Cycling a quarantine tank

[colettem]

Just bought a QT today ready for my first inmates whenever I get them. My main display tank is having water and (fully cured) live rock put in towards the end of the week. Not quite sure how much of a cycle there will be with it - hopefully given that the live rock is fully cured it shouldn't be too long. My question is what would be the quickest way to cycle my QT? As I see it the options are:

- a dead prawn
- stick a bit of live rock in it when it arrives to seed the sponges filters
- put some fish in - but don't really want to stress them and jeopardise their health so not really an option
-seed it with something from the lfs (again not a good option given that their tanks are disease ridden)

As my main display isn't yet set up then putting a filter sponge in the sump clearly is going to take ages to work. From experience in freshwater I don't believe that there are any supplements that are going to speed things up.

Which option do you guys think is the best?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[TekCat]

I'd put sponge in your tank or sump after it cycles for a week. After that your sponge will be ready to go to your QT and provide enough(hopefully) bacteria to battle ammonia.

 

[supertech3]

I have used my qt for curing rock before putting it in my main tank, so why not put a piece in there. I keep a piece in my qt for a hideaway for the fish this helps reduce stress. I due not put chemicals in the qt I only hyposalinate.

 

[mike89t]

I cured a piece of live rock in my QT tank to cycle it. In fact I've left that rock in there. Here is a photo of my QT after it finished it's cycle:

This tank has been up and running for about a year now. All livestock spends some time in here before entering my display tank. I have a seperate hospital tank where I can use medication if a fish needs it.

Here is what my QT looks like a year later. I currently have two schooling bannerfish in there and they are about ready to be placed in my display tank: