So you're going to attempt your first drip acclimation?

Attention fellow noobs: learn from my mistakes. I decided I'd try and be a Real Aquarium Enthusiast and drip acclimate the two banded shrimp I just got. I mean, how hard can it be?

First off, they shouldn't call it a drip tube. They should call it a get everything near your tank including yourself wet device. I got 6 or 7 feet of tube and tried to follow the general instructions I found on the internet: immerse the tube, get it full of water, plug one end, lower said end into the bucket and release. Sounds easy, right? Well, I immersed the tube and nothing happened. So I tried to maneuver the tube so all the air in it was replaced by water which sloshed a bunch of water into my overflow and over the sides, as well as all up my shirtsleeves, but didn't actually get any water in the tube.

So I said to myself "I'll very carefully suck water through the hose and stop when the water gets near my face so as to be carefully sure of carefully not getting any water in my mouth." Right. Apparently water moving through a clear tube not only covers 6 feet of tube in one second, it is entirely invisible as it does so. I was so suprised at the mouthful of water (tastes just like the ocean!) that I spat it into the tank about a half-second before I wondered, "is it ok to spit water into my tank? Will my mouth funk crash my tank?" This was followed another half-second later with "We're going to find out!"

So now I'm wet, salty-mouthed, concerned about having crudded up my tank, yet absolutely no closer to getting my drip line going. Did I mention that I'm a college graduate?

I decide the only way this is going to happen is if I really submerge the tube, slowly moving it in an arc to allow all the air. This works, after sloshing another dozen gallons out of my tank. I plug one end with my finger and lower it into the bucket. Any experienced folks want to predict what happened next? That's right, the unsecured end exited the tank and emptied itself all over me, the floor, the front of the tank... it was like that tube held a gallon of water!

Now I'm starting to get frustrated. How can this be so dang hard? I fill the tube again, and place a small testing kit on the edge of my tank to hold the tube in place. Fortunately, at this point a tiny amount of learning is occurring and I decide against that. No reason to dunk my testing kit. Then a brainwave hits me: hold it with my glass cleaning magnet. This was the first of exactly two effective things I did. It worked awesome.

I put the end into the bucket and water is just pouring out of the tube. Several gallons a minute, it seems like. Crap. It's supposed to be a drip! Happily, I had read that all you have to do is tie a knot in it to control the flow. What I hadn't read was how hard it is to tie a knot in a wet, slippery plastic tube out of which is pouring. Note to self: tie the knot first next time.

I get the knot tied, put it in the bucket, and it's not doing anything. I tighten the knot and the flow remains unstemmed. I repeat this a couple times before, out of frustration, I grab the end and yank on it, completely constricting the tube. It works like a charm! Boom, two things done right. Wish I'd known ahead of time the knot had to be pretty much completely tight. I know it now!

So in the end, I got the shrimp drip acclimated and the mess cleaned up. I am grateful no one was home to witness my knuckleheadery, but I wanted to share my experience so that my fellow noobs might look cooler and stay dryer than I did. Cheers!