Great article, but question

[dous]

Hi Steven. Awesome article and very helpful, but I have a 55gal without sump and wanted to start a QT/hospital tank. I have a baby blue hippo (1.5 inch) that I (ignorantly) put in there while I design my 300gal custom tank due next year. Now he has early signs of ich and is rubbing his skin against rocks. Now I know I have to quarantine all the other fish except my shrimps.

I'm thinking 20-30 gal. you also said to put a sponge filter in there. How does this work? Do I just drop the sponge filter at the bottom of the tank? (I'm new to this so please don't laugh) Or do I need a skimmer in the tank as well?

From what I understand, I need a tank with my display water in there. I have a powerhead and heater I can run in as well. Put a few different sized PVC tubes in. As far as the sponge filter, I'm confused as how it should go in. Should it be hooked up to the powerhead? I have a Fluval 101 with awhite filter I can put in my HOB skimmer return box.

Please shed a light. Sorry for the long post.

 

[Steven Pro]

Sponge filters are generally operated by small air pumps. If you have a Fluval that has been running for a while, I would use that. The key is using a filter that has some biological capacity (ie somewhere beneficial bacteria can grow), but it also needs to have been running to be colonized by that bacteria.

 

[dous]

Thanks for your reply. I now bought a sponge filter and put it in my main display tank (no sump) to absorb bacteria.. How long should I keep this in for the bacteria to take foothold?

 

[Steven Pro]

I feel most comfortable after the sponge filter has been operating for one month.

 

[Stidd]

I don't mean to hijack the post by I am in a similar situation... I am soon upgrading from a Fluval 205 to a Lifereef Berlin Style sump in my 30 gallon tank... I am going to use a 10 gallon as a QT and was thinking I could use the Fluval on the QT. There are media baskets as well as a place to add sponge media to the canister. I was going to add ceramic rings to the sump in a media bag for use on the QT. When I need a bio filter in the QT simply add the rings to the Fluval. At this point, I would always have some rings 'operating' in the sump from the main display to use in the fluval...

Does this sound like it would work?

Thanks for all your sharing Steven... It's good to have folks like you sharing with NewB's like me... I know I'd be at a loss...

Stidd

 

[Sk8r]

You might query your local fish store to see if you can get a well used and very dirty bit of filter media from an invert tank---or somewhere else there's no copper, for sure, and little likelihood of more ich than your fish already has. Explain the problem. They may be happy to let you buy new media and trade for a bit of their dirty one.

 

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7870905#post7870905 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Stidd
I don't mean to hijack the post by I am in a similar situation... I am soon upgrading from a Fluval 205 to a Lifereef Berlin Style sump in my 30 gallon tank... I am going to use a 10 gallon as a QT and was thinking I could use the Fluval on the QT. There are media baskets as well as a place to add sponge media to the canister. I was going to add ceramic rings to the sump in a media bag for use on the QT. When I need a bio filter in the QT simply add the rings to the Fluval. At this point, I would always have some rings 'operating' in the sump from the main display to use in the fluval...

Does this sound like it would work?

Thanks for all your sharing Steven... It's good to have folks like you sharing with NewB's like me... I know I'd be at a loss...

Stidd

That sounds like a fine plan.

Thank you for the kind words. It is always nice to be appreciated.

 

[dous]

As mentioned above, Thanks, Steven for guiding us rookies.

When you said that the filter needs to be operating for a month, did you mean I needed to turn it on inside my tank? Cause right now I just have the sponge sitting inside the tank in a corner behind a rock.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7862109#post7862109 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Steven Pro
I feel most comfortable after the sponge filter has been operating for one month.

 

[Steven Pro]

Yes, it is best ot have the air pump running so water is actively being pulled through the sponge filter. This way the inside pores will be colonized with bacteria as well.

 

[dous]

I'm also upgrading to a bigger HOB skimmer on my 55g and was wondering if I can use the old skimmer for my quarantine/hypo tank, especially if I'm going to quarantune about 7 small fish in a 20g. Would it hurt to use a skimmer? Or is it mainly because its cheaper to use a sponge filter in the QT?

 

[Steven Pro]

Protein skimmers can disturb certain treatments, so always check the medication's instructions. Some direct you to discontinue skimming.

But, this is important. A protein skimmer performs a very different type of filtration than a sponge filter. A protein skimmer is a chemical filter of sorts, removing various dissolved impurities from the water. To a lesser extent, it is a mechanical filter as they are able to remove some particulate material. A sponge filter is mainly a biological filter housing beneficial bacteria. It is also a bit of a mechanical filter as well, straining out debris from the water that passes through it.

 

[dous]

1) But if I'm just doing a hypo with no meds or just setting up a QT (no meds), I can put a skimmer then?

2) Would this mean a LR from the main tank will be OK as well?

 

[Steven Pro]

1.) A protein skimmer won't affect hyposalinity.

2.) Hyposalinity (or most other treatments) will kill much of the life on the liverock.