Your Acclimation Procedures
 

How do you acclimate your new arrivals?

i float the bag containing the animal and bag water in the tank. then i use a 2L pitcher with an air-valve to drip tank water into the bag.

I float the bag for 20 minutes or so to get the temp close, then I add a cup of water from the tank to the bag every 20 minutes. After 60 minutes I dump half the water in the bag out (not back into the tank) and then add a cup every 20 minutes for another 60. After that, I dump out as much water as I can and then into the tank the fish goes.

Drip away!!!
 

Thats a lot of work. Maybe switch to a drip method. I drip everything that I get.

1) Just get a jug (2L bottle would do)
2) Make a hole at the bottom of the container for the small plastic ball valve (used for air tubing, found at Big Als)
3) Superglue or silicone it so that there is no leaks

And that is it. You got yourself a dripper.

I float the bag in my sump for about 45min. Then I airline drip into the bag from the main tank, while the bag is still floating in the sump.

by syphon or pump?

I was thinking of using a large plastic cup and lid with small holes drilled in it. I could float the cup in the tank for an hour or two. Any problems with that? It would require a bit of experimentation with the holes to acheive a proper acclimation rate, but I can't think of any other problems with this.

Te He
 

I float the bag for about 3-5 min and put a cup of tank water every 3-4 mins about 4 times then drop the suckers in, so to speak. Never lost anything doing this.

I can. This way of acclimation while sounding good in theory is not so good in practice. You really want to avoid adding water from other sources to your tank water if possible. You never know what could be in the water that you do not want in your reef.

Introducing the acclimater 5000

http://members.shaw.ca/kabong/acc.jpg http://members.shaw.ca/kabong/acc2.jpg


for only 10 easy payments of 19.95 you too can own this wonderful device.
Acclimate 4 different buckets at the same time, each with its own adjustable flow rate.
step right up and get'em while there hot :lol:

seriously though i do

30min at 1 drip per sec
dump half the water
30min at 3 drip per sec
dump half the water
30min at a trickle
float there bucket for 30 to match temp then add.

I drip from my tank into a Brita jug with the fish/store water. Once it's about 75% "my" water, I scoop the fish in.
For corals, I do nothing fancy. I used to drip and it made little difference. Some of the old hands at reefs.org shared their own rule of thumb that I've been following - just take the coral out of the bag and expose it to air for a few seconds until it slimes up (a defensive reaction, I guess). Then place it in the tank - the slime layer will protect it from shock to a change in salinity/pH as it gradually sheds the mucus.

:surprise: wow. what corals have you tried this with?

Float it for about 20 minutes, do my own thing, come back, pour a bit of water into the bag, do my thing, pour a bit more, and then ultimately let the fish out.

EZ.

so how do i get one of those fabulously constructed "acclimator 5000's" i thjink there neatooh.

hmm.. for fish all I do is float the bag, add a bit of water to the bag here and there for a bit then drain it out over the sink into a plastic strainer then dump the fish in the watter. Snails and crabs I don't anymore and I have beeter survival rates than when I did.:neutral:

Steve

Really all you need is maybe $15 worth of parts.
1 multiple way ganged valve (any pet store will have them)
airline tubing 1 foot for the intake then about 3 feet for each output,
If you really want to be cheap i believe you can pick this up at home depot.
1 bag of straws. now this may be tricky i just happened to have some with the perfect diameter to slide tightly over the tubing.

Attach a one foot piece of hose to the input on the valve,
Wrap it up and over into the tank using one of the hose holders on the valve.
The other hoses go on the output's.
You can run 4 at a time or one doesn't matter.
when doing multiple buckets you only need to start the siphon on the first hose the others will start automatically.
Use the dial on the valve to adjust your drip rate. :biggrin:

Finnally someone who does it like me!!!:biggrin:

Sounds like a great way to do it.
Anybody some corals I can test with? :wink: