Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[Dr. Reef]

according to the manufacturer there is no harm in moving fish from copper tank to main after 2 weeks of treatment. i am more cautious and try to get as much copper out of the water before moving fish.
i run 2 week of prazi and 4 weeks of copper. then 1 more week to match parameters to dt.

 

[Red_Ant]

Perfect, thanks. I will run 2 weeks straight of prazipro followed by 4 weeks of copper. I'll use one week between the prazipro and copper to do 2 WCs of 50% (10 gal tank) with carbon, then take the carbon out and ramp copper up to .3-.4 over 4 days at the end of that week. And then runn the 4 weeks of copper. Thanks again for your help!

 

[ReeferGil]

Thanks

Thanks

Great info, very easy to setup and sounds like the price won't break the bank. Now that I know what is required, I am definitely going to use a QT prior to adding fish to my DT. Still cycling DT, so I have a couple months before adding livestock. New to forum and to the hobby. My progess is on Youtube, search ReeferGil to see my vids and provide feedback if possible.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Great info, very easy to setup and sounds like the price won't break the bank. Now that I know what is required, I am definitely going to use a QT prior to adding fish to my DT. Still cycling DT, so I have a couple months before adding livestock. New to forum and to the hobby. My progess is on Youtube, search ReeferGil to see my vids and provide feedback if possible.

Thanks for ur kind words. i saw a few of the videos u posted and everything looks good except of 1 thing in the AI vega video i noticed you have a glass cover on top of the tank. its better to have a net or egg crate or even leave it open if you dont have any jumping fish. BRS sell a net/mess which is clear and a great tool. You need air/heat exchange on top. rest is great and good luck and happy reefing.

 

[Red_Ant]

How many fish can you quarantine together at once in a 10 gallon QT? I just added a 1" royal gramma and 2" Randall's Goby (that I'm still waiting to eat) on Friday. I was thinking of adding 2 1.5" clowns tomorrow for a total of 4 fish. I have a bio wheel 200 rated for 50 gallons and it is also filled with ceramic media and fully cycled.

 

[Dr. Reef]

u will be fine with those 4 fish but remember as u add the last fish in timer start all over again for fish in QT from before as well.

 

[jdnidle]

I just wanted to say thank you guys for all of the information around setting up a QT tank.
I just got into the hobby 2 months ago and I want to eventually get into corals and such.

It will be very time and cost saving to have a QT up and running.

 

[ReeferGil]

Awesome, that's the kind of advice I need! Since that video, I ran to ACE and made two screens. Glass tops are gone. I am replacing the screening with BRS screen arriving this Weds.

 

[ReeferGil]

Thanks for ur kind words. i saw a few of the videos u posted and everything looks good except of 1 thing in the AI vega video i noticed you have a glass cover on top of the tank. its better to have a net or egg crate or even leave it open if you dont have any jumping fish. BRS sell a net/mess which is clear and a great tool. You need air/heat exchange on top. rest is great and good luck and happy reefing.

BTW, I setup my 10 gallon QT today, thanks to your easy to follow info. Put a shrimp in there to start the cycle. Thanks again!

 

[Dr. Reef]

BTW, I setup my 10 gallon QT today, thanks to your easy to follow info. Put a shrimp in there to start the cycle. Thanks again!

thats good, i try to make its step by step and as easy as i can write so New hobbyist can find the information not too over whelming.
and then they can always ask questions here.

 

[ReeferGil]

Sorry, a really newbie here. Are you guys dosing an empty QT with cooper and amquel? I don't want to assume you're dosing the QT with sick fish, but I suspect that is what is happening? Yes? No? Thanks.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Sorry, a really newbie here. Are you guys dosing an empty QT with cooper and amquel? I don't want to assume you're dosing the QT with sick fish, but I suspect that is what is happening? Yes? No? Thanks.

i dont dose anything in empty tank. once i get a new fish and introduce it to my QT then i use prazipro for 2 weeks. no need for amquel. once u start using copper do water changes to keep ammonia down, i have heard that ammonia reducing chemicals and react with copper making it more toxic.

 

[WickedBlue28]

Thank you for taking the time to set up and maintain this thread. I bought a QT tank tonight and am starting it with a piece of raw salmon( no shrimp on hand). I plan to treat a flame angel that looks like it might have gill flukes. I read through the whole thread and didn't see anything specific to angel fish. I believe they require certain treatment but I don't know what.

What treatment do you reccommend for angel fish?

 

[ReeferGil]

strength of the cooper depends on medication being used. for example i use cupramine. it suggests final cooper levels to be 0.5ml/l
is ur qt bare bottom and no live rock?
when i do cooper treatment i make sure that water is perfect before i start meds. and then i go as long as i can with out water change usually 3-4 weeks. unless there is ammonia issue then u will require more frequent water changes.
For this reason alone a QT should be setup with shrimp cycle method that way water changes are not required, emergency QT setup will have ammonia grow every other day and thus requires water changes frequently and failing the effect of medication.
Depending on how ur QT is setup water change will depend on that.
if its cycles QT then u can probably get away with no water change for 1 month.
if its setup as emergency QT and needs water changes regularly then u will have to do water changes accordingly and also checking and adding more meds to bring it back upto level desired.

