Acclimating CUC

[degibson84]

I have tried everything from dripped for an hour to floating for 10 minutes. No matter what I do the majority of my snails always seem to die.


What is the best way to acclimate them

 

[Noah 123]

Floating for 10 minutes will surely kill them! That's not the floating method.

This is how you do it:
1. Turn off the aquarium lights and dim the lights in the room.
2. Float the bag containing livestock.
3. After 5 minutes, cut the top off of the bag and add half a cup of water from the aquarium. To prevent the bag from sinking, roll the edges down on the top of the bag (after cutting off the top).
4. Repeat step 3 every 5 minutes until the bag is full.
5. Once bag is full, discard half of the water out of the bag (do not dump water into aquarium, get rid of it).
6. Repeat step 4 and 5 until bag is full again, and then NET livestock from the bag.

(7.) Make sure with sensitive invertebrates such as sea stars, sponges, cucumbers, and anemones that they don't touch air. This can be fatal for them.

 

[degibson84]

So this method isn't good for fish but for CUC? I was told when starting this hobby years ago that I should drip everythkng

 

[rssjsb]

Drip acclimation is a more sophisticated form of what Noah is suggesting. The important thing is that you do it slowly, emptying the acclimation container occasionally so that by the time you're done, the acclimation water has been slowly and almost completely replaced with tank water.

The only thing I would add is that you should test the bag and your tank water continuously through the process for salinity (and optimally pH). The idea is to match at least those two parameters before you transfer them to the tank.

Fish aren't nearly as sensitive. Unless the salinity in the bag water is a lot lower than my tank I usually float and drip for no more than 20 minutes or so.

 

[Aquarist007]

Drip acclimation is a more sophisticated form of what Noah is suggesting. The important thing is that you do it slowly, emptying the acclimation container occasionally so that by the time you're done, the acclimation water has been slowly and almost completely replaced with tank water.

The only thing I would add is that you should test the bag and your tank water continuously through the process for salinity (and optimally pH). The idea is to match at least those two parameters before you transfer them to the tank.

Fish aren't nearly as sensitive. Unless the salinity in the bag water is a lot lower than my tank I usually float and drip for no more than 20 minutes or so.

I agree
I would test the salinity in the bag first. The salinity can be quite low from some LfS. I've tested .018 sometimes myself and I run my tanks at .026.
In that case I've dripped for twelve hrs

If your loss is from the same provider I would change

 

[degibson84]

I had been dripping but most of my snails end up dying when I drip.

I did try the old cup method last night and it seemed to work better for my snails.

 

[rssjsb]

I had been dripping but most of my snails end up dying when I drip.

Did you test for salinity? If not, you're just winging it.

I did try the old cup method last night and it seemed to work better for my snails.

Same comment.

The method - drip v. cup - matters less than the effect, which is to equalize salinity/pH. If you're not testing bag and tank water, you're just hoping for the best.

 

[degibson84]

Yes I always check salinity the lady I buy off of always keeps her tanks at 1.025 mine runs 1.026. So I usually drip for a minimum of 30 minutes until I match my tank

 

[Shawn O]

(7.) Make sure with sensitive invertebrates such as sea stars, sponges, cucumbers, and anemones that they don't touch air. This can be fatal for them.

I hate to hijack but how would one acclimate these and transfer to DT without bringing them out of water? How can you be sure that nothing bad from the original bag water is still in the bag before transferring from the bag to the DT?

 

[Calappidae]

Honestly, unless it's what noah said ( in 7) I wouldn't acclimate it for so long..

As soon as you open the bag, ph will swing from the oxygen change and ammonia reaches a more toxic stage. It's actually more risky to leave them in that ammonia than throwing them right in.

As long as the salinity is matched, and the temperature is the same (floating for 30 minutes will do) then it's safe to dump them in.

Basicly, while your acclimating them you're also killing them having to soak in already toxic ammonia.. into more toxic ammonia for that 1-2 hour acclimation..

Here's a thread I started about acclimating with some very logical replies.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2365909

Starfish, cucumbers, etc are too fragile to be just dumped in an thankfully don't have alot of ammonia in the shipping bag to be acclimated long.