Drip Acclimation Method
So why is drip acclimation such an important step after you purchase fish/shrimp?
Generally speaking, one should always use the drip method to acclimate new invertebrates (and fish, for that matter). The drip method takes at least 1.5 hours, but best for 3 hours or longer depending on how much the original water parameters differ from your local (or tank) water parameters.
Drip acclimating gives your fish or shrimp the time they need to adjust the balance of salts, minerals, and the like in their bodies with the salts and minerals present in the water in their new homes. If the salt content in their bodies is high (origin is hard water) and they are moving into soft water where TDS is low, just dumping the fish/shrimp in may cause them irreparable harm, stressing their bodies and making them susceptible to disease. Their bodies will not be able to adjust quickly enough (via the natural process of osmosis) and lead to shock. This is less likely to be as a result of pH shock, as we discussed previously, but more like from the inability to adjust to the new TDS level. Osmotic pressure changes are much more severe for aquatic organisms.
By doing a slow drip acclimation, you change the TDS content of the water gradually and allows the fish/shrimp to slowly adapt. The water flow also need not be constant. It may be a good idea to even stop the flow of water altogether and let the animals sit for awhile and then restart the drip. The technique can be adjusted as you see fit.
There is the notion of acclimating for the pH, but that could take days. We've also noted that pH values can fluctuate in a matter of hours depending on the amount of CO2, O2, light penetration, etc. from our tanks. It debunks the whole idea of pH being the most important value.
Generally speaking, one should always use the drip method to acclimate new invertebrates (and fish, for that matter). The drip method takes at least 1.5 hours, but best for 3 hours or longer depending on how much the original water parameters differ from your local (or tank) water parameters.
Drip acclimating gives your fish or shrimp the time they need to adjust the balance of salts, minerals, and the like in their bodies with the salts and minerals present in the water in their new homes. If the salt content in their bodies is high (origin is hard water) and they are moving into soft water where TDS is low, just dumping the fish/shrimp in may cause them irreparable harm, stressing their bodies and making them susceptible to disease. Their bodies will not be able to adjust quickly enough (via the natural process of osmosis) and lead to shock. This is less likely to be as a result of pH shock, as we discussed previously, but more like from the inability to adjust to the new TDS level. Osmotic pressure changes are much more severe for aquatic organisms.
By doing a slow drip acclimation, you change the TDS content of the water gradually and allows the fish/shrimp to slowly adapt. The water flow also need not be constant. It may be a good idea to even stop the flow of water altogether and let the animals sit for awhile and then restart the drip. The technique can be adjusted as you see fit.
There is the notion of acclimating for the pH, but that could take days. We've also noted that pH values can fluctuate in a matter of hours depending on the amount of CO2, O2, light penetration, etc. from our tanks. It debunks the whole idea of pH being the most important value.
See video below how the Drip Acclimator can also be used to slowly refill your shrimp tanks to avoid stress on the shrimp
Drip-Filling a shrimp aquarium