Acclimation Procedure

Before your Fish Arrive
Have an aquarium ready for your shipped tropical fish. It is best to quarantine your new arrivals from any other fish you have. They are stressed by shipping and susceptible to any pathogens your other aquariums may contain. If you do not quarantine them, you will risk having them die.

As you acclimate your new fish please remember that slow is good. The goal is to transition the water chemistry from the bag to your pristine conditions in your established tank. DreamAquatic recommends that newly purchased fish be quarantined in a separate tank before introduction to the population of your established aquarium.

LIVE STOCK ACCLIMATION PROCEDURE

1. Turn off your aquarium lights, and keep them off for at least four hours.
2. Float the sealed bag in aquarium for 5-10 minutes to equalize temperatures.
3. Put specimen and water from the bag in to a clean bowl or bucket, and loosely cover. The container should be large enough to hold all the water from the bag and should not be more than half full.
4. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water from your aquarium into the container every 3 to 5 minutes until you have at least doubled the amount of water in the container. This should take at least 20 minuets.
5. Gently net the specimen out of the container and place into your aquarium.
6. Discard the water in the container. Do Not put water from the container in your aquarium.
7. A very small feeding at this time will help distract other fish from picking on new fish. Leave the lights off for a few hours to protect new fish from harassment by other fish in the aquarium.
8. Monitor the behavior of fish in the aquarium if there is any aggression; leave the lights off and darken the tank with a blanket or towel until the next morning.

NOTES: Some invertebrates (especially shrimp, snails and starfish) can be extremely sensitive to changes in water chemistry and should be acclimated very slowly; preferably buy using an airline drip system. Acclimate for a period of up to two hours dependent on species. Sponges should never be exposed to the open air. Keep them under water at all times.

ACCLIMATING CLAMS, ANEMONES, AND CORALS

To reduce any additional stress on your corals you should turn off all the lights on the tank so it can slowly acclimate itself to your lighting. We recommend placing the coral or clam in the bottom part of the tank and over the next two weeks slowly acclimate it to your lighting. Some corals may slime during shipping which is natural part of there condition. The following easy steps need to be followed and completed within one hour.

1. Float the unopened bag in the display or quarantine tank for a fifteen minutes to equalize the water temperature in the shipping bag.
2. Open the bag by cutting a small hole in it just below the metal staple and carefully place clam or coral with the water from the bag into the empty bucket.
3. Put specimen and water from the bag in to a clean bowl or bucket, and loosely cover. The container should be large enough to hold all the water from the bag and should not be more than half full.
4. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water from your aquarium into the container every 3 to 5 minutes until you have at least doubled the amount of water in the container. This should take at least 20 minuets.
5. Gently move the coral from your container to your aquarium and place the coral in the lower part of the tank and leave the lights off for at least three hours.
6. You should not place newly introduced specimens too close to other well established aggressive species, as they will sting their new “competitors".
7. Discard the water in the container. Do Not put water from the container in your aquarium.
8. Keep the aquarium lights at a low level and gradually work up to a higher level, allowing the coral(s) time to adjust before lighting increases.

CURING AND ACCLIMATING LIVE ROCK

Must you cure your live rock?
You must cure your live rock, even if it arrives precured. Precured live rock is harvested, then continually sprayed with a mist of sea water and scrubbed to remove unwanted debris. The spray tends to drive out unwanted species such as bristle worms and mantis shrimp. Uncured live rock contains a wider variety of organisms. Either type of rock can work great in your home reef aquarium. Regardless of whether your rock arrives uncured or precured, you must cure your rock in its new aquarium.

Why must you cure your live rock?
Live rock must be cured to allow the plant and marine life especially sponges which were living on the rock to undergo a natural die back without polluting the aquarium water. This die back occurs in all transported live rock and is necessary to provide a solid foundation for the remaining species to grow and flourish. As the organisms on the rock go through a die back, they will produce a large amount of waste material and cause toxic levels of ammonia to be released into the aquarium. Most of the very beneficial nitrifying bacteria survive the curing process by hiding deep in the pores and crevices of the live rock. In addition, some of the corals and invertebrates will also not die off completely and will begin to re-emerge in the new aquarium over time.

Curing Live Rock
1. Place the live rock in a new 30-gallon plastic garbage can.
2. Cover the rock completely with freshly mixed saltwater.
3. Use a heater to keep the water temperature near 80 degrees to speed die off.
4. Create constant water movement with a powerhead or air stone.
5. Keep the area dimly lit to prevent algae blooms.
6. Perform 100% water changes twice a week.
7. Scrub the rock between water changes to remove dead material.
8. Check water quality and test for ammonia. When ammonia tests are negative, the rock is safe for your aquarium.

Invertebrates/Cleaners
For cleaners such as snails and hermits, it is not necessary to acclimate the animals.