Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[mgproudfit]

I've read COUNTLESS hours on setting up a QT and some say to cycle, and others say not to bother. At this point, I genuinely do not know what to believe or what is best practice.

Would I be ok if I throw one of my live rocks into my QT tank? Right now they're all in a big rubbermaid container with a powerhead moving the water around.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I've read COUNTLESS hours on setting up a QT and some say to cycle, and others say not to bother. At this point, I genuinely do not know what to believe or what is best practice.

Would I be ok if I throw one of my live rocks into my QT tank? Right now they're all in a big rubbermaid container with a powerhead moving the water around.

i understand ur frustration but answer of ur question in in the very first post of this thread. if you dont have time to spare and are in need to setup a QT in an emergency then u dont need to cycle a QT tank. there are 2 ways of doing that.
1. you can keep a filter in ur main tank and move it to QT and use ur DT water and setup a QT and its already cycled and ready as filter will take neccessory bacteria with it from DT to QT thus not requiring a cycle.
2. you can just put a QT tank together and keep an eye on ammonia which will increase daily as tank is no cycled thus requiring a lot more attention from a hobbyist and requiring daily water changes in order to keep ammonia 0.
thats emergency way.
in your case u have tons of time on ur hand as of now (as u are still waiting for a tank)so i recommend a cycle approach.
Qt will be cycled in short few weeks and thus u dont need to do anything to it except water changes like a normal tank.
I also strongly recommend a permanent cycled QT so if ever needed to dose copper or medications that require a specific dose level then its a nightmare for hobbyist trying to do water changes daily and keeping up with dosage at the same time (if QT is setup in emergency). In permanent QT you can go without water changes for weeks thus not having to mess up the dosage of medication.

Note: u can help the cycle by adding a few pieces of rock to you QT for week and then take then back to DT and let the cycle continue. A 20-40 gal QT should cycle with in 2-3 weeks.

 

[mgproudfit]

Awesome, thanks for the info!

We decided to go ahead and set up our QT tank. One of our larger pieces of Live Rock was just barely out of the water in the Rubbermaid. We put it in the QT tank and filled her up more for the sake of the LR than anything else. That said, tonight we did our first tests with the API Saltwater Master Test kit and wanted to report back!

pH = 8.0-8.2
Ammonia = 0.0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite = 0.0 ppm
Nitrate = 0.0 ppm
Salinity (temporary reading without calibrating the hydrometer) = 1.025

Thanks for reading & helping out! I haven't posted much, but have been keeping up with the thread & really appreciate all of your all's expertise!

-Matt

 

[Dr. Reef]

Awesome, thanks for the info!

We decided to go ahead and set up our QT tank. One of our larger pieces of Live Rock was just barely out of the water in the Rubbermaid. We put it in the QT tank and filled her up more for the sake of the LR than anything else. That said, tonight we did our first tests with the API Saltwater Master Test kit and wanted to report back!

pH = 8.0-8.2
Ammonia = 0.0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite = 0.0 ppm
Nitrate = 0.0 ppm
Salinity (temporary reading without calibrating the hydrometer) = 1.025

Thanks for reading & helping out! I haven't posted much, but have been keeping up with the thread & really appreciate all of your all's expertise!

-Matt

No problem, looks like u are on a great start. throw in a frozen shrimp from walmart sea food section in there for few days that should shoot the ammonia up and then take it out. Tank cycle will begin and then its just a waiting game for 2-3 weeks. keep us posted.
Good luck and happy reefing

 

[ATLJonathan]

I rely on the LFS to quarantine and medicate fish so that I don't have to have a quarantine tank. I know this isn't perfect but it is a lot of work to maintain a second body of water

 

[Dr. Reef]

I rely on the LFS to quarantine and medicate fish so that I don't have to have a quarantine tank. I know this isn't perfect but it is a lot of work to maintain a second body of water

I hate to disagree with you. QT is in my tank in front of my eyes. LFS no matter how good they are, are in this not for fun or hobby they are in a business. As a business owner myself the first rule of business is product in product out.
LFS buy and turn around sell as fast as they can so they can pay bills.
Anyways i have traveled across States and yet to find a LFS that did a true QT like it should be. Most times i see fish fly in boxes and they open bags and medicate them with most likely prazipro and then in they go into tanks for sale.
Even a very reputable vendor (Live Aquaria) they had diver's den that claim longer and better QT measures but also advises to QT on ur own and dont take their QT practices as parasite free or 100% fail proof.

Note: i do agree that maintaining a 2nd tank is hard and some hobbyist dont have room or time or pockets deep enough to maintain two tanks but LFS QT is definitely not on my approval charts.

