Quarantine/acclimation philosophy

[RxReefer13]

There seems to be two main schools of thought on quarantining new arrivals from the store into the QT and wanted to get some feedback from the reefing community.

One method is to add the DT water to the QT (or water with the same parameters - pH, temp, etc. as the DT), float the bag, and either drip acclimate or slowly remove fractions of the shipping water out of the bag and replace with QT/DT water.

The other method is to match the QT parameters to the shipping water. In other words, test the shipping water or trust the source and match the QT water to those parameters, which in some cases sounds like may have lowered pH from carbon dioxide, lower salinity, and lower temperature. Then, one would gradually increase the pH, temperature and salinity to DT levels. Apparently the reason behind this is that rising pH can convert ammonium to toxic ammonia, and lower salinity decreases the burden of osmoregulation and oxygen demand vs. supply.

So please provide which method you use, the results you have had, and (even better!) if you have tried both methods, which one do you prefer?

 

[lagatbezan]

I think it depends on how you acquire your fish. If you are purchasing it from a local store and the fish doesnt spend a lot of time in the bag, you can do the dip acclimation and qt with some water removed form your display.
But if you are purchasing the fish on line and its spending a little while in the bag, dip acclimation is not recommended since the moment you open up that bag and expose it to air, the ammonia level in the water gets deadly within less then 30 min. its best to have the qt levels matched up before hands as close as possible and transfer the fish. a little difference in ph, and sg is tolerable by a lot of fish and safer then keeping them in the bag with increasing level of deadly ammonia.
I personally have my qt setup with sg 1.025 and have some RO water ready. I test the water of the fish and quickly adjust qt and then add the fish. And then adjust slowly if needed to bring it to the same level as my DT during the final stages of quarantine.
I prefer to have my qt to have a lower sg during the quarantine process since i do tank transfer and it saves on some salt and tends to be easier on the fish as well.

 

[MondoBongo]

i don't concern myself with pH, i only worry about temperature and salinity.

i sample the bag salinity with an insulin syringe, then adjust my QT salinity accordingly. i also float the bag for about 15 minutes to match the temperature of the QT water.

then i slowly adjust the QT salinity up to the level of my display salinity (if they're different at all). my LFS runs 1.025 in all their tanks, so if i get a fish from them, i don't need to worry about salinity.

 

[snorvich]

There seems to be two main schools of thought on quarantining new arrivals from the store into the QT and wanted to get some feedback from the reefing community.

. . . edit . . .

"The other method is to match the QT parameters to the shipping water. In other words, test the shipping water or trust the source and match the QT water to those parameters, which in some cases sounds like may have lowered pH from carbon dioxide, lower salinity, and lower temperature. Then, one would gradually increase the pH, temperature and salinity to DT levels. Apparently the reason behind this is that rising pH can convert ammonium to toxic ammonia, and lower salinity decreases the burden of osmoregulation and oxygen demand vs. supply."

I use this. The other method can be problematic since many suppliers ship at 1.016/7

 

[Brieninsac]

I always try to match my QT's salinity to that of the source's. However, I have never tried to adjust the pH yet I hear that can be a big stress too. Does anyone worry about pH or just salinity and temp?

 

[kmbyrnes]

I have only bought one fish online and the vendor's quoted salinity matched what the fish arrived in. I was able to just float the bag to temperature match.
My LFS are pretty consistent ( low ) but I know that and set my TTM tanks to that before I go shopping.

 

[RxReefer13]

Have any of you had issues with trying to match the parameters of the shipping water on the spot? For example if you don't know what they are or they end up being different than what you expected. I think that is my concern is that the time it will take to match the shipping water will delay getting them in the qt. I know that once you open the bag (to test), carbon dioxide will escape and start to increase pH, thereby increasing the toxicity of the ammonia so you're kind of on a time limit to get it right. I do like the idea of an insulin syringe though, and working in a pharmacy makes that pretty easily attainable. How long does it take before the leak from the needle empties the bag? Haha

 

[snorvich]

You only need to match SG

 

[MondoBongo]

Have any of you had issues with trying to match the parameters of the shipping water on the spot? For example if you don't know what they are or they end up being different than what you expected. I think that is my concern is that the time it will take to match the shipping water will delay getting them in the qt. I know that once you open the bag (to test), carbon dioxide will escape and start to increase pH, thereby increasing the toxicity of the ammonia so you're kind of on a time limit to get it right. I do like the idea of an insulin syringe though, and working in a pharmacy makes that pretty easily attainable. How long does it take before the leak from the needle empties the bag? Haha

There's usually not enough pressure inside the bag to force much water out. Plus you're floating it right after to match the temp, so there is water weight pushing in from outside as well.

I usually mix my qt water at full strength, 1.026 or 3.5℅, because if I need to adjust it's easier to adjust down by adding freshwater to qt than to try to get the salinity up.