Mr. Saltwater Tank TV Friday Am Quick Tip #82: Be Welcoming, But Not Lethal
Everyone loves getting new fish for their saltwater tank. Making this small mistake when acclimating your fish can have disastrous consequences.
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Browse the Store! Questions?
I didn’t know people did that. Thanks for the tip! I am looking for my first nem. Are the brightly colored bubble tips harder to keep? I want a bubble tip and one of the multi colored ones, but I have only talked to people that have rose. Any advice? 🙂
Good tip Mark but you’re killing me…. how about a sneak peak at your tank????
I feel like a junkie, need my quick fix (sneak peak) of your tank.. 🙂
What is the best way to acclimate? Drip line in a 5 gallon bucket?
Wow…didn’t know people did that.
I’m curious, what IS the best way to acclimate new fish ?
Dino
That is how I acclimate. Depending on the fish or coral I acclimate from 10 minutes to one hour.
Not heard of that one before… It makes sense though…
Drip acclimation all the way here 🙂
I use the Reef Gently AccliMate. It’s an automatic drip system that is easy to setup and you don’t have to constantly tend to it during the process. It drips out the fish store water and ends up being 100% tank water.
thanks mark i did not know that but i am a still a newbie to saltwater fish try to break down my 55gals tank to a 29 gals tank have a new grand baby that is going to take more time so i can’t spend time on the tank but i will try to keep up with you
Very important question! Where did you get the shirt?
Dino, without a doubt, drip acclimation is the best way
I typically float the closed bag for 15 min to temp acclimate.
open the bag and put the water and fish in a clean container dedicated to fish only.
start a drip, every 15 min pulling at least half the water out and dumping it.
once the specific gravity matches the tank, it’s time to add the fish. This can take 45 min+ depending on the difference of the SG from the bag and the tank.
check out live aquaria, they have a nice video on drip acclimating.
yeah I wanna echo what other people are saying about tips for acclimating online-bought fish as that has not gone very well for me in the past. Or is there info about that in one of your books?
I never put an airstone in there, but why would it increase the PH? I dont get it, it’s just to break up the surface tension…
Thanks everyone! Enjoy your weekend
@Pete
When you use an airstone, it is dumping large amounts of Oxygen into the water column causing the CO2 to gas out and raise your ph. Since there is barely any water in the bag to begin with, this effect is amplified and occurs quickly.
The inverse happens when you add large amounts of CO2 (dropping ph and lower oxygen – this can happen with an improperly tuned calcium reactor.)
Matt, really hope you didn’t find that out the hard way. When I get a new fish it’s a “pet emergency” with sirens and all.
i have a young tank and in one of your videos you said one reason for high nitrate levels could be a young tank, my nitrate is around 15-20 and its a 37 gallon tank about a month and a half with only two fish it finished cycling about 2 weeks ago well my levels drop soon i have been doing 15 percent water changes after it finished cycling weekly
I have trying to get the ammonia level down, nothing seems to work. It’s the harmless form of ammonia that’s in my 20gal tank, it’s almost two months old. It’s at 8.0.
What is this “harmless form of ammonia” and how are you testing for it?
I’m using an ammonia testing kit.