Aclimating multiple fish

So my first order from Live Aquaria is scheduled to arrive tommorow and i am quite excited. In the past I have usually only gotten one fish at a time from the local fish store. But tomorrow I have a small orange shoulder tang, and desjardini sailfin tang and a few green chromis coming in. Would you drip acclimate them all in the same bucket? I know I should Qt but I dont have it set up. Also the tank is a 125g that is very lightly stocked at the moment (2 snowflake clowns, a bicolor blenny, and a small yellow tang). the tank has been set up for about 10 months. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

To each his own, but I wouldn't drip-acclimate at all. The ammonia levels are going to be toxic; however, the O2/CO2 balance will have the pH lowered to make the ammonia more tolerable. Once you open the bag and air hits the CO2/ammonia-saturated water, clean, oxygenated water coming in one drop at a time for an hour or longer may not suffice.

Personally, I've always used the turkey-baster method for about 30 minutes- you can replace more water at once- and I've never lost any fish due to health problems. Fish tend to be more tolerant than we give them credit for; slight alterations in SG or pH is rarely harmful, and for certain, far less harmful than ammonia.

JM2C

 

There's also the heat problem.

I drip acclo coral but it's because I use a coral rinse.

 

I stop acclimating fish, since i introduce one into tank because he was almost dead, after a few days he recovered, after that, i just float the bag for a few minutes, and put the fish into QT, but i ask the seller, their salinity and pH and try to match then, that way i reduce stress on the fish.

 

Honestly, if it's any responsible tank owner, the PH is going to be in the normal range for weekly 10-20% fresh saltwater changes. That is PH around 8.2.

Then again, if it's shipped, who knows what the PH is over 2 days in a small bag. I've never seen a fish store do drip acclamation though, only temperature.

 

For any online purchase, I would say follow their acclimation instructions listed on their site. All sites I have seen will void any guarantee if not done their way.

 

Sites don't know how you acclimate your fish, or how did it die, but as some have say, acclimation might do more harm than good to the fish, not because of the process itself, because of the ammonia spike water will have as soon as you open the bag and exposed it to air.

 

Good point, however most also say to add a product such as Prime to detoxify ammonia. Either way the important thing is to match pH & temp, and get SG close for fish as you mentioned.

 

I don't drip acclimate either. All I do is turn the lights off in the display, float for a few and then add them to the tank. way too much ammonia in that shipping water to leave them in it. With this being said, it's not a best practice. The best bet is to us a quarantine tank. I just don't really have the patience for that.

 

Also All live aquaria products pre-acclimated.