Your thoughts on SG and Acclimation

pchromis

Member
The LFS that I deal with uses a SG of 1.024 for the reef section tanks and an SG of less than 1.018 for the fish only tanks. This is a well established store and they very knowledgeable. Their tanks are very well maintained as are the fish.
I would like some other opinions here on SG and acclimation.
I keep my reef tank with button polyps, leather toadstool, zoos, greenstar polyp and pimple mushroom along with a false perc clown, firefish and bi color pseudochromis at 1.026 sg.
I recently purchased an Elibi Angel from the stores fish only tank and the SG was less than 1.017. The fish was active and eating before I bought it....I acclimated for about 2 hours to match the SG to my tank. It died about 5 days later.
MY question is: Is that too long to acclimate and is it too much of a SG difference. for a 2 hour acclimation.
Another store I sometimes visit,,keeps their fish only tanks just as low.
Thanks
 

dogstar

Active Member
Most likely from salinity shock. Acclimateing fish to a higher SG must be done very slowly. Its like bringing them out of Hypo. In a case like yours, raiseing it .009 higher in only 2 hours was much too fast.
 

infern0

Member
That's a pretty wild range zano...
Definitely shock...I've read that salinity should not be changed more than .002 per DAY.
Next time use a quarantine tank or even a bucket for this slow process.
My SG is at 1.025-1.026 depending on evaporation. I don't have an auto-topoff yet.
 

supalupa

Member
I keep my tank at 1.025-1.026. Make sure you don't use a hydrometer get a refractometer. Hydrometers are not reliable. I have never acclimated a fish for more than 1/2 hour. Throw the bag in the sump and drip them. If they are healthy to start with there shouldn't be a problem. Of coarse it all depends on the sensitivity of the fish.
 

pchromis

Member
Thanks for the input....I always drip them to acclimate....I thought two hours was an acceptable time to drip.
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
If there is that much of a difference, I would do a much slower acclimation. If it were me, I would set your QT to that SG and then slowly bring up the SG in your QT to match your display tank over the course of a few weeks.
 

pchromis

Member
Originally Posted by lion_crazz
If there is that much of a difference, I would do a much slower acclimation. If it were me, I would set your QT to that SG and then slowly bring up the SG in your QT to match your display tank over the course of a few weeks.

Good method!
 

dieselndix

Member
I got on ---- and bougth refillable IV bags...they are AWESOME!!!
just hang the bag about the fish or coral...just set the drip to about 6 drips per second..and come back in like an hour....works awesome, never lost anything
 

dogstar

Active Member
6 drips per second, isn't that sorta fast ?....
It all depends on how different the LFS water is to the tank water to determine the time of acclimation.
Some stores do keep the fish in conditions more closer to what ones display would be and then the acclimation can be quicker.
IMO. always best to test the store water for pH and S.G. to see how far off it is from your water and then adjust the acclimation as needed.
Also test as you acclimate to determine if the drip is too fast and its not changeing the water too fast. A fast drip can change the total levels in a few minutes but you keep doing it for 2 hours but thats already done the damage........
BTW, Im sorry for the loss of the fish....
 

pchromis

Member
Originally Posted by Dogstar
6 drips per second, isn't that sorta fast ?....
It all depends on how different the LFS water is to the tank water to determine the time of acclimation.
Some stores do keep the fish in conditions more closer to what ones display would be and then the acclimation can be quicker.
IMO. always best to test the store water for pH and S.G. to see how far off it is from your water and then adjust the acclimation as needed.
Also test as you acclimate to determine if the drip is too fast and its not changeing the water too fast. A fast drip can change the total levels in a few minutes but you keep doing it for 2 hours but thats already done the damage........
BTW, Im sorry for the loss of the fish....

Six drips a second? Thats almost a stream!
I usually adjust to 1 drip per 2 seconds.
 
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