Acclimating Clean Up Crew

M

MidnightSmoker

New member
So I got some snails, chocolate starfish, and some blue legged hermit crabs coming tomorrow in the mail I have been reading different opinions but so far
" dlp211 " post here in reefcentral made the most sense to me

"This is key.

What happens during prolonged shipping time is ammonia builds up as ammonium. The PH also drops in the water. Once exposed to the air, the PH rises and ammonium is turned into toxic ammonia.

Snails, hermits, and crabs are mostly intertidal creatures so rapid PH and salinity changes don't effect them.

In other words, float them for 15 minutes still sealed, open the bag and get them in the tank as quickly as possible. I have well over 200 creatures, probably 300, and have only had 2 deaths, both of which were DOA, a scarlet hermit and a banded trochus snail. I knew they were dead as soon as they were in the water because my nassarius snails went to work on the immediately. "


My order is coming from California to Maine so I would imagine ammonia would be the real killer.


Opinions?
 
I do snails like you plan, just for temp for the reasons you said. I've not gotten any starfish though. It is my understanding that at least some types need a more careful drip acclimation because they are sensitive to salinity and ph changes. You might also search the forum for advice on what chips eat and things like that so you'll be ready when he comes.

I have added an ammonia buffer called Prime with good results when I had to drip acclimate fish that were shipped over night. Make sure you aren't dumping in the water from the bag, just the critter goes in your tank.

Welcome to the hobby!
 
I wont address the starfish as Dkuhlmann already has.....

These types of animals (snails and hermits) will be shipped with little to no water.The bags of will build up ammonia on the travel to you. The lower the PH the less toxic ammonia is(this is why there not shipped in water). That's why it is recommended to float bags to only temperature acclimate then add straight to tank.

If you don't and decide to drip acclimate, the ammonia from the bags will become rapidly toxic with every drop as the PH your introducing from your tank water rises potentially killing your livestock. They can take the PH swing but not toxic ammonia spike.

Hope this makes sense.
 
MidnightSmoker said:
Whoa....


I don't have a reef tank... Or a girlfriend LOL single...


And just 2 hermits.
Click to expand...

Those are the only reasons someone pics a chocolate chip starfish. So what is your purpose of your tank, what do you see in it down the road. I've told you why. Just trying to save you a lot of heartache and regret with many dead animals and lost money.
 
CStrickland said:
I do snails like you plan, just for temp for the reasons you said. I've not gotten any starfish though. It is my understanding that at least some types need a more careful drip acclimation because they are sensitive to salinity and ph changes. You might also search the forum for advice on what chips eat and things like that so you'll be ready when he comes.

I have added an ammonia buffer called Prime with good results when I had to drip acclimate fish that were shipped over night. Make sure you aren't dumping in the water from the bag, just the critter goes in your tank.

Welcome to the hobby!
Click to expand...

They will eat anything that's alive in the tank that they can get their legs on .
 
Dkuhlmann said:
They will eat anything that's alive in the tank that they can get their legs on .
Click to expand...

You aren't reading op's posts carefully. They said they don't have a reef tank and the massive hermit numbers that made things so hard for you to "grasp" off the bat were an (awkward) quote from another thread. You're so fired up about how stupid you think this person is that you are aren't listening to what they are saying.

My inclination is also that the star isn't a great choice but I'm not getting all judgey about it in the noob forum and making wild assumptions about their love life. The part of my post that you highlighted in red was intended to encourage them to do a bit of research on the critter they already ordered. Hopeful it will be a good fit for their tank, if not I hope to have a respectful and rational conversation with them so that they will listen when we all try to explain why they should sell it to some one who does have a really big fowlr.
 
CStrickland said:
You aren't reading op's posts carefully. They said they don't have a reef tank and the massive hermit numbers that made things so hard for you to "grasp" off the bat were an (awkward) quote from another thread. You're so fired up about how stupid you think this person is that you are aren't listening to what they are saying.

My inclination is also that the star isn't a great choice but I'm not getting all judgey about it in the noob forum and making wild assumptions about their love life. The part of my post that you highlighted in red was intended to encourage them to do a bit of research on the critter they already ordered. Hopeful it will be a good fit for their tank, if not I hope to have a respectful and rational conversation with them so that they will listen when we all try to explain why they should sell it to some one who does have a really big fowlr.
Click to expand...

