New Acclimation procedure inverts

mvallee

Non-member
I found this interesting, I bought some additional CUC from Reef Cleaners this week including 4 emerald crabs a couple decorator crabs and a bunch of snails and this was the acclimation procedure from them.
1. Float the bag in your tank to get them used to the temperature in your aquarium.
2. Wait 15 minutes.
3. Add contents to tank. Discard Water and Paper towels if any.

That's it, I always heard inverts were more sensitive requiring more acclimation but this was nothing but temp and everything thus far is alive and doing very well.

This is there explanation if interested, makes sense
You may find this to be different than the acclimation procedure you are used to carrying out. The reason we ask our customers to use this procedure is because our snails and crabs live intertidally, and can handle drastic swings in ph/salinity without a problem. However, what they can't handle is toxic levels of ammonia. During the shipping process, ammonia levels in the shipping bags build, while the ph level goes down. As the ph goes down the toxicity of ammonia also goes down. However, when your tank water with normal ph is introduced to the shipping bags, and the ph rises, so does the toxicity of the ammonia, and you will be poisoning the livestock. Please don't do this. Any other method of acclimation voids the Alive Arrival Guarantee. If you are a pro and know how to deal with these issues with ammonia neutralizing drips that may be a good idea for urchins, porcelains and true crabs. (If you are however unsure how to carry out this acclimation procedure please do not practice it with our livestock)
 
Yes what he says is true except you don’t need to introduce water to the bag for ph to rise. As soon as you open the bag it degasses and ph goes up. There’s a procedure that you try to match salinity without completely opening the bag. Small cut on the bag and cover with tape. Introduce water through the hole but keep it covered so the ph doesn’t change much. You can use some ammonia binder as well but if you use seachem prime and the water has copper in it ( fish only ) it could be toxic.
 
Does this work for fish or only inverts? I have been shortening my acclimation process for fish and have been having much more success. Yes I do this for inverts but was following the drip method for my fish and had mixed success.
 
The water with fish is probably higher in ammonia than the inverts. It works just have to match salinity to introduce the fish. Using a ammonia binder will help tremendously but I’ve heard prime can react to copper negatively. I’d try to get some other type of ammonia remover or just do it longer. Remember the only thing that you’re trying to do is not let there be gas exchange from the inside of the bag so ph doesn’t go up too fast
 
I’m due for a new order soon but when I purchased my clean up crew from them a few months back I followed there instructions and everything lived with no issues
 
FWIW the past few times I've bought inverts from the LFS I've followed the same procedure as ReefCleaners and everything seems to have done well.
 
You would think CUC are subject to low tide and air. They should be able to handle the change.
 
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