Acclimating fish

[sphelps]

The idea is bring the bag water parameters, including salinity, to as close to your tank as possible. You can remove water from the bag and dump it as you're adding water and it will eventually be the same. It just depends on how anal you are about getting things perfect. Also certain livestock can be more sensitive than others. I always measure the salinity of the bagged water and if it's much lower then I spend more time but pretty much everything I've purchased from Calgary stores has measured 1.025 which is what my tank sits at so it's usually a quick process. I wouldn't maintain your tank to match store conditions, set them to ideal levels and adjust new livestock to that.

[mrhasan]

Thanks for the replies

Actually I am having a very hard time getting the salinity around 1.025. I started doing some experiment few hours ago to see how the 1/2cup per gallon rule works and it showed around 1.020. With 1cup in 1.5gallon, the salinity goes to somewhere between 1.024 to 1.025. So I guess I will be following that rule. What do you people think? Or is there any better way to get the salinity to this level?

Currently I don't have anything in my tank other than 2 aquaclear 20 filters running (one with active carbon and the other one with nothing since I will be putting some live rocks in it for biological filtration), substrate and water with SG between 1.023 to 1.024. My liverock is currently on its way to my home and hopefully I will be getting it in this week and will start cycling the tank once it gets here. I am currently maintaining my tank at 78F.

I am actually thinking of putting these in my 20long:
1. A clown
2. A yellow goby
3. A firefish
4. A cardinal
5. Feather duster worm
6. Cleaning crews

Will the above species be happy with my current water condition?

I am a newby to saltwater and hence so many words because of my excitement. Sorry for that

[hillegom]

Lots of calculators here, as well as the salinity calc.

http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/C...tors/index.php

[mrhasan]

Thanks

BTW what would you suggest for the cleaning crew in my 20L?

[Paigee]

I have a 20L and my current cleaning crew is
2 nassarius snails
6 ceriths
6 astreas

I personally don't like hermits because my last couple killed all of my snails and then one hermit took the other out, so I have one sniper hermit. The ones I got were electric blue hermits. I've heard scarlett hermits are more peaceful, but I can't attest to that, so take that with a grain of salt.

[mike31154]

Another parameter to keep an eye on when acclimating livestock, especially inverts & coral is pH. Knowing the pH in the bag compared to your tank will provide a better idea of how long you may need to drip before introducing the critter. From what I understand a large pH swing can be more harmful than a few points of salinity.