish into the net. When the fish enters the net, place it into the display tank or quarantine tank (which is highly recommended) if you have one. This process will help keep any contaminates etc out of your tank that my have come from the LFS. This is just one of the many ways to acclimate your fish but I have found this method to be very easy to use and least stressful for the fish.



I hope this information has been helpful. If you have a method that has been working successfully for you please share your experiences with us……

[The R/C Man]

Well I was hoping this would be some good info for the newbe. If you have found this post helpful or not please let me know. Thanks!

[saltjunkie]

it is verty useful, though i am not a noob...
another method along these lines.. if you dont want ot buy a valve, is to..

Use an airline from the main tank to the bag.. but tie a knot in it firsr.. loosely.. start the siphon.. then tighten the knot to the desired drip rate.... it works really well!

[SurfStone]

That method works really really well. when I do it for my new fish I let the bucket fill up 3/4 of the way then remove half of the water and let it fill again then I dump the fish and water into a net and add them to quarantine tank. works even better IMO because it allows the fish to become further acclimated to water chem. I would recommend this additional step for delicate species like Moorish Idols etc.

[The R/C Man]

Great Idea! Thanks!

[prow]

humm, i have been talking about this with my friends. but, not all fish just fish ordered from on line. here is what we are thinking. Say you order fish online and they are bagged for 24-48 hours. The metabolic wastes accumulate (ammonia) and the ph drops in the bag water. The ammonia becomes less toxic in the lower ph but when you open that bag and oxygen starts to mix with the water the ph comes right back up making the ammonia toxic again. Adding water from your system would also cause this ph increase.
so what to do?
have too test ph and salinity of the bagged water and time permitting with every shipment mix your QT water to match the shipping water. float the fish with out openning the bag to match temps and then take them out of the shipping water and place them in the ammonia free, lowered ph and matching salinity QT water. Then slowly bring the ph up by dripping system main tank water until the ph of the acclimating QT and the system match. This way there is no ammonia present in the acclimating process to become toxic as the ph rises.
i know you dont need to worry about this if getting a fish from the LFS, because its only in the bag for 15-30min in most cases. but this might be good for online buying.
BTW i will be getting a couple fish this week from marine depot live and will be testing ph, ammonia, salinity and O2 levels in the bag they come in at 3
-5 min intervals too see what kind of shifts in levels of what we are talking about.

[The R/C Man]

I have never purchased livestock mail order. But what you are talking about sounds like a good plan.... Let us know how the procedure goes.

[morthius]

Both suggestions work wonder with the siphoning part. And the whole process is great when bought from the store. When shipped like the previous post stated Amonia are very high and opening the bag and letting the carbon dioxide out makes it worst. I acclimate it this way which is what the hatchery recommend to me. One which is the last step, but important, if you have more then one fish in a bag. Never use a net and spill them into the bag when you enter them into your system. You will most likely lose all your fish no matter how great you acclimated them. How this happens is the fish ontop of each other and their weight no matter how small, they will lose their slime coat. So when that time comes just hold your finger close to the fish on the bag and empty the water into an bucket and leave just enough water so they slide out. Now acclimation is said to be done like this, from a hatchery and I never lose fish unless it took a beaten during shipment, And even that is rare. I will float the bags (small bags) in water for 30 min, open the bag and add 1/4 the amount of water in bag every 15 minutes for a total amount of 3 times. Then proceed to empty the water like above and add your fish. Many acclimation procedures work, but I find this one makes the fish not so whitish during the process.