I'm currently researching the best ways to acclimate fish going from freshwater -> brackish. The safest, least stressful way seems to be drip acclimation, so I've come to ask for help on how to do this.

Reading around, most people do this in containers/bags straight from the store, but I want this to be done slowly while my fish is in the tank.

My "theory" on how I should approach this is as follows;

* Mix the water/marine salt I will use until the desired salinity is reached (1.007 for Dragon Goby I figure is appropriate) in a bucket.
* Take out 25% water, and start a slow, gravity fed drip using aquarium tubing.
* Once the water has refilled, measure salinity with refractometer/hydrometer, then remove another 25% water and continue the drip, repeating until salinity in tank reaches desired levels.


My main concern about doing this in tank (10 gal currently) is the slow pace at which the water enters the tank, I don't want the tank water to evaporate faster than the drip puts it in.

If this is the way to go, what's a good time frame to follow?

Why not break it into 1G sections. Make you 5G bucket of new water, dole it out to 1G containers and just do 10% water changes every other day or every couples of days.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

Sounds good to me! I'm being quite precautious, which I'm assuming is a good thing, hence the over-thinking I may seem to be putting into this.

Thanks much!

10Gs are hard for water changes unless you're using a slow fill method, they are just to shallow to allow for any type of fast pour without distrubing the entire tank.

I solved this issue by taking a plastic (novelty cup from a 7-11 slurpee) drilled holes at random around the bottom 2 inches. Now I don't have this issue, and the water difusses better while I am pouring the new water in to the tank.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

I hadn't even though of disturbing the tank. Glad you said something!

One more question, should I mix the bucket water as salt water, and stop the drip when it reaches brackish salinity, or should I just mix up brackish water and continue until the freshwater has been cycled out of the tank?

I would just mix the new water to meet the parameters you want and then just keep doing the 10% water changes until it levels out with the water you are introducing.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

Thanks mec, you've been a great help!

Nice looking tank in your avatar, btw.

Thanks Alex, I need to update the pic cause I've done some redecorating.

Good luck with the dragon goby! I want one so bad, the Wallmart down the street from me always has them in the poorest conditions. But no way I will have a tank for one anytime soon.

Post some pictures when you have a chance.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

How long do you think I should wait between water changes?

EDIT: Never mind, forgot this was already answered here. :P

once the aquarium is established for the fish to be put in, depending on the parameters of the water you may need to do some regular water changes to start till the parameters level out. After that you can start to cycle in the salt for a brackish tank.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

i ususally use the hose from the vaccum i have to put the water back into the tank. Keep it towards the top and everything goes fine.. Good luck!

Most brackish water fishes are very tough and don't need to be treated with kid gloves. Going from a salinity of 1.00 to 1.07 is no big deal. Simply put the fish in a large plastic container and float it in your aquarium. Every hour or so dump out 25% of the water and replace it with your higher salinity water. In three to four hours you should be able to release your fish to its new tank. In a Brackish water environments Salinity can change from 100% salt to 100% fresh in a shoty period of time. These environments are also subject to stronge tidal and river curents quite frequently that vary quite a bit in hardeness and ph.

Good to know about salt water/brackish fish. I've been wanting a Violet Goby (dragon goby) ever since I saw it at Walmart. But with it being brackish I've been hesitant to get one.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel