How do you Drip Acclimate

[Utar]

How do you do it and for how long?
In my mind I visualize a slow steady drip, drip, drip into the bag the fish came in to acclimate for difference in water perimeters.

Would this be ok, since there is only a small amount of water in the bag the fish(s) came in. Poor this water with the fish out into say an empty 5 gallon tank, drip acclimate in this tank before transferring the fish(s) into my 10 gallon quarantine tank, which will have my water source in it.

 

[MrBryan723]

Both methods you mentioned work well. Maybe something smaller than a 5 gallon tank tho. A big kitchen bowl would work better.

 

[FitSoldier]

Not sure about your scenario. I have to drip acclimate everything because my fish are simply too big to be bagged. I'm sure you can do this in a tank too.

In a bucket (when I bring fish home), I drain the water in the bucket until that fish barely has room to stand upright. Then I connect airline tubing from main tank to bucket. It should be a very rapid drip into the bucket. Once the water has doubled, I drain the bucket again to the same level (fish barely has room to stand upright) and repeat. After the bucket water has doubled again, I introduce the fish into the tank.

Throughout the whole acclimate process, I have a mini heater rated for up to 5 gallons in the bucket to regulate temperature. The temperature in the bucket should be the same in the tank.

Whole process takes about an hour. Before throwing the fish in, I turn off lights and leave them off for a couple hours after introducing the fish.

 

[Demeter]

First and foremost, are these fish coming from the petstore or in the mail? For hardier fish (say anything that isn't a nano species nor invertebrate) if they are coming in the mail I don't drip acclimate because the water they came in is incredibly toxic so it is safest to temperature acclimate then pour them into a net and plop them in the tank. Also in my case, the local petstores have the same or very similar parameters so drip acclimating isn't needed.

With nano species and shrimp I always put them in a bucket and drip with air line tubing and adjustable valves. After an hour or two I net them out and put them in the tank.

 

[Utar]

Thank you all for some very good answers. But still I must ask, how do you setup the dripping. I found this device called an AccuDrip on Amazon, should I order this. The only way I can see in my mind is to stand there with an eye dropper, constantly dripping water for an hour or so.

 

[FitSoldier]

No, just go to PetSmart and get the airline tubing with the connector kit. The connector kit will contain a valve that you can use to adjust flow. Get the cheapest one, should be just a couple of dollars.

If you don't want the connector kit, you can knot the airline tubing to slow down the water flow.

 

[WrenFeenix]

Here’s the drip acclimation setup I used for my betta. A line of airline tubing, attached to the inside of the tank with a suction cup, and a knot in it to control rate of flow. Suck on the tube to start the siphon, adjust the knot to a slow-ish drip, and leave it for an hour or two or more.

 

[Utar]

Thanks for the airline tubing idea, never would have thought of it. I already have the items for setting this up.

 

[Gone]

 

[Mongo75]

I acclimate mine by floating the bag in the tank for about 15 or 20 minutes, then I slowly add about 10 to 15ml to the bag every 5 to 10 minutes for about an hour, then pour the new fish into a net and put them into the tank.

 

[Utar]

Well from watching the video, it is pretty much what I have been doing all along. According to the experts you don't leave the fish in the bag water longer then necessary. With the slow drip acclimation the fish would have to be in the water it came with for hours at least. It just that in the past, when I bring fish home form lfs its always a 50/50 chance whether they will survive or not. I was wanting a better acclimation method to give the fish the best chance for survival.

 

[Morrigan]

I usually pour the fish and water out of the bag and into a bucket as soon as I get home. This is mainly because I find it easier to work with a bucket and you don’t risk any fish getting caught in the corners of the bag if it squishes when you set it down on a table or something.

I then test the water the fish are in – temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Those test results will dictate how long I take to acclimate the fish.

