Saltwater Fish
Acclimation Methods
Acclimate means to become used to a new environment or situation.
Saltwater fish acclimation takes time but will reduce your disappointment of watching them struggle and stress or just sink to the bottom of your tank.
Proper acclimation helps reduce the chances of stress. This will make a huge difference in the health and beauty of your new fish.
There are few things to remember and to follow when you’re adding new fish to your aquarium. Try your best to follow these saltwater fish acclimation recommendations/procedure for the benefit of your new fish.
Remember...
Don’t rush! Be patient in the during the acclimation process. It will take at least 30-40 minutes.
Keep the lights off for at least about four hours after the procedure.
Try dimming the lights in the room where your saltwater aquarium is. Bright lights will cause harmful stress to the saltwater fish.
If you see your fish is not moving or at the bottom of the plastic bag, try no to worry. Your new fish is most like be stressed out. Once proper saltwater fish acclimation is finished, it will take awhile before they swim normally around the aquarium.
Decide on anyone of these methods on how you would want to properly acclimate your new saltwater fish addition to your saltwater aquarium.
Which ever one you decide to use, each one will help your new fish to adjust to the things that causes them stress: lack of oxygen, drastic temperature and pH level differences and ammonia build up in the bag.
Measuring Cup Method
Pros
This method is a gentle, safe and easy way to introduce your new saltwater fish to your home aquarium, and usually takes less than an hour to complete.
This method provides re-oxygenation of the saltwater in the bag and slowly introduces the fish to your saltwater aquarium’s level of pH and other water chemistries.
You can use this method not only for saltwater fish acclimation but also for all other types of marine livestocks.
Cons
This method may have you move too fast and not allow enough time for proper saltwater fish acclimation process.
Instructions
Open the bag. If full of packing water, pour about half of it and discard.
Cut or fold the top of the bag if there’s any excess.
Place the bag inside your saltwater aquarium and secure to the top with any devise that can hold it still making sure that no water from the bag gets into the aquarium or vice versa.
Drop airstone into the bag for a couple of minutes to help with re-oxygenation.
Scoop out about 1/4 cup of you aquarium saltwater and pour it into the bag and wait 10 minutes.
Repeat this process.
You can test the temperature, salinity and pH level of the bag water to check if these parameters match your saltwater aquarium. If they match, then the acclimation is complete. If not, continue steps 5 and 6.
Gently hand scoop, use a soft mesh net (you can usually get this from your local fish store), or use a small perforated container to lift the fish out of the bag and put it in your aquarium.
Discard the water in the bag.
Enjoy your new saltwater fish!
Drip Line Method
Pros
This method is gentle, safe and easy way to introduce your new saltwater fish to your home aquarium.
Once the drip line is started and the flow rate is set, it pretty much takes care of itself.
You can use this method not only for saltwater fish acclimation but also for all types of marine livestocks.
Cons
It can take up to two hours for this method to be completed depending on the size of size of the acclimation container being used.
There is a lot of set up involved.
If you are acclimating more than one saltwater fish, this means you have to either use a separate acclimation container for each one or put them all together in the same one. If you combine the fish, they may fight and injure each other even before you can get them into your aquarium, especially if they are of the same or similar species.
This method may have you move too fast and not allow enough time for proper acclimation process.
Instructions
Put the fish in any container of enough size to be covered
Set the bucket on the floor close to the aquarium you’ll be putting the fish into when done.
Using some plastic air line tubing and an air gang value, set up and run a siphon drip line from the aquarium you will be placing the fish into, to the bucket.
Siphon and slowly the tank water to drip into the container using the gang air valve to adjust the drip rate.
Do not set the water drip rate too fast nor too slow. Set it in between.
If you are acclimating several fish, it’s the best way to do it individually in a container of their own.
When the water in the container equals to about two to three times the volume of the bag water, test the temperature, salinity and pH level of the bag water to check if these parameters match your saltwater aquarium.
Gently remove the fish and place it into your aquarium where the dripped in water came from.
Turkey Baster Method
Pros
This method is also gentle, safe and easy way to introduce your new saltwater fish to your home aquarium and takes less than an hour to complete.
The bag water will be eventually replaced by your own saltwater.
This method also provides re-oxygenation of the saltwater in the bag and slowly introduces the fish to your saltwater aquarium’s level of pH and other water chemistries.
No nets, scoops or other stress inducing methods are used avoiding acclimation shock and any other stressful situation for the fish.
Fish are individually confined if you have more than one you are trying to introduce to your saltwater aquarium.
You can use this method not only for saltwater fish acclimation but also for all types of marine livestocks.
Cons
This method may have you move too fast and not allow enough time for proper saltwater fish acclimation process.
Instructions
Open the bag and lower it into your saltwater aquarium.
Secure to the top with any devise that can hold it still.
Let the water temperature from the bag stabilize with the temperature of your saltwater.
Using a large new plastic turkey baster that has no metal parts, add 1 or 2 full squeeze bulbs of your tank water to the bag and wait for about 10 minutes.
Remove 3 bulbs of water from the bag and throw it away. Add 2 more bulbs of your tank water and wait for another 10 minutes.
Repeat 4 and 5 until the recycling of bag water is complete.
Now you can test the temperature, salinity and pH level of the bag water to check if these parameters match your saltwater aquarium.
Submerge the entire bag under water and let your new saltwater fish swim out.
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