The Most Useful Friday AM Quick Tip I’ve Ever Made
After 119 Friday AM quick tips, there’s one that is hands down the one I use the most. And it’s made my life a whole lot easier!
Note: I often couple the quick tip below with this one when I’m acclimating fish and coral.
Also: All of my fish go through at least 30 days of quarantine first.
Browse the Store! Questions?
Hi Mark, I have always acclimated new livestock by using the drip method. If you only put the bag in the water would the fish not feel the shock once you drop it in the tank and there is a difference in salinity?
I don’t want any other water from any store or anywhere in my tank than the water I make myself. I also use the drip method and catch my new livestock with a net before I put them in the tank. The water in the bag/bucket goes through the sink.
Cracking tip this one … It’s actually about time I replaced my clips .. the metal spring gives up if you give them too many salt dips 😛
He never said he doesn’t drip acclimate. I use both methods floating for the temperature and drip for the salinity.
Good tip! I’ve also used ‘guppy breeder nets’ for holding the bags. The added benefit is you can release the purchase into the netted breeder box after you have done your acclimation so that others don’t overwhelm the newbie.
In addition, if you have a nice large sump, you can do all the above in your sump section ( refrugium) rather than the main tank so the fish has lots of time to adjust in a shader, non molesting environment. During the next 24 hours, you can observe, feed and strengthen the newbie. Of course, quarantine is highly recommended over ANY of the techniques.
JasPR…great suggestions.
It’s very useful, I do it 2 years now
Eric…I always drip acclimate as well using this tip and the salinity in the bag should be the same as in your tank. I personally don’t deal with retailers that use hypo salinity for their fish systems. Of course it never hurts to check before you acclimate your fish.
Keep in mind, every fish coming into my tank goes through at least 30 days of quarantine first. I’ve dealt with a disease outbreak once and I won’t do it again.
How does this work with your quarantine tank procedures?
got them as a birthday gift last year from the wife…..best idea ever. And I thought she didn’t care
Jason…I float the bag in the QT tank and secure it with the clip shown in the video. Then I use this tip to drip acclimate the fish to the QT tank for 20-30 mins.
Cool! Thanks!
Sorry,
i just use a wooden clothes peg does the trick for me.
Another great tip Mark
I already stole that idea from another one of your videos lol
I stock up on hair clips from the dollar store, they hold the bag perfectly to the edge of the aquarium.
Nice!!! I like that one Mark!
This is off of the subject but I had a issue with my powerheads vibrating really bad so I went to my local hardware store and in the plumbing section I found some o-rings for your basic kitchen fosset the measurements were 1/4″ O.D. x 1/8″ I.D. x1/16 #60 O-rings set of ten opened up my powerhead slid 3 rings on the end and put it back together and just like that no vbration quiet as can be. Just thought this might help with those pesky powerheads that tend to vibrate.
mark i hate to tell you but you get fish that have been in hypo !
most the better inporters ship in hypo then deliver the fish to holding tanks where there brought out of hypo
Hey Mark, Make sure the clams such as the one you show in your video have non metallic shafts holding the swivel pads on the tips and the shaft and spring in the middle of the clamp are not metal as well. They rust up very quickly, and have potential to add harmful amounts of it into your tank if unnoticed.
clamps not clams, typo
Rob…the clamps always get a freshwater rinse when I’m done with them and most of the time the metallic parts never touch the water. Also, if the do rust and water happens to touch the rust for the length of time I use them (about 15 mins) then I’m not worried about the limited contact time causing harm to the tank.