If the parameters are close to the water in my tank I’ll acclimate faster than I will if the parameters are further off. Keep in mind, if the fish are only in the bag for as long as it takes you to get home from the lfs that won’t be enough time to foul the water parameters. So whatever the parameters are, that is what was in the tanks at the lfs and the fish have been in that water for quite some time (fish that have been mailed in the bag are different but I haven’t had fish shipped in years so I’ll leave that for someone else to weigh in on).

I don’t know if this method is the best one but I’ve had good results with it so far and I’m more comfortable with it than just matching temps and dumping the fish into my tank. That said, even acclimating for a couple of hours (particularly if the parameters are way off) is going to be a pretty quick change for the fish so I’m not sure that it really makes too much difference in the end – it may be more for my benefit than that of the fish

 

[Utar]

I usually pour the fish and water out of the bag and into a bucket as soon as I get home. This is mainly because I find it easier to work with a bucket and you don’t risk any fish getting caught in the corners of the bag if it squishes when you set it down on a table or something.

I then test the water the fish are in – temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Those test results will dictate how long I take to acclimate the fish.

If the parameters are close to the water in my tank I’ll acclimate faster than I will if the parameters are further off. Keep in mind, if the fish are only in the bag for as long as it takes you to get home from the lfs that won’t be enough time to foul the water parameters. So whatever the parameters are, that is what was in the tanks at the lfs and the fish have been in that water for quite some time (fish that have been mailed in the bag are different but I haven’t had fish shipped in years so I’ll leave that for someone else to weigh in on).

I don’t know if this method is the best one but I’ve had good results with it so far and I’m more comfortable with it than just matching temps and dumping the fish into my tank. That said, even acclimating for a couple of hours (particularly if the parameters are way off) is going to be a pretty quick change for the fish so I’m not sure that it really makes too much difference in the end – it may be more for my benefit than that of the fish

My lfs is a Petsmart about an hour from where I live. So I have to plan on getting there and back as soon as possible. When I go to buy fish, I bring along a Styrofoam ice chest to carry the fish home in, that will protect the temp in the bag from the outside temp. I am going to start testing the lfs water like you suggested.

 

[dmk164]

First and foremost, are these fish coming from the petstore or in the mail? For hardier fish (say anything that isn't a nano species nor invertebrate) if they are coming in the mail I don't drip acclimate because the water they came in is incredibly toxic so it is safest to temperature acclimate then pour them into a net and plop them in the tank. Also in my case, the local petstores have the same or very similar parameters so drip acclimating isn't needed.

With nano species and shrimp I always put them in a bucket and drip with air line tubing and adjustable valves. After an hour or two I net them out and put them in the tank.

i like your comment but in my situation i am buying wild frontosas that has very high ph and my city water very low ph im afraid droping 2.5 degrees ph all at once might kill them

 

[Demeter]

There are minerals you can add, cichlid salts being one. I suggest you get some and also get some substrate with crushed coral or other African cichlid specific buffers. This will help but it will end up being pretty costly in the long run as you may need to add the cichlid salt every water change.

This is one reason why it is always better to match the fish to your parameters rather than changing your water to match the fish. It can be difficult, expensive and easily messed up. But it can be done if you know what you are doing. I have no experience in adding minerals to my aquariums so you better do some reading up on things!

 

[carsonsgjs]

i like your comment but in my situation i am buying wild frontosas that has very high ph and my city water very low ph im afraid droping 2.5 degrees ph all at once might kill them

Frontosas will not adapt to soft water - hard water with a high ph is essential.

As demeter says, there are salts available to increase gh, kh and therefore ph, as well as other methods. You definitely need to consider your options here to you can provide the right conditions for the fish you are buying, if you decide to buy them at all.

 

[Papasmerf73]

Tazawa tanks just did a great video on this where he used a takeout food container and a small piece of airline.

 

[Tryne]

I use airline and bought a set of these air flow controllers from amazon. Works well:

5 Pcs Aquarium Air Flow Control Levier Valve en Acier Inoxydable Tube À Air Distributeur Fish Tank Vannes Monotête Aquarium Pompe À Oxygène Valve De Contrôle Accessoires : Amazon.fr: Animalerie