hospital tank?

[PoriferaBob]

I am hoping to get a few examples of hospital tanks that I can use to nurse my sick Squamosa back to health. I want to be able to perform a F.W.D. and then put him in one as suggested by Barry. A few of my questions are Substrate: yes or no if yes what should I use how much. Should I just take a few bio balls from main tank to allow bacteria culture? would that work? Tank size: will a 10 gallon suffice? Lighting: can I place the hospital tank right next to my display. The main tank and the light fixture are about 36 inches and line up exactly but it is a 250 watt halide with 2 65 watt actinics so there is a large amount of light that spills over the sides. Barry suggested that lower lighting for the H. tank would be wise so would the spill over form the main fixture do just for this situation?
and last to come to mind is filtration: If I throw a skimmer on and just run it will that be ok. Thanks for the help guys and Gals. My clam and I thank you!!!

 

[Jimmy719]

Hey Bob,

As far as most of your questions go, I can't help you. The spillover lighting from my tank is pretty dull (of course some comes out from the sides of the tank, but unless youre looking at a bulb, its not enough to make you squint), so I'm not sure if that would work or not. My real piece of advice is to make sure you have the bioballs (or ring out a filter sponge) into the hospital a few weeks before you actually put the clam in there. When I set up my quarantine tank, I only had the bacteria in there about a week before the fish, and two out of three died from the sudden rise in ammonia.

Sorry I don't have more answers, but wanted to share that with you. Good luck.

Jimmy

 

[Travis]

Bob,

I am planning on doing the same thing for my clams which have been pinching for months. I can FW dip them and the pinching is back within a week so the "disease" is obviously not only in the clams but also in the water. I don't think the spillover from the main tank would be near enough light for the clams. My clams are under 800W of halide and 440W of VHO. I don't want to blow all my money on lighting for a QT tank so I think I'll just try to find a cheap pc setup on ebay or in the selling forum. I think maybe a 2 X 55 would be sufficient to temporarily house clams. I plan to put a fish in the QT for a month to let it cycle and get some nutrients in the water for the clams. I think it is very important to let the tank cycle before adding the clams. As for tank size, I think any size would be ok as long as there is room to place the clam in it. The bigger the better since it will help keep the params more stable. I don't think it would matter if the QT tank has substrate in it or not. Just be careful that the clam doesn't attach to the bottom. You could put some sand in a bowl and place the clam in that. I have also seen online vendors place the clams on PVC. This might work too but I would be worried that the clam would attach to the PVC.