Really? I don't think this person is stupid it's your warped perception that does. I think it's YOU that needs to read the OP AGAIN. All I did was tell him about the chocolate chip starfish, and asked what his idea of his perceived tank was, would it be a reef?. If you have an Issue with me when I'm not even talking with you let it go. You do seem to have some sort of problem because I don't mince words nor do I sugar coat anything. I said plain as day that I'm trying to save him some money and livestock. Or didn't you catch that? I do believe you need to get over it. :hammer:
 
I posted in this thread to try a different approach to op cause you were coming off pretty harsh, not to go round and round with you. Idk why you characterize yourself as "not even talking to" me when you literally quoted and responded to my post, but we can agree to disagree I guess.

There's room in here for diff voices but if you are going to engage me directly like that then I'm not going to sugar coat the fact that I think you are doing the boring old thing where rude people convince themselves that they are just telling it like it is. It should be easy enough for you to avoid hearing that by just not talking to me. It doesn't need to be any more than that.
 
OP I typically only temp acclimate snails and hermits. When I open the bag I give them a sniff test for any dead ones, it will be pretty obvious. It may take a little bit for them to start moving around. The star can get problematic for you. Good luck
 
I see some things have not changed. I had to create new profile lost login of old. Mr. Dkuhlmann not all things in this hobby are cut and dry. Four years ago I had some GSP begin to invade my tank 150g reef. So not to destroy my tank I opted to buy a Chocolate Chip Star. Hoping some of my coral issues would end. I dropped him like Dorothy in a field of poppies. 3 years later he did not touch any of my corals. 9 months ago I stripped 85% of my coral out more FOWLR . So here I am today with an 8 inch brain coral, a large Frogspawn many polyps. The Chip wonders the whole tank crawls over the brain. No Harm.
I would love to post some pics of the change on my tank it is 10 years on this one.
So you have to find your own way,,,,, Do hard lines in this hobby like some think.
 
[flamealert]

This forum is for beginners, so please keep the comments constructive, and remember that there's lots of bad information out there.
 
I feel bad for escalating that. Thing have been kinda testy around here lately, idk maybe the heat? In any case, we're mostly all here for the same reasons so there's no reason to get at each other. And besides, telling other people how to post is what the mods get those fat paychecks for, they don't need me chiming in for free ;)

:beer:
 
The only experience I have with CC Stars is that my wife's cousin had a fowlr tank and his CC ate everything it could catch, which was pretty much everything.

RE: acclimation of CUC, I dump my snails/hermits/water in a bowl and add 1/4 cup of tank water every five minutes or so until there is only about 20% original water. At this point, solely for the purpose of making myself feel better, I pluck the critters out and put them in another small bowl of tank water before plucking them out of that bowl and dropping them (literally) into the tank. I've only bought locally and nothing's ever in the bag for more than an hour or so so it's not like they've sat in ammoniated water for any length of time. It's not like this procedure will defeat ich cysts attached to the shells but it makes me feel like I'm possibly preventing something bad from getting into my tank. lol.
 
Cash? Where? Where?

---Srsly, as with fish, use your refractometer on bag and tank, just to be sure. And remember that refractometer itself IS capable of transferring water, so do your tank first, the bag second, and then allow that refractometer to dry thoroughly before using in your DT again.
 
Shawn O said:
The only experience I have with CC Stars is that my wife's cousin had a fowlr tank and his CC ate everything it could catch, which was pretty much everything.

RE: acclimation of CUC, I dump my snails/hermits/water in a bowl and add 1/4 cup of tank water every five minutes or so until there is only about 20% original water. At this point, solely for the purpose of making myself feel better, I pluck the critters out and put them in another small bowl of tank water before plucking them out of that bowl and dropping them (literally) into the tank. I've only bought locally and nothing's ever in the bag for more than an hour or so so it's not like they've sat in ammoniated water for any length of time. It's not like this procedure will defeat ich cysts attached to the shells but it makes me feel like I'm possibly preventing something bad from getting into my tank. lol.
Click to expand...

After I temp acclimate mine and then open the bag I drop them into a small container with tank water in it to rinse them and then rinse them in another one to soak a few minutes in each between transfer to clean anything off of them. Then again depends on where I get them. If from my local buddy I just temp them and drop in the tank
 
So everything is alive and well I took a small pan and filled with tank water dumped snails and starfish into it just to rinse them off then straight in the tank.

That starfish is awesome and doesn't seem to be bothering any snails or tiny hermits. And I mean tiny... Like finger nail size...

Snails are very active, and the Green Chromis which came with them is also doing well. I already had one so it was very happy to see it's own kind. Here is a unboxing video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb1rWyVPecI
 
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