Planning A Marine Aquarium

[Chad]

No, most crabs and snails are quite adaptable and require only short acclimation (crabs less than snails). Sometimes sudden changes will force a molt. Shrimp do tend to do best with at least a 30 minute drip. Some corals I will not acclimate at all and othes I will not only acclimate for water but for lighting as well. I've learned over the years that too long of acclimation can be as harmful as too short. My view on this subject has certainly changed with experience. Some fish, such as madarin, are toxic when stressed and will die from their own toxins if left in a small bag too long.

 

[stanleo]

so THAT's why my turbo snails keep dying. I just plop them in there. THANKS! I will definitely remember that!

 

[Donya]

 I know we are getting off topic but does that include crabs and shrimp?

 
Depends on the species and difference in sg and pH from one tank to another. Shrimp can be killed from too big a swing in water params; it unfortunately pretty common to have shrimp die within hours or even while still in the bag when the params are different and the shrimp is exposed to the shift too fast. Unfortunately I have seen that situation personally due to a botched drip line that failed and dumped a load of water in too fast.
 
 

 I just got an emerald crab a month ago and only acclimated for 15 min and its doing fine.
 

 
There are two reasons for this: emeralds are hardier as inverts go and you were also lucky that the sg wasn't too different between the bag and the tank. You can kill crabs too from too fast and too large a shift. The only way to be safe with inverts is to test the bag water and tank water and judge accordingly with the length/rate used for a drip acclimation. If you do it just by time, you have no idea what kind of a shift the animals are really experiencing. If the bag and tank are nearly identical then very little acclimation is needed with most Crustaceans, but if the bag is 1.018 and the tank is 1.025 or even higher (extreme, but it happens) then you can lose an animal pretty easily by not dripping over a couple of hours (or longer for non-Crustaceans; I would never drip an Echinoderm for less than 4 hours even when the bag/tank difference isn't that big). 

 

[garycooper34]

The pipefish were from the LFS. During the journey (approx 25 mins), I made sure the temperature in the back of the car was about 25 and put my jacket next to them.
 
As they were laying still in the bag, it must just have been stress. I got the LFS to check my levels and they were fine. So, they've ordered some more to replace the ones that died free of charge.