Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).
- Thread starter Dr. Reef
- Start date
sometimes when u use a well established live rock it imports enough bacteria with it to handle a small bio load instantly. i am hoping in ur case it would be just that. 46 gal tank with 45lbs of live rock and 3" deep live sand and with a frozen shrimp in tank for a day or 2 with no ammonia tell me there is bacteria in tank but i am still puzzled with no nitrates.
ammonia breaks down by bacteria to nitrites then break down to nitrates.
ur not registering any nitrates which puzzles me. so we give shrimp another day or 2 more days to just to be sure.
a new skimmer will take almost 1 month to break in. micro bubble will be fine for now but i am sure after skimmer settles in they will go away as well. inverts will be fine with them.
ammonia breaks down by bacteria to nitrites then break down to nitrates.
ur not registering any nitrates which puzzles me. so we give shrimp another day or 2 more days to just to be sure.
a new skimmer will take almost 1 month to break in. micro bubble will be fine for now but i am sure after skimmer settles in they will go away as well. inverts will be fine with them.
hogfanreefer
Active member
Slight complication in my hypo treatment for my wrasse with Ich. He is now free of all spots and no more gill raking behavior and has been for about 10 days.
My problem is I leave on vacation in two weeks. I have an ATO set up so maintaining salinity while I'm gone is no problem. I also have an auto feeder but there is no way I can get it to drop a small enough amount of food for only one fish. I'm afraid the excess food could cause an ammonia spike that could be fatal.
The fish will complete treatment before I leave but not soon enough to safely raise salinity before time to go. If I can't find a house sitter/feeder, any ideas what I can do?
My problem is I leave on vacation in two weeks. I have an ATO set up so maintaining salinity while I'm gone is no problem. I also have an auto feeder but there is no way I can get it to drop a small enough amount of food for only one fish. I'm afraid the excess food could cause an ammonia spike that could be fatal.
The fish will complete treatment before I leave but not soon enough to safely raise salinity before time to go. If I can't find a house sitter/feeder, any ideas what I can do?
i had a feeder that had same problem and i couldnt control for small amount of food i needed it to dispense. i had a eheim feeder i taped the opening to give is a tighter opening end which only dispensed a lot less food than regular setting.
u can try doing that if u cant find someone to feed it while u are away.
u can try doing that if u cant find someone to feed it while u are away.
hogfanreefer
Active member
Dang! Can't believe I didn't think of taping the opening smaller! I have the same feeder.
lol thats why i am the reef doctor.:rollface:
I have QT filter questions.
Since I kept having problems with swapping out the cloth filter that goes with my HOB causing mini cycles, I moved to the ceramic ring as the biological filter. I have the HOB filled with rings which are inside a mesh bag.
I now have two problems. Looks like I need mechanical filtration as the QT has gotten cloudy and I now don't have a place to put my mesh bag of Carbon once my Copper time is complete, as the Carbon will need to have flow through it to be effective at removing the copper.
So, how do you combine all of this is a simple 10 gallon HOB? Should I get another HOB,however the light I have on the tank is not made for two HOB? Do I try and get a bigger HOB and hopefully have room for mechanical filter and bag for carbon? Any other thoughts?
Since I kept having problems with swapping out the cloth filter that goes with my HOB causing mini cycles, I moved to the ceramic ring as the biological filter. I have the HOB filled with rings which are inside a mesh bag.
I now have two problems. Looks like I need mechanical filtration as the QT has gotten cloudy and I now don't have a place to put my mesh bag of Carbon once my Copper time is complete, as the Carbon will need to have flow through it to be effective at removing the copper.
So, how do you combine all of this is a simple 10 gallon HOB? Should I get another HOB,however the light I have on the tank is not made for two HOB? Do I try and get a bigger HOB and hopefully have room for mechanical filter and bag for carbon? Any other thoughts?
hey bnumair. Good news to report, after 5 weeks i took the blenny out of the QT and put him in the tank, he went over fine and within a day he was out looking around and feeding off the rocks and glass. He's gotten even more personality since then and seems to be happy. Eats like crazy and is super fat! not afraid when he sees me anymore.
SO i left the QT up and running but curious what i should do now, it has the little HOB filter and is getting some brown algae on the glass now, i was playing with the idea of upgrading the HOB to a little bit bigger one that is rated higher since this one is maxed out, would that be the easiest route to take? just get another HOB and run it on the QT and leave the current one running aswell to help build bacteria on the new one? or should i just get new filters for my current HOB? I'm guessing a water change is needed aswell.
SO i left the QT up and running but curious what i should do now, it has the little HOB filter and is getting some brown algae on the glass now, i was playing with the idea of upgrading the HOB to a little bit bigger one that is rated higher since this one is maxed out, would that be the easiest route to take? just get another HOB and run it on the QT and leave the current one running aswell to help build bacteria on the new one? or should i just get new filters for my current HOB? I'm guessing a water change is needed aswell.
i am glad to hear the qt went well and ur fish is happy and fat and developing a personality.
now for the qt u can leave it up and running. shut the lights off permanently till u need them again and change out 100% of the water. if u upgrade the HOB there are 2 ways to do it.
1. will be to buy a new HOB and pull all the floss, ceramic media, filter etc out of the old HOB and place then in new HOB along with then new filters etc.
2. u can cycle the qt all over again with new HOB and old HOB both running together, with adding ammonia or frozen shrimp.
either way u should be able to get it cycle it within a day or two if u have all the old media/filters in qt while the new ones break in.
good luck and safe reefing
now for the qt u can leave it up and running. shut the lights off permanently till u need them again and change out 100% of the water. if u upgrade the HOB there are 2 ways to do it.
1. will be to buy a new HOB and pull all the floss, ceramic media, filter etc out of the old HOB and place then in new HOB along with then new filters etc.
2. u can cycle the qt all over again with new HOB and old HOB both running together, with adding ammonia or frozen shrimp.
either way u should be able to get it cycle it within a day or two if u have all the old media/filters in qt while the new ones break in.
good luck and safe reefing
Thanks. I did look at a bigger HOB, but given the tank/light cover I bought for it, nothing bigger will fit.
I will look further at your idea around a powerhead. Any suggestions for a small one for a 10 gallon?
Also, one question I forgot to ask, what is the right amount of ceramic rings I should have? I was wondering if I have it too packed with rings and possibly reducing the number to allow a mechanical filter or bag with carbon to also be placed in the HOB compartment?
some wrasse cannot handle hypo salinity, some fish cannot handle copper. so its a balance u have to maintain. its best before purchasing one should do their home work on a specific species they are intending to buy.
btw if u are just observing 8 weeks in a qt then there should be no issues.
btw if u are just observing 8 weeks in a qt then there should be no issues.
jfeva0049
Member
its almost been 4 weeks now of my kole in qt with copper. question, can i just continue 25% water changes for the next 2 weeks or so with out adding any copper, then start the Prazipro treatment?
i guess im asking if i have to run some type of copper remover or can i just do 4 25% WC over time then proceed. thanks.
i guess im asking if i have to run some type of copper remover or can i just do 4 25% WC over time then proceed. thanks.
as long as u wont put any inverts and corals in that tank 4-6 25% water changes will bring down the copper level to almost 0. u can run carbon to remove the minor traces left or ployfilter. if u plan on using qt just for fish then after that many water changes there will hardly be any copper left.
