cocoa_pleco
04-09-2007, 03:35 AM
Just thought i would post this for salt beginners, as i made this mistake my first time a few years back, and dont want anyone else to make the same mistake
Salt water fish and corals need to be drip acclimated. Your salinity is not the same as place you buy it often, and puts on stress, which often leads to illness and death.
What you need to drip acclimate-
-a reasonably sized bucket in which the coral/fish can be completely submerged in the bags water
-a eye dropper
-A small bucket of you tank water
What to do-
GENTLY Place the fish/coral in the bags water bucket.
Take the eye dropper, fill it with your tanks water bucket, and slowly drip the water into the fish/coral bucket. I use 3 drips at 2 second intervals, that way it doesnt stress the animal.
drip until the amount of your tanks water is about 2 to 3 times that of the bags water. Test the salinity with a hydrometer, and gently place the animal in your tank. If the salinity in the bucket is not the same as your tanks, keep dripping.
Dripping can take from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. Do not be eager to rush and quickly drip acclimate. Sure you will get to see the animal in your tank a little bit faster, but it may not survive and get stressed, making it definitely not worth it.
I made this mistake on my first salt tank. I bought a purple starfish as my first salt creature, and didnt know that you had to drip acclimate, and just floated the bag for 30 minutes. 2 weeks later, he got a terrible disease which the flesh in his head eroded and i could see inside his head. He had to be euthuanised.
I just wanted to make other people aware of this since beginners often make the same mistake as me.
Salt water fish and corals need to be drip acclimated. Your salinity is not the same as place you buy it often, and puts on stress, which often leads to illness and death.
What you need to drip acclimate-
-a reasonably sized bucket in which the coral/fish can be completely submerged in the bags water
-a eye dropper
-A small bucket of you tank water
What to do-
GENTLY Place the fish/coral in the bags water bucket.
Take the eye dropper, fill it with your tanks water bucket, and slowly drip the water into the fish/coral bucket. I use 3 drips at 2 second intervals, that way it doesnt stress the animal.
drip until the amount of your tanks water is about 2 to 3 times that of the bags water. Test the salinity with a hydrometer, and gently place the animal in your tank. If the salinity in the bucket is not the same as your tanks, keep dripping.
Dripping can take from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. Do not be eager to rush and quickly drip acclimate. Sure you will get to see the animal in your tank a little bit faster, but it may not survive and get stressed, making it definitely not worth it.
I made this mistake on my first salt tank. I bought a purple starfish as my first salt creature, and didnt know that you had to drip acclimate, and just floated the bag for 30 minutes. 2 weeks later, he got a terrible disease which the flesh in his head eroded and i could see inside his head. He had to be euthuanised.
I just wanted to make other people aware of this since beginners often make the same mistake as me.