How to set up a s/w quarantine tank?

[zmazza]

I have a 29 gallon salt water tank that I have just set up with live rock. I'm going to be adding fish in about 3 weeks or so. I've got 20 lbs of arag-alive crushed coral substrate and more live rock than you can shake a stick at. I've got 3 huge pieces of live rock, and 5 huge pieces of base rock. It's got the standard lighting, probably 15 watts or so. I'm going to upgrade the bulb (It's a single tube strip light). It's got a 100 watt heater and a Maxijet 600 for flow. I'm going to add a Maxijet 900 in the near future, probably when it's almost done cycling.

I have an extra 10 gallon and a tidepool 2 sump that isn't hooked up. The tidepool is 18 gallons? but it doesn't have a cover. Would I be better off just setting up the 10 gallon for salt and then putting a sponge filter in there? I've got a sponge filter for a 40 gallon I could use.

Freshwater QT's are very easy, but what about saltwater? How close should the SG match the display tank? Etc.

 

[bertoni]

The sponge filter should be fine. I'd get it going soon. Personally, I'd go for the 18g, since it's larger. As far as matching the SG in the display, I'd target about 1.026 for each, but some variation shouldn't matter very much.