My personal method of acclimation (Based on my experience ONLY)

That sounds reasonable It has worked great for me the past 3 months, and i'm happy that i finally found a way, to prevent my fish from getting parasites and diseases and stress. But it also depends where you live to use this method, like for example if your room temperature is the same as your tank, it doesnt matter to drip acclimate your fish, however if its really cold like here, it can be harsh for the fish to go through while drip acclimating. And yes it might be a stupid method for americans, since medication is allowed, so stores often use it, and sometimes even copper-based medication as we discussed earlier on Thanks for reading Corailline, appreciate it! And thanks

 

OK I am no math genius but 4 little metal thingies x 2 times in each side of the bag does not = 8 holes. I believe it is 2x4=8x2=16 holes??

OK back to my corner now. Sorry I just had to say it ;D

 

Oh sorry, i meant a hole, one on each side. Thats what i meant. Sorry. But you can add more holes if you want, it also depends on the size of the bag

 

How about using this method when introducing fish to a QT? I would think this to be ok since the water will be 100% replaced when the fish is ready to be moved to the DT?

 

Just curious why you put so much emphasis on temperature and not pH and salinty.

My second question is why does your country being cold play such a factor with your stocking. I live in Canada and it gets very cold here too for half the year.

Are you walking home in the cold carrying fish?

I don't get how transporting from store to your house via a car could have such a drastic change. (Assuming you get a ride), I've brought tons of stuff home in the cold with little temperature change.

 

Temperature is VERY important. So are pH and salinity. pH, salinity and alkalinity will be adjusted just aswell as with drip acclimation. The same goes with the rest of the other chemicals in the water. But it also adjusts the temperature, thats why this method is so great. You dont catch the fish either, so wont stress the fish at all. Great method, but only use it if your fish store doesnt use medication Also, its not just the temperature when your transporting, but its the temperature when your acclimating. If you room temperature is lower than the bag that the fish are in, the temperature will drastically change, and make the fish stressed and more vulnerable to parasites and diseases, since their immune system fades. Therefore, its important for me, to make sure that i dont get my cold weather in this country, to affect my fish in any way, and thats why this method works great. Its the best method possible, simply because you avoid everything bad and do everything good: Temperature changes, you slowly acclimate the fish to ph and salinity, you dont stress the fish alot by catching them with a net. Its very simple, and the best possible way. But its so difficult to do for some people, since their store uses medication, and you DONT want that in your tank. I cannot stress this enough. However, in my case, its illegal to use medication in Denmark, so i only get clean water with my fish (Oh and yes, i do get a ride. My dad and me often drive an hour to get to my nearest fish store, and pick up some fish, and there, the temperature is adjusted fine, we often set him in a spot with heat, so he will get exactly 25 - 26 degrees celsius of temperature under the process of transporting ). However, its very important with this acclimation process, to make sure that the fish are healthy when you get them. Therefore, i highly suggest to ask your store to reserve the fish you want in 1 week, and then go pick it up, to make sure that the transporting to the store hasn't been to stressful on the fish.

 

That might not hurt. But if you have invertebrates in your QT, you shouldnt add the copper, malachite and different things like that to the water. But when you're moving your fish from you QT to your main tank, this is also a great method, just make sure that you dont got ANY traces of copper or malachite. You can get some copper test kits out there, and test the water for any traces. This method, is the absolute best!

 

For the record, while releasing copper into your DT is certainly a concern with this method, as Renee already brought up a second and equally important concern with this method is what parasites you are releasing by doing this. To be honest, I would rather do your method if bringing home a fish that was in a tank dosed with copper and then going into a bare QT rather than doing this method with fish from an untreated tank. As mentioned, you have no idea what you are releasing by doing this. Could be Ich, marine velvet, brooklynella, etc. Just not worth it.

Here is another method. Use an acclimation box such as one by Reef Gently. Bring it to your LFS and have them put the fish directly in it. Bring it home, drip acclimate for an appropriate amount of time. As you acclimate, increase the drip to a steady flow. Check temp, pH, salinity. It should match or be very close at this point anyways. By using the acclimate box, you just pick up the insert and release the fish. No net needed, and no LFS water released into your aquarium. Done and done.

 

And thats why i have said 100 times now: Know what your stores water contains. Look at the fish at all of the system, if they are any fish with any sort of diseases or strange behaviour DONT DO THIS METHOD. Thats what i'm trying to tell you guys But yes you can use the acclimation box, but i havent heard alot of people who use that, since it costs money. The majority of people use the general drip acclimation method, but yes the drip acclimation sets and things like that are definitely some that i can reccommend

 

Sigh...how can you possibly see or know if a newly introduced fish that is in a different tank than the one you are looking at is diseased??? Every LFS I have ever been to has their tanks tied in together (could be a few different systems in total). Even the "best" LFS in the world will still get diseased fish in with new shipments. Part of the hobby my friend. That is the reason no one should EVER introduce water from the LFS into your tank. Ever. Period.