Acclimating fish

I have been reading the The Conscientious Marine Aquarist and acclimating new species seems to be the biggest challenge. I plan on getting a quarantine tank but I still want to be sure of what I am doing. Does anyone do freshwater dips or baths? Do you keep your lights off for a certain period of time? How do you guys acclimate your fish and invertebrates?

 

Eli check out this acclimating information. It explains most of your questions.

Saltwater Fish Superstore - Saltwaterfish.com

I acclimate everything the same way. Usually it takes 3-4 hours for me. I do not adjust the lighting myself, however others do.

 

wow that was really helpful.

 

I do a drip acclimating. Never had problems. I don't turn out my lights (then again, since I'm only fowlr on the 45, I have plain ole flourescent)...plus I always forget to turn off the lights. My lfs does the dip. Workswell for them.

 

the lfs will do the dip for you?

 

No, I meant instead of quarantining them for 10 days for diseases when they get the fish from their suppliers, they just do the quick dip, then dump them into their main dt. So pretty much, by the time I've gotten them, they would be (presumably) free of diseases. So I just do the 1-2 hour drip acclimation at home. So far, I've gotten all my livestock from the same place, and no diseases.

 

I also drip acclimate for about an hour.

 

drip live rock?

 

We once caught Yote dripping some plastic plants on his old freshwater tank....right after he did it to the pirate ship!

 

yote, you tried, but i'm sorry dude, you just got B!^(H slapped.. hehehehe and it was freakn funny!

 

hahaha

 

Starting an official pettition to get that in our smiley list!!!!!
Great smiley messiah023

 

I use a quarantine tank, keep new fish in for 6 weeks. At week 5 I start to change out the water in QT with water from DT, then just move the newbie to the DT at the end of the 6 weeks if they've stayed disease free, or 6 weeks after any treatment I may have done. I do drip acclimate for about 3 hours from the QT before I add the fish, and then I keep lights off. I have QT set up in a low traffic area, and I put black paper on the sides if the new fish seems spastic, that helps calm them.

 

I drip acclimate for about an hour. Depends on the species. I just use a silicon tube for the process and go and do other stuff for a while.

 

what other stuff

 

i also want the b@*ch slappin smileys added to the list:bowdown: