I'm ready for Insurance!!(quarantine ?'s)

[cnote2991]

I plan on setting up a quarantine tank and need some advise.

I have a 29g tank next to my sump that I use as an old water reservoir from my auto water change system that I would like to only use temporarily to quarantine incoming SPS.

What kind of hob filter do you recommend? Specific models please. Should it be overrated(50g instead of 30g)? Should I just leave it running in my sump when not used for quarantine?

 

[cnote2991]

anyone got any ideas?

I wouldn't think with just sps there would be much waste, but i have zero experience with this and need to get the filter cycling.

 

[chrishayes]

I meant to respond to this earlier, sorry. I think that you should get something smaller for a QT and have it be ONLY for QT. You never know what you might have to treat the tank with and that would render your 29 useless for water storage later...also as to the filter, really anything will work its just a matter of making sure that it is at least large enough to provide adequate turnover if you arent using in tank pumps and that it has some form of biological media that wont be replaced. I.e cartridge style filters. The marineland penguin filters have always been good to me as have aquaclears. Even the marinelands with the biowheel would be a good choice as you can replace media in the filter itself without messing with the baterial papulation in the wheel. I would make sure you can run carbon in it as well. If you get one that has a cartridge just break it down to the bare structure and wrap it with filter floss found in the sewing aisle of walmart to save money. Make sure you have a good heater as you wont be running a controller I assume. A lot of the cheap heaters swing wildly through the day and night. Not good for sps. Lighting can be as cheap or elaborate as your budget allows. I am currently using 32w 6700k twisty pcs in a stock incandecent hood that came with a walmart 10gal package. It is plenty bright and adequate for the job. I use the hob filter that came with it as well. It was a good deal, only like $30 for a full setup. Nothing fancy just the basics. Keep it barebottom and create some type of pvc/eggcrate structure to provide different lighting and flow levels and youre set!

Heres mine.

 

[chrishayes]

Oh, you asked if you should just leave it running on your sump in between QT periods. The aswer is maybe. If you have used any type of treatment with the filter running then no, just place a filter artridge or sponge in your sump so you have a bio filter anytime you need. If you dont run any treatments and there are no contaminants or pests in the QT then sure, makes it nice and easy to QT when you impulse buy like the rest of us!

Also, if you plan to QT a lot of fish then you might consider something larger and place some lengths of different sized pvc or sterile flower pots/plastic tubs for the fish to hide in. It is a very stressful time for fish ecpecially in large numbers without somewhere to get away. Just realize that ich along with other diseases/parasites can and will live in your filter not to mention the copper that would treat those diseases will render anything it touches useless and toxic to your reef or even future corals so you may need 2 QT tanks...

 

[cnote2991]

i actually have 2 29s that i use for auto water changes. one holds fresh saltwater and the other holds the "old water". the one i want to use holds the old water. i was thinking i could just place a 5 gal bucket beside the old water tank to pump water out before the auto water change pumped water in.

i have a RKE on my main setup and have an extra temp outlet available that could control the heater. my main concern is getting too hot. i have a couple old 150w MH ballasts laying around and also have a 4X 24w tek that i use on an inline frag grow out tank. will probably use the tek to try to keep temp down. dont know what I will do if I have things in the grow out section. guess i will have to plan ahead.

i do have some old 96w pc around. do you think they would be enough to keep sps for a couple weeks?