 

[mgproudfit]

How often do I need to do water changes in my 10g QT? All levels check out, so I think we're going to get our first 2 fish tonight (pair of clowns). Just wanted to check out the water change situation.

-Matt

 

[Dr. Reef]

How often do I need to do water changes in my 10g QT? All levels check out, so I think we're going to get our first 2 fish tonight (pair of clowns). Just wanted to check out the water change situation.

-Matt

Matt did you cycle the QT like a normal tank. if you did then it probably will get away with once a week 3gal water change, But i would keep an eye on the parameters when u put the first 2 fish as if bacteria is not enough u might see a a very small ammonia spike that would go away in few days and in that time u may need to change few gals. but after that u will be ok with 3gal per week or maybe 4-5gal every 2 weeks.
Remember 10 is a small tank small body of water and qt usually dont have state of art filteration so water changes is the only thing that prevents organics to build up.

If you didnt cycle it then u will have to change water every day to everyother day depending on how much bio load is in the tank. in such situation i will check ammonia everyday and if u see any sign either do large water changes or use products like prime/amqual/ammonolock etc. to neutralize ammonia.

 

[mgproudfit]

You rock. Thanks man!

 

[Dr. Reef]

You rock. Thanks man!

u are doing things the right way.
Good luck and happy safe reefing.

 

[GratefulReef]

looks like i'll be picking up an iron stand that holds 2 10g tanks. One for my cichlid babies, and now one for a QT tank. Prob just do an emergency one though as Ive already got a 75g reef, and 55g freshwater tank running and Im a national greed...oops grid customer. I miss my old municipal elec, I could run my tanks, A/C, 52in hdtv, hot water microwave all day long and pay 50bucks a month...-=( thanks for the info though

 

[Dr. Reef]

looks like i'll be picking up an iron stand that holds 2 10g tanks. One for my cichlid babies, and now one for a QT tank. Prob just do an emergency one though as Ive already got a 75g reef, and 55g freshwater tank running and Im a national greed...oops grid customer. I miss my old municipal elec, I could run my tanks, A/C, 52in hdtv, hot water microwave all day long and pay 50bucks a month...-=( thanks for the info though

lol... that would be nice to have only $50 per month bill. I have mine fixed through electric company which they call its budget plan.
In this plan they take 12 months history and divide the usage and average the bill. So i pay all year around same total of $295 per month. every year on aniversery they do evaluation of last 12 months again and recalculate the total for upcoming year. it may increase or derease by 10-15 dollars depending on ur usage.

 

[kgis]

When quarantining a sand sifting goby would you recommend putting sand in the tank?
What about if you purchase a goby/shrimp pair? Obviously you can't put the shrimp into a medicated tank but I'm unclear on what would be better for the fish

 

[Dr. Reef]

When quarantining a sand sifting goby would you recommend putting sand in the tank?
What about if you purchase a goby/shrimp pair? Obviously you can't put the shrimp into a medicated tank but I'm unclear on what would be better for the fish

inverts dont need to be QT'ed so shrimp will not go into QT and especially not in medicated tank.
for the goby I prefer bowl method. put a deep bowl of pure silica sand in the QT (before the fish is put in). you can take out the bowl for cleaning the sand when needed, or for replacing the sand if u need to.

Note:The sand must be tested since many 'pure silica sands' contain carbonate contaminates. Take some 1:2 diluted vinegar and add it to the 'pure sand.' If it bubbles it is contaminated with carbonates and not to be used.

 

[kgis]

inverts dont need to be QT'ed so shrimp will not go into QT and especially not in medicated tank.
for the goby I prefer bowl method. put a deep bowl of pure silica sand in the QT (before the fish is put in). you can take out the bowl for cleaning the sand when needed, or for replacing the sand if u need to.

Note:The sand must be tested since many 'pure silica sands' contain carbonate contaminates. Take some 1:2 diluted vinegar and add it to the 'pure sand.' If it bubbles it is contaminated with carbonates and not to be used.

Thanks for the answer. How deep does a deep bowl need to be?

I'm also curious why you would want to use silica sand instead of the aragonite you would normally used.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Thanks for the answer. How deep does a deep bowl need to be?

I'm also curious why you would want to use silica sand instead of the aragonite you would normally used.

1" minimum to 2" deep is fine.
Reason for not to use live sand, live rock, or any carbonate-based decorations is when you medicate with copper and/or other meds, this material interferes with the proper dosage. Also, if using copper, the life will die in the sand and the rock and cause a spike of ammonia and nitrite. For a sick fish, this can be near instant death. Silica sand doesn't cause any problems noted above.

