Accimilation procedure

[dazed1]

Well, i should be receiving my first order from SFW.com within the next few hour's.
I have read the accimilation procedure posted and that received via email.
I had a few question's though, :
1) After introducing the fish and snail's to the tank, what do I do with the water in the bucket? Can i use that or would I have to throw it away ?
2) How do i accimilate Coral's ? I'll be receiving a few feather duster's, ricordia mushroom's, and umbrella mushroom's.
3) If i have invert's like just snail's, should i accimilate them seperately or is it ok to accimilate them along with my fish ? (Getting 5 certhil snail's)
Thank's
-Mayur

 

[thomas712]

First step before your livestock arrives you should check your water paramiters. Ammoni 0, nitrites 0, nitrates low, Calcium 400 -450, alk 10-14 dkh.
It is customary not to use the water that they come from so when acclimating do not atempt to reuse the water they were housed in or any from your tank that mixed with it.
I acclimate corals much in the same way this site teaches us to do for fish. Slow and easy.
I would say you could acclimate your snails in the same way or if inconvienent, you could simply open the bag and let it sit in your main tank and slowly add water to it every 5-10 min, if you can not juggle them both in the same bag or bucket with separate drip tubes.
Your fish will probalby have been through quit a trip so it is always wise to Qt them for 30 days first, before adding to the main tank.
Thomas

 

[dazed1]

Well, thank's
So if I should not use the water again (which would be about 20% of tank capacity), then the tank will also have a water change. Would that be ok ?

 

[thomas712]

Ah a 20 gal. Didn't pay enough attention the first time. Ok. Take your bags and empty half of their water out of those bags after you have matched temp. Then start your drip. Follow the SWF acclimation and this should save you some of your water. Yes I would have some more water made. You could do a water change now and save the water from the change to add back to it if you need more.
Sound ok?
Thomas
P.S. I'm sure there are plenty of people that actually use the water in the LFS bags, but it just simply is not the best idea.