A Question on Dipping

[Foundry]

We're in a 2 bedroom rental and do not have a ton of space either. With a 25g FW and 25g nano reef tank there isn't space for a big QT tank. Here's what we do.

We use a 5gallon betta tank as a QT tank, bought it off a local B/S site for $15 with everything. Little filter, little heater with an LED light sits in the furnace room on a shelf with the 10 gallon RO bottles (we buy RO from local outfit, $2/per 10 gallon) and reef crystals. We also do not have a lot of room for a big QT tank. But it worked well enough for the 2 clowns then for some LR.

There's a big bag of Seachem Matrix in one of the HOBs on the nano so when QT goes into effect I pull some out and drop them in the filter of the QT tank. When QT is finished the Matrix is dried, bleached and boiled then goes back into the HOB. I keep more Matrix the needed in the main tank so I'm not worried about drastically effecting the bio filter by removing material.

The whole QT setup cost $15 (less water) and takes up no more space then a toast oven.

 

[neiltus]

get two home depot buckets and done.

 

[ThRoewer]

get two home depot buckets and done.

Buckets are only suitable for TTM, and even for that not the ideal solution since they don't allow to observe the fish closely.

A QT is primarily for observation which pretty much disqualifies all containers that prevent a direct, clear view on the fish.

The QT size depends on the size of your fish you intend to get. I've quarantined small fish in 1/2 gallon Lee's Specimen Containers that where just hanged into the display tank. The clear acrylic Petco pet carriers can be used in the same fashion for slightly larger fish. This approach doesn't take up any additional space and is particularly suited for small tanks with small fish.
And due to the small volume frequent water changes should not be a problem.

If one goes for a bigger display tank, a suitable QT setup should be factored in right from the beginning.

A case where I may consider skipping QT would be a nano species tanks that will not get any further additions of fish anytime soon. There you can basically roll the dice and quarantine in the DT.

A quarantine light process would be possible with fish that are known to be highly disease resident.
In my experience Banggai cardinals and members of the Stonogobiops family of shrimp gobies never get ich, not even when every other fish in the tank is covered in spots and already on death's doorstep.
With those fish, if they came from a system without copper, look and behave healthy, and if they go into a smaller system, I may only do a single month of quarantine.

But everything that goes into my large system has to go through 2 to 3 months of observational quarantine.

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[DeepSeaReefer94]

I knew I would step on some Toes by making the comments that I did but I seem to have really kicked the Hornet's Nest. I'm not saying quarantine isn't important because it is in fact I quarantine every fish and every Coral that I own or will own before adding to my aquarium. what I'm saying is not everyone has the means to quarantine before adding to the aquarium. when I first started I didn't read off the internet because 1. everything on the internet is not true. 2. you can't trust the people that are posting all this crap on the internet. so I went to Facebook pages and asked a gazillion questions I chose not to quarantine when I started and yes I paid the price for it. I ended up having to drain my aquarium remove the three or four fish that I had in it fill it back up let it sit and then re-add the fish to it so yes I know the importance of quarantine.

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[DeepSeaReefer94]

Just going to go ahead and clear this up before I get more stupid *** comments saying I didn't do any kind of research or anything like that yes I knew there was such thing as quarantine but I did not have the means as far as money goes and yes I know it can be cheap and yes I know it is cheap but at the time I was new to reading and I started my tank is a fish only tank and then progressed to Reef and yes I knew you could do little tanks 5-gallon 6 gallons whatever for quarantine but I don't feel it is right to hold the 3-inch fish in a 5 gallon tank for up to 8 or 9 weeks I feel as though something that large should have a larger tank to move around then so what I did was I built my own quarantine system 230 gallon tank 2 foot by 2 foot by 1 foot and that is what I used to quarantine my fish and I feel that is big enough to quarantine any size fish that I plan on putting in my aquarium and nothing feels cramped in fact I've even quarantine more than one fish at a time I'm actually quarantine in 5 fish in there right now yes they're small yes they are kind of cramped but it's nothing near what a 5-gallon would be

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[DeepSeaReefer94]

All I'm trying to say is not everyone has the means to quarantine and yes I live in A2 bedroom 2 bath house my tank is in the living room of my trailer house and yes it's a large tank so yes I know what having no room is like to quarantine in fact my guest bedroom is full of all my saltwater equipment saltwater mixing station Salt any kind of tools I might need to work on my tank and my quarantine system and all its stuff (rant over)

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[OrionN]

I actually don't dip or QT my fishe. I do QT all my corals, clams and anemones very well. I have a reef tank set up and running all the time to QT my inverterbrates but choose to tthe QT my fish. I never have tank wipeout due to fish disease but have coral pest, anemone killed and clam disease that it took me forever to get rid from my tank. I have to remove and kill all my Acro from my system for 6 months due to AEFW a few year ago.

 

[CorbinSawyer]

DeepSeaReefer94, my guest bed and bathroom are riddled with reefing gear. I hear about it every time my wife has to get something of hers out from there. I'll need a second house soon. Haha. Just wait until she sees the mixing station I plan on building. Lol.

And thanks for trying to make this a friendly place

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