I wish I had half the knowledge you have. This stuff is over my head, but I better get a grip of it real quick as my 75 is cycling, as is my QT. I am getting confused with specifically cooper treatments, vodka and vinegar dosing. You are da man, so I hope you can help clear some of the confusion up.

1) With respect to the cooper "treatment", is cooper being used to treat the water or the sick fish? Are we putting cooper into the QT before we add fish or only when we see we have sick fish? I am seeing people are medicating their QT with cooper along with other medications. Does cooper compliment the actual medication or IS cooper a medication itself?

2) Vinegar and Vodka dosing, what in the world does this do and how does it benefit our DT?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Dr. Reef]

yup ur a bit confused, let me see if i can clear up few things.
1. copper treatment is ONLY required when there is ICH involved with fish.
i dont run copper in QT till i have had the fish in QT for 2 weeks or more and it shows signs of ich. if it doesnt show signs of ich in QT for over 4 weeks i dont treat it with copper.
But with tangs i do run copper NO MATTER.
copper meds should only be run by itself and nothing else. copper treatment is very harsh on fish as is and you dont wanna mix meds coz sometimes they can react with copper and make water toxic.
when we talk about copper its basically a medicine that contains copper. i personally use CUPRAMINE made by seachem.

2. Vinegar and vodka dosing are done in the main tank only not QT. they are dosed in the water to reduce nitrates and phos and to grow a certain type of bacteria that consumes nitrates and phos. some poeple dose those instead of using carbon reactors or gfo reactors. i personally dont have any experience with them 2 as i use carbon reactor a sulfur denitrator and gfo reactor to keep parameters in check.

 

[ReeferGil]

yup ur a bit confused, let me see if i can clear up few things.
1. copper treatment is ONLY required when there is ICH involved with fish.
i dont run copper in QT till i have had the fish in QT for 2 weeks or more and it shows signs of ich. if it doesnt show signs of ich in QT for over 4 weeks i dont treat it with copper.
But with tangs i do run copper NO MATTER.
copper meds should only be run by itself and nothing else. copper treatment is very harsh on fish as is and you dont wanna mix meds coz sometimes they can react with copper and make water toxic.
when we talk about copper its basically a medicine that contains copper. i personally use CUPRAMINE made by seachem.

2. Vinegar and vodka dosing are done in the main tank only not QT. they are dosed in the water to reduce nitrates and phos and to grow a certain type of bacteria that consumes nitrates and phos. some poeple dose those instead of using carbon reactors or gfo reactors. i personally dont have any experience with them 2 as i use carbon reactor a sulfur denitrator and gfo reactor to keep parameters in check.

SAWEET! Thanks for clearing that all up. I pulled up some research on V and V which broke it down to what you had told me. I'm not going to worry about dosing DT with it, but at least now I know what reefers use it for. I am running GFO and Chato algae.

I went out an purchased a bottle of cupramine and a bottle of PraziPro. My LFS recommended dosing the QT with Prazi and using it as a "dip" for new fish even if they don't show signs of illnesses.

If I hear you correctly, I shouldn't put any type of meds in QT unless I see there are issues with the new fish? I have a 10 gallon, bare bottom tank with a HOB filter. It's cycling right now with shrimp. My DT is also in cycle process. I just want my ducks in a row for when I do start getting fish in a couple of months.

You are the man, thank you!

 

[xxmurrxx]

Good info, one question and sorry if the answer is already here somewhere, just skimmed through on my phone.

If your running a perm. QT and you end up treating a fish for ich or run copper for a new tang to be sure, what's the process after he is moved to the DT?
Tear down the system and re-cycle it? Or just dilute the water and keep it running for the next fish?

Also would fish that need big tanks "like tangs" be fine in a 10g QT for the process? Assuming they are not huge when purchased.

Cheers.

 

[Dr. Reef]

If I hear you correctly, I shouldn't put any type of meds in QT unless I see there are issues with the new fish?

kinda, i use prazi on all fish, its safe to do so. i dont dip i just use it as a medication in the tank and run it in QT for 2 weeks. then i do few water changes to get it out of the system fully.
copper i only use on very selected fish as not all fish can handle copper treatment. But for all TANGS i ALWAYS use copper after prazi.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Good info, one question and sorry if the answer is already here somewhere, just skimmed through on my phone.

If your running a perm. QT and you end up treating a fish for ich or run copper for a new tang to be sure, what's the process after he is moved to the DT?
Tear down the system and re-cycle it? Or just dilute the water and keep it running for the next fish?

Also would fish that need big tanks "like tangs" be fine in a 10g QT for the process? Assuming they are not huge when purchased.

Cheers.

good question. once copper has been run and treatment is over i do several successive water changes to get most of the copper out of the system. in my 20gal QT it take 6 x 10gal water changes to get 99% of copper out. once u reach that then i run cuprasorb and activated carbon to get the rest of copper out. but for most part tank stays running never broke down.
Tangs and fish that get big in size are ok for few weeks in a small QT. i strongly recommend a 40 breeder as a QT if you are going to keep a larger breed fish in QT. But in most cases a 20 will work fine. smaller the tank more stress the fish will face.

 

[Dr. Reef]

PM question from WickedBlue28
Qt thread
Hello

I posted on your qt thread and need help treating a flame angel. I like to get your feedback please


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