Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[dwalampa]

yup or cut your egg crate in a way that it looks like a T-shirt. then its easy to remove and place.
here is a rough sketch.

Egg crate T-shirt it is! Thanks again for all your tips and advice. Hope one day I will be the one shedding the lights on the newbies! :thumbsup:

 

[Dr. Reef]

Egg crate T-shirt it is! Thanks again for all your tips and advice. Hope one day I will be the one shedding the lights on the newbies! :thumbsup:

lol trust me you will one day. i was in the same corner as u r today 18 yrs ago. back then i didnt know reef central. i didnt know even information can be collected from internet. i live in small town Tulsa Oklahoma.
Imagine the trial and errors lmao..... but we live and learn.
good luck reefing please dont hesitate asking anything.

 

[dwalampa]

yup or cut your egg crate in a way that it looks like a T-shirt. then its easy to remove and place.
here is a rough sketch.

lol trust me you will one day. i was in the same corner as u r today 18 yrs ago. back then i didnt know reef central. i didnt know even information can be collected from internet. i live in small town Tulsa Oklahoma.
Imagine the trial and errors lmao..... but we live and learn.
good luck reefing please dont hesitate asking anything.

Yea, definitely a privilege to have guidance from all the experts here on RC! Thanks again! Cheers!!

 

[Mxx]

What the!? So it is actually quite a common a practice to proactively treat incoming fish without any signs of disease with copper treatments which tend to nevertheless be a bit harsh on them? I had tried to find out about whether I should be doing so before, but couldn't find out anything about it, so that is news to me! I'm in.

Is it just copper that should be treated with, or is there any second remedy as well that would provide a good supplementary treatment for any other common types of maladies?

I think I will set up a quarantine tank, but perhaps not permanently. I suppose I will keep a big mesh bag of extra floss in one of the rear compartments of my DT, and then rotate that out to a canister filter stuck on the quarantine tank whenever I need to use the QT.

I would like to do something for denitrification as well though. Could I use a bag of denitrifying carbon pellets which I'd (permanently) remove from my DT in order to do so, and can I use denitrifying pellets if I'm not using a skimmer on the QT? Or would I be better off trying to section off part of the QT which I'd use for nutrient export via chaeto by adding a sump light? I guess that I could add an auto feeder to do ghost-feedings in the absence of any fish to keep it low maintenance.

I might even wish to keep a QT as a seagrass tank though, and the seagrass would at least help detoxify nitrogen compounds, though any invert algae eaters might not fare quite as well with copper treatment. Perhaps an Algae Blenny nevertheless might. And some Neon Gobies if they wouldn't mind copper treatments... so perhaps this might be a permanent QT after all...

Does anyone actually quarantine corals, shrimp, snails, anemones, and clams as well? Or do they just dip the corals in CoralRX before tossing them in the DT? Not sure what to do about the other inverts though...

 

[Dr. Reef]

What the!? So it is actually quite a common a practice to proactively treat incoming fish without any signs of disease with copper treatments which tend to nevertheless be a bit harsh on them? I had tried to find out about whether I should be doing so before, but couldn't find out anything about it, so that is news to me! I'm in.
Its some what common, let me explain. it is wise to QT each new addition. Some people just QT them and watch them over number of weeks to make sure fish is pest free. Some dont wait, they use meds like formalin or prazipro to take care of parasites (not ich), Some use copper anyways to just be 100% sure. So its your call how u feel.
I personally get a new fish and use prazipro for 1 week and watch next 3 weeks for signs of ich.

Is it just copper that should be treated with, or is there any second remedy as well that would provide a good supplementary treatment for any other common types of maladies?
prazipro and formalin and similar medicine will take care of most of the parasites except ich. For ich there are only 3 known successful methods:
1. Hypo-salinity
2. Copper based meds
3. Tank transfer method

I think I will set up a quarantine tank, but perhaps not permanently. I suppose I will keep a big mesh bag of extra floss in one of the rear compartments of my DT, and then rotate that out to a canister filter stuck on the quarantine tank whenever I need to use the QT.
I strongly recommend a QT. an extra cartidge filter or floss in main tank is a good idea to grow bacteria on and thus when needed can be pulled out and used in QT.
Reminder: if you ever use meds with copper then this media/filter/floss can NEVER go back to main tank

I would like to do something for denitrification as well though. Could I use a bag of denitrifying carbon pellets which I'd (permanently) remove from my DT in order to do so, and can I use denitrifying pellets if I'm not using a skimmer on the QT? Or would I be better off trying to section off part of the QT which I'd use for nutrient export via chaeto by adding a sump light? I guess that I could add an auto feeder to do ghost-feedings in the absence of any fish to keep it low maintenance.
carbon and copper will not go together it will absord copper as u medicate the tank thus causing inaccurate dosing.

I might even wish to keep a QT as a seagrass tank though, and the seagrass would at least help detoxify nitrogen compounds, though any invert algae eaters might not fare quite as well with copper treatment. Perhaps an Algae Blenny nevertheless might. And some Neon Gobies if they wouldn't mind copper treatments... so perhaps this might be a permanent QT after all...
If you plan on using copper in this QT you will need to pull all the items u stated out otherwise medicating the tank at right strength will ne a nightmare and after using copper none of the at stuff will survive in that water.


Does anyone actually quarantine corals, shrimp, snails, anemones, and clams as well? Or do they just dip the corals in CoralRX before tossing them in the DT? Not sure what to do about the other inverts though...

inverts dont need to be treated with copper nor dips. Anemones or clams dont require a dip either.
Corals do. i recommend using dips like coral rx and following manufacturer's directions to rid unwated pests on corals.

