nick said:
so rather then doing the drip method after adding amquel i should just dump my ray in the tank?
That is what we do, just make sure your not making a HUGE pH jump, or hardness jump, which could be even more important. Use Chemi-Pure for a day before you add it to your tank, if you can.. Don't let any of the bag water go into the tank if you can.. Just drain out 80-90% of the bag water, and try to gently let the ray swim out of the bag. Then you should try to offer him food to trigger his eating response so hopefully he settles in.. (Blackworms/earthworms awaiting..) Use AmQuel and NovAqua in both the bag, and the tank water. Try to get the ray out of the bag within 1-2 minutes of it being opened. 'Squirt, Dump, and Go'.. We unload 20 boxes of fish real fast
i think rays are the main factor here as everyone makes them seem like they die at the slightest ajustment of ph.....
We acclimate them from 7.0 to 7.4-7.6. They seem to do real well, but we also make sure to never have ammonia/nitrite present in the tanks. I think some people assume its the big jump in pH, but infact they were burning the rays gills by 'slowly adjusting the pH' to the proper environment.
If anything, find out what the pH of the water is in the tank that the ray is coming from. Try to match this for the first few weeks, then adjust it slowly to your water source. This can be tough if you need to do alot of water changes, things just won't be stable.
The problem is, when you fiddle with RO units, and possibly have low alkalinity, even the slightest bit of ammonia will cause your pH to crash. Also, when you use these chemicals that are supposed to 'Lower pH' and 'Lower Hardness', which I never understood how you could use a chemical to remove hardness in water.. but anyways these Chemicals will create a 'rollercoaster' effect on your pH, especially with every water change. This wont happen if you are extremely tedious about matching water conditions, but even this can be difficult for experts.
