Acclimimation of a fish
by
, 10-01-2011 at 08:05 AM (2404 Views)
CPR sent me out their First Aid Deluxe Kit earlier this year, and recently I acquired a lawnmower blenny for the frag tank at the recommendation of a club member. I've been dealing with some algae in that tank and the hermit crab, emerald crab, red legged crab and a few snails weren't keeping up.
I figured I'd give the First Aid acclimation kit a try. Hooking it up on the edge of the frag tank was easy.
I poured the fish and the LFS's water into the box.
Then I set up a bucket under the acclimator to catch the water dripping out.
The trick was how to get water out of my reef into the box gradually, basically dripping in water from the reef into the box at the same rate it was dripping out into the bucket below.
Not trusting that the flow rates matched, I set a timer for 12 minutes to remind me to check on the fish. I hit refresh like I'd hit a snooze button, running over to check while doing other things every time it chimed. This worked well for the first hour. However, at one point the flow rate was off and the container began to get to hold too much water so I increased the drain drip rate. When I checked back, the poor fish was in the tiniest puddle of water because it drained too quickly. The fish was ready to go in the frag tank as far as I was concerned.
I'd like to come up with a way to add water at the same rate it is dripping. Perhaps submerging the tube in the acclimation container would do it, but I'll have to have the time to do that test.
The First Aid container can be used for other options including a way to introduce new fish into an existing set up, it can be used to breed live brineshrimp, and can be used as a dipping station. Odds are someone will figure out a way to use it as a HOB refugium at some point, if they haven't already.
I'm going to have to play with this a little more but it seems to have some potential.