Drip Acclimation Woes

[nmbeg]

I use drip acclimation for my new arrivals, which worked fine during the summer, but now in winter, with colder house temps, I am running into problems.

By the end of the 3-hour drip procedure, the temperature in the bucket is room temp (as low as 65 degrees in my basement).

So should I re-bag and float the fish/coral prior to transfer to the destination tank?

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[BradsOcean]

you could put a small heater in there

 

[nmbeg]

but i imagine it would still be difficult to get the two temps to match.....

how much leeway is allowed when transferring fish? 5 degrees?

 

[BradsOcean]

the temp should be pretty close. i'd acclimate it w/ a small heater to keep the temp pretty close, then you can put the fish in a bag when the acclimation's done, and float it in the main tank for about 15 minutes..then the temp will be pretty exact

 

[gnorts]

^^ that what i was going to say .

 

[NirvanaFan]

IMO fish can survive more of a temp swing than inverts. With most fish, I would drip acclimate for a half hour, then throw them in the QT tank. With inverts, I like to clip their bag onto the side of my sump in the water. This way the bag stays in the water so the temp stay the same, and I just use a siphon from the display to put water into the bag suspended in the sump. It seems to work pretty well for me.

 

[BradsOcean]

yeah, definitely make sure the acclimation is very slow and close w/ inverts

 

[otrlynn]

Instead of a standard size bucket, you can use a smaller container that will fit inside of one of those styrofoam containers that fish are shipped in, or even an insulated bag or picnic cooler. That will hold the temp preetty well while you do the drip.

 

[abulgin]

IMO, matching water chemistry is much more important than temperature. Also, I do not drip aclimate fish because of the issues you're experiencing (and a 3 hour acclimation is fine but about 1.5 hours too long if you ask me).
I drip acclimate corals but I fill the bucket with water, insert a heater and then place the bag in the water.

 

[Tswifty]

I don't drip acclimate either.

I just float the bag, and depending on how much water is in the bag, add tank water on 15 minute intervals for about an hour... FW dip... then into QT they go.