Adding new livestock to your tank ?

[thehurts]

[When adding new livestock to my tank should I be discarding the water it comes in from the store or just add it to my tank. I assume the water is of high quality from the LFS but who knows what I am getting. What is the best way to acclimate new livestock?? I know float to get temp. the same. What is the best technique. Is it safe to remove fish and coral from the water all together for just a few seconds to get them from the bag to the tank.


Thanks
Todd]

 

[Glenn]

[Well some corals will die if exposed to air, so no to that part of the question. What I do to acclimate is float, add tank water to bag repeat at least twice more. Then I discard all water in bag and add item to tank. Several of the online stores have acclimation procedures posted on their sites. Worth reading them over to see what they recommend for items you purchase from them.


Glenn]

 

[Reefette]

[Never never never let the water from another tank into your own. Think about it... You'd hate to be adding ich or the red bacteria to your beautiful display tank!

Whenever I get a fish I do your regular acclimating (floating, allowing a change of water in the bag to occur) then, if fish, I net them out and place in the aquarium. Most corals can be taken out of the water for the second that it takes to move from the bag to the tank. Sponges are tricky. After I've done the basic acclimating I fill a small tupperware container with my tank water and spill the sponge and bag water into it. Then discard as much water (from the container) as possible without exposing the sponge to air. Then fill with your tank water again, and again dump as much water out as possible. After repeating the above steps a few times you are most likely to have rid the bag water from your mixture and now only have your tank water in the tupperware. Gently lower the tupperware container into your tank and you've avoided any contact with air that the sponge might otherwise occured. ]

 

[Kevin Trotman]

[@thehurts wrote:

Depends on the source. Most people will tell you not to add it to your tank, but it's kinda like diversifying your sand bed. Adding good bacteria, etc, isn't bad, but if you buy from an LFS that seems to have an unusual amount of diseases in their fish for sale, BEWARE!! Adding bad bacteria, etc, isn't necessarily gonna get your fish sick *IF* you have very healthy fish, but don't chance it. If it's water in a bag with an SPS though, and it comes from a good source, it may add a reasonable diversity to your bacteria bed. I've gotten copepods hidden in the bag before, tiny feather dusters, etc.

Don't assume that around here. I don't mind adding water from Salt Water Paradise to my tank, but I absolutely DO NOT trust any of the other local stores. I am more trusting of FFexpress than I am local stores.

Put them in a large bowl and acclimate by adding a cup of your own water at a time every few minutes. You can acclimate fish faster, but to be safe, I usually take about 30 to 45 minutes to acclimate everything! You have to remove an SPS for a few seconds, otherwise there's no way to transfer it to your tank. Most SPS in the wild are out of water for part of the day on the reef slope, but not on the reef back, so be aware of what type of coral it is. Don't leave it directly under your lights for more than a split second!! It will burn it in a heartbeat. If you trust the water source, after about 30 min. you can put the bowl in your tank and let some of your tank water kinda pour in and then swirl for a min & etc.

Thanks,

Kevin]