Note: even though you dont really need sand in the QT and the fish can live in QT without sand without any ill effects. Also remove the sand when fish is out of QT.

 

[dotcommer]

bnumair,

I just read through the entire thread and had a few questions.

I am in the process of purchasing all the items for my 300 Gallon build. I am going to be setting up a QT tank, but after reading the thread I am thinking about setting up a hospital tank as well.

Petco is doing their $1 per gallon sale until Sept 22, so I picked up a 20 Gallon Long for $20 today. But after reading this thread, I am wondering if I should go pick up another 20 gallon long as well before the sale ends.

I have the space next to the 300 Gallon to set up the 20 Gallon tanks on top of two shelving units which will be sitting on each side of the the DT . (actually, would look pretty cool with the to small tanks on each side of the DT)

Should a hospital tank be ran year round just like the QT tank?

Once my 300 gallon is set up, I will be transferring my fish from my current tank. All the fish look great, fat and seem very healthy.

I have a purple tang that every now and then will get a few specs that look like salt (2 to 5 specs) but they are gone the next day. I have very fine white sand in tank, and think that it might be that, since he is solid purple it is very easy to see some of these specs compared to the other fish in the tank.

I really want to make sure that I don't transfer anything bad into my new build. What do you recommend?

 

[Dr. Reef]

what you are trying to do (1 QT and 1 Hospital) would be an ideal situation but for most average reefer is nearly impossible due to many reason. too many complications/cross contaminations, several sets of same tools (as you cannot mix them).
Its a job itself but if u think u can handle it, its a perfect setup.
To answer ur questions:
yes a hospital tank should be setup using shrimp method so its stable all the time and not requiring a lot of water changes and parameter swings. As hospital tank is needed for halfway dead/sick fish its best if water parameters dont change much.
this is all true unless u use copper then story changes. in copper treated tanks water changes will come into play.
Hospital tank once taken down after copper use will take longer to cycle unless cleaned and copper absorbed out of it. you can take the filter in sump approach and keep few handy to restart the hospital tank after taking/cleaning it down when needed.

On the tang for now QT it and watch it over 4-6 weeks for ich (will eliminate your suspicion of sand in a bare bottom tank). if it doesnt appear then ur good after 6 weeks but if it has an outbreak then u will need to either do hypo or copper or tank transfer. If u go with copper then there is a step by step guide how to administer copper based med on my blog and u can get there by clicking blue number under my name.

Note: personally i wouldnt keep multiple tanks. 1 Main and 1 QT.
QT can be switched back and forth between hospital and Qt. Remember QT is only medicated when there is a problem confirmed.

 

[mgproudfit]

While this isn't TECHNICALLY a QT question, it deals with my QT, and you're a huge help, so here goes...

We've had our two clowns in the tank for 4 days now. All levels have kept in check for the most part. Today we checked the levels, and they were as follows:

pH: 8.0 - 8.2
Ammonia: 0.0 - 0.25 (in between, but def closer to 0.0)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10ppm
Salinity: 1.0245

My concern is obviously nitrate. This is the first time we've had an elevated reading of nitrate. Do we need to do a partial water change? The water hasn't yet been changed in the QT, but all levels have remained in check thus far. Thanks for the help!

-Matt

 

[Dr. Reef]

My concern is obviously nitrate. This is the first time we've had an elevated reading of nitrate. Do we need to do a partial water change? The water hasn't yet been changed in the QT, but all levels have remained in check thus far. Thanks for the help!

-Matt

Hi Matt.
Nitrates are not a huge concern for fish in such low range. they wont be a problem till they start getting above 75ppm.
I am under the assumption that you placed few pieces of LR from ur existing tank. If so then nitrates is from the cycle the bacteria u imported with ur rock.
this is a good sign as bacteria is processing ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrates. Nitrates is always the last part of the cycle and it wont get exported out unless done manually with means of skimmer, denitrator, water changes etc.
But to answer ur question: its not enough to worry at this point. keep doing ur regular water changes as u do on weekly basis and dont let the nitrates climb above 30-40ppm.
If you dont see reduction in nitrates via regular water changes and u reach that 40ppm mark then start doing emergency larger water changes along with regular water changes.
hope this helps.


EDIT: it skipped my mind, lol getting old i guess... as nitrates increase chances for algae increases so keep up with weekly water changes and see if nitrates remain there but if they dont and start climbing do more frequent water changes unless u dont care scrubbing algea.