Drip Acclimation

[snazy]

I've answered in red below.

Introduce 50% water with a higher or lower ph- Ph in itself has no affect on the fish if caused by CO2 in tap water or other gasses. And despite the difference between tap Ph and tank Ph, the Gh, Kh, TDS will be the same or almost(providing you have not left the tank with no water changes for ages as then these will eventually change in time and can lead to "old tank syndrome" . Which in turn means the water loses its buffering capacity and causes a major Ph drop or fluctuations, killing the fish or causing ammonia spikes affecting the fish and filter bacteria. At the same time this happens, the tank water normally becomes harder due to build up of dissolved solids and other stuff, causing a higher Gh and TDS than the tap water. Then, you can potentially shock the fish via a large water change, if done once in a blue moon. Or even introduce fish from your local LFS that supposedly has the same tap water as yours.....You'll blame the fish or the LFS then....

Introduce 50% water with less or more minerals (if you dont dose, what was in your tank may have been absorbed by plants, if you do dose, its probably lower.)- In a tank that gets way less and smaller water changes that can become an issue over a long period of time. In a week time this is insignifficant, just a few ppm probably depending on tank and stock.   Hence why regular large water changes are best to keep the tank stable and the parameters the same as the water you are adding to the tank.  If a tank is left to its own devices, all the chemistry will change, and that's normally not to good effect when it comes to fish. So your point proves one needs to do bigger water changes, more regularly. If one doses the tank with ferts,they need to be aware which fertilizers can have an instant impact on the water chemistry(like Ca, Mg, etc...) and possibly cause a problem. Most of them are harmless(like nitrate, potassium, phosphate, etc...) But when dosing, regular weekly water changes are more important due to possible human error.

Introduce water with higher/lower co2- I don't see how this can be a big problem as it will outgass in no time, probably even during the water change. CO2 is hardly soluble in water and can't stay in the water for a long time, not long enough to affect any fish, unless one is doing 100% water changes..... The way I solve that is by pouring the water from a distance so it splashes a bit while filling the tank.

Introduce water with a potentially significant temperature difference.-Personally I fill from the tap mixed hot/cold to match the temperature.
 

 
I think one should make a difference between acclimating fish from signifficantly different water source and doing a 50% water change with water that was previously used to fill the same tank. There's just no comparrisson.
 
And when saying that plop and drop is ok, then it's important to point out, in case someone gets confused, that there was no signifficant difference in water stats.
By the way,my "local" LFS shop does have similar water as mine. However, they use RO and other stuff and have tanks with different stats in order to keep more demanding species. So I'd personally test the water the fish came into despite where you got them from.
Plus, I like ordering online and I normally receive fish from water way softer water than mine.

 

[dgwebster]

Plus, I like ordering online and I normally receive fish from water way softer water than mine.

I have never ordered fish online, I would say I would never plop n drop fish that have been travelling for 24 hours. If I did order online, I would put money on me having the opposite problem, getting them in much much harder water (by comparison to my tap water).

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Would someone be able to talk me through the drip acclimation process or give me a link to follow?
I understand that you drop water into a bucket, bit is there anything extra that would need to be bought to do this acclimation?

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