 

[Mxx]

Thanks for the quick answer, which provided a great deal of clarity! Okay, so I will just run a bare QT tank as necessary, and will medicate my new fish with something or other, which I will look into researching further as to what treatment to decide upon.

So with new snails and shrimp do you just add them straight into the display tank, or quarantine them but not medicate them? And is there any particular risk of adding them straight in, in terms of diseases which they could nevertheless have on them from being with fish in LFS tanks? Would hate to see that nevertheless be a pathway for the introduction of something such as Marine Velvet...

When I mentioned denitrifying carbon pellets I meant carbon dosing bio-pellets, http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/filter-media/biopellets/brs-bulk-biopellets.html not activated carbon. Would a bag of mature biopellets potentially be okay to add to the canister filter of a QT if I wasn't using a skimmer? (I heard you shouldn't be dosing organic carbon in any form without a skimmer, but I'm not sure of that).

 

[Dr. Reef]

Thanks for the quick answer, which provided a great deal of clarity! Okay, so I will just run a bare QT tank as necessary, and will medicate my new fish with something or other, which I will look into researching further as to what treatment to decide upon.
Thank you and yes bare QT is the way to go. I dont prefer copper right off until i know for sure fish has ich, but i do give new fish a must prazipro treatment.

So with new snails and shrimp do you just add them straight into the display tank, or quarantine them but not medicate them? And is there any particular risk of adding them straight in, in terms of diseases which they could nevertheless have on them from being with fish in LFS tanks? Would hate to see that nevertheless be a pathway for the introduction of something such as Marine Velvet...
inverts dont carry ich or marine velvet. i recommend a drip acclimation method for inverts. Inverts dont do well in shipping/transporting. nor they do good with water chemistry change. So check for salinity changes and paremeters and do a slow drip acclimation

When I mentioned denitrifying carbon pellets I meant carbon dosing bio-pellets, http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/filter-media/biopellets/brs-bulk-biopellets.html not activated carbon. Would a bag of mature biopellets potentially be okay to add to the canister filter of a QT if I wasn't using a skimmer? (I heard you shouldn't be dosing organic carbon in any form without a skimmer, but I'm not sure of that).

you can use them but once u decide to do copper treatment take them out and treat a bare hospital tank. using pellets or rock or sand or carbon etc will cause copper to be absorbed/attach to such items and make dosage very hard to keep steady which is a must using copper.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Mxx, lol i just noticed ur in London. my brother is at Brunell University London and i travel back and forth to London or to my Sister in Oslo Norway. I was there in south Hall area just in March. Lol small world.

 

[Duke79]

This is a very helpful thread! Thanks for everyone who is participating in the discussion.

 

[teddscau]

Do you have to quarantine inverts before putting them in an invertebrate only tank?

 

[Dr. Reef]

Do you have to quarantine inverts before putting them in an invertebrate only tank?

no inverts dont need to be qt'ed nor dipped. just a simple temp acclimation and then i strongly recommend a slow drip method acclimation then into the tank they go.

 

[teddscau]

Okay, thanks!

 

[jolliebrowngiant]

How do you do the slow drip method?

 

[Dr. Reef]

drip method is the same. get an airline tubing with a valve and start a siphon and adjust the flow.
i usually do fish on a little faster drip maybe like 2-3 drops per sec and inverts abot 1/2-1 drop per sec.
double the quantity of water in ur bag/bucket and re-do one more time. some people do 3 times.

 

[knight2255]

Whats a cheap easy way to filter the qt?

 

[Dr. Reef]

i have always used HOB filters with cartridges. if u can find cartridges without carbon its great if not then i always managed to get the carbon out of them. Lately i have been using ceramic rings instead of cartridges.

 

[knight2255]

Thanks bnumair, would this work just as well?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2117649

 

[Dr. Reef]

Thanks bnumair, would this work just as well?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2117649

Honestly i wouldnt use it due to a simple reason that i dont know what all chemicals were used in pillow stuffing, bleach, color washing chemicals etc.
i have never tried it myself so i cant really comment on reef safe aspect of it.
the proven thing i have used is cartridges or ceramic rings.
but if were 100% sure was reef safe then go ahead i dont see anything wrong with it untill meds with copper get involved. as this filter will absorb some copper and making dosage a bit more difficult.

 

[mgproudfit]

I have all the components for my QT ready to go. My question is, should I set it up now and get my first few fish?

I had ordered my tank, but it arrived via UPS completely shattered, so Im DT tankless for the next 2-4 weeks. If I start my QT now, that'd give me about 4 weeks of QT/observation before my DT will be cycled. Is this ok to do?

-Matt

 

[Dr. Reef]

I have all the components for my QT ready to go. My question is, should I set it up now and get my first few fish?

I had ordered my tank, but it arrived via UPS completely shattered, so Im DT tankless for the next 2-4 weeks. If I start my QT now, that'd give me about 4 weeks of QT/observation before my DT will be cycled. Is this ok to do?

-Matt

if you were to get ur DT tank in next 2 weeks it probably will take another 4-6 weeks to cycle thus putting you over 2 months from now. i would setup ur QT to which u have all the components and also cycle it (2-3 weeks).
Once cycled put ur first few fish in there and observe them over the rest of the period awaiting DT cycle. if all this timing works out ur looking at 2-3 weeks cycle on QT while u DT arrives at same time as cycle finishes on QT them put the first few fish in QT and observe over the next 4-6 weeks ur DT gets ready. So i think its perfect timing.
If for any reason ur fish seem to have ich or other parasitic infections u will have to start medication and clock on QT starts over (depending on what type of treatment it is).