Acclimating fish and coral correctly

[Jetmx]

Hello all, I have some questions about a very basic topic. Acclimation. I've been in the hobby for about 5 years now. I recently got myself a house and decided to upgrade (as we all do). I have a finished basement where I have a 120g with bean animal overflow that drains through the wall into my laundry room where I have a 55 gallon sump and 40 gallon refugium above it that gravity drains down.

The system finished cycling, been up and running 4 months. I have never had any issues acclimating on previous setups in the past (I've always drip acclimated) however, as I previously stated my tank is in my basement where it is always cool. Ive started the process of stocking the tank and had some troubles acclimating. Whenever I drip acclimate I notice the temp in the acclimation container water plummets really fast. Almost 10-15 degrees colder than the tank water by the time I'm ready to put the fish in.

I don't want to risk killing more expensive fish or coral. So is my only option to drip something first, and then put it in a bag and float it? Or just float it and slowly pour a small amount of water in every 10 minutes ?

 

[Ghost25]

I assume your refugium is below the main tank? What about floating your fish or coral in a container in the refugium and running the drip line from the main tank to the container?

 

[Jetmx]

I assume your refugium is below the main tank? What about floating your fish or coral in a container in the refugium and running the drip line from the main tank to the container?

I have two tanks behind my display through the wall. The tank on the bottom is the sump and the one above it is a 40g breeder refugium that also gets water from the return pump but then gravity drains down to the sump again and out to display. I could float a container in the sump though since its lower and drip into there. Great idea:lol2:

 

[Fish Everywhere]

Alright, so a few things here. Firstly, you do not want to drip acclimate, you can read about it in many places on this forum. Once you open a bag with a fish inside it, the pH quickly rises, converting bound ammonia (NH3) into free ammonia (NH4). This, combined with a wait time of over 30 minutes, can kill or stress a fish heavily.

The alternative to this is to set up a quarantine / receiving tank (either works) and set the salinity the same as where the fish is coming from. Once the fish arrives, float the SEALED bag for about 15-20 minutes, open it, and toss the fish right in (not literally of course). After that, you can do what you wish with the fish, and follow your personal quarantine protocol (seems like everyone's is different, whatever works for you).

Corals do not need to be acclimated. Not sure why people continue to argue with this, when many peoples' experiences state otherwise. If you are acclimating a coral, you are the first one to acclimate that coral. The collectors did not acclimate it. The wholesalers did not acclimate it. The LFS (probably) did not acclimate it. Take a coral, dip it, (quarantine if you do), inspect it, let it slime up out of the water for 1-2 minutes, and in it goes.

**Most of this is my opinion, you are welcome to disagree of course**

 

[oldpaddy]

I float the bags in my sump or display for a half hour and then toss them in. I try not to get any water from the bag in. I find a certain percentage of fish and coral die in the first month no matter what.

 

[jonwright]

After having working on a tank that I now consider quite the investment of time, I'll never introduce fish that haven't been in QT first again.

I use old display tank water to ensure the fish are acclimated to the water in QT (and you can adjust the water in QT to match the shipping water if required). Usually some disease pops up that I need to treat with the new kids in QT. $50 for a 10 gallon set up from Petco/PetSmart and that's it.

I had a little 50 with a flame angel and skunk clown. Added a few chromis and they got flukes. Took the flame dying for me to figure out what was really bothering them. Then when I started my 155 I introduced some new fish - they all died of most likely velvet.

Not going through that anymore. QT seemed like a lot of work - and, well, it is. But still not at much as trying to "fix" a disease breakout in your display.

Proactive formalin dip(s) followed by round of prazi/API General cure and some Chloroquine treatment....no more velvet in my tank.

For starting my 155 I thought that the QT process was stressful to the fish and if they were acclimated quickly they would do just fine in the DT. They did...for a few weeks. Then they started dying with disease. NONE of the round of fish initially added to the 155 are alive after that.

It isn't "stress" that brings in disease to your tank...it's the parasite. And you can safely assume every freakin' fish that you bring in has it. Countless stories of folks learning their lesson the hard way. Welp, here's one more.

 

[jonwright]

...aand here's what I do:

I bought a cheap 1.5 gallon tank from the pet store. I put the new fish in there plus enough water to keep him covered (just barely). These have built in pumps so I plug it in to keep the water circulating. I think take 1/4" plastic water line from Home Depot/Lowes etc. and attach to an air supply needle valve. I use that to control the flow of water in the line from QT to the little aquarium. I put a steady drip and fill until the water is doubled (usually 30 min or less). Pour out as much water as I can and still keep him covered, then drip some more until I get to the 1 gallon mark on the little aquarium.

Then I add .8 mL of Quick Cure (formalin) and let him soak for 45 min or longer if he's not laying on his side or going nuts about to jump out. I pour him into a colander so that NONE of the old water with formalin (and old shipping water) is xferred and then into a small container of QT water to rinse him off. Then into the QT for observation for a few days...then usually some disease will pop up that I'll need to treat. Start treatment...

 

[Fish Everywhere]

After having working on a tank that I now consider quite the investment of time, I'll never introduce fish that haven't been in QT first again.

I use old display tank water to ensure the fish are acclimated to the water in QT (and you can adjust the water in QT to match the shipping water if required). Usually some disease pops up that I need to treat with the new kids in QT. $50 for a 10 gallon set up from Petco/PetSmart and that's it.

I had a little 50 with a flame angel and skunk clown. Added a few chromis and they got flukes. Took the flame dying for me to figure out what was really bothering them. Then when I started my 155 I introduced some new fish - they all died of most likely velvet.

Not going through that anymore. QT seemed like a lot of work - and, well, it is. But still not at much as trying to "fix" a disease breakout in your display.

Proactive formalin dip(s) followed by round of prazi/API General cure and some Chloroquine treatment....no more velvet in my tank.

For starting my 155 I thought that the QT process was stressful to the fish and if they were acclimated quickly they would do just fine in the DT. They did...for a few weeks. Then they started dying with disease. NONE of the round of fish initially added to the 155 are alive after that.

It isn't "stress" that brings in disease to your tank...it's the parasite. And you can safely assume every freakin' fish that you bring in has it. Countless stories of folks learning their lesson the hard way. Welp, here's one more.

+1, I try to tell people the same thing. It isn't the fact that your run of the mill average sized Powder Blue Tang keeps dying because its HARD to keep, its because your tank has ich! Keep a proper check on things entering the tank (formalin, TTM, cupramine, heck ANYTHING that kills ich, just do it right) and you won't have parasite problems!!!! :headwally:

On a side note, AEFW are still too advanced for us hobbyists without a loong QT time