multi-thousand gallon tanks, how do they QT?

geaux xman

New member
i'm sure they get hit with parasite outbreaks from time to time. the 2nd vid is about the wildest thing i've ever seen.

so question is how do these guys deal with parasite outbreaks? or how do they even manage to QT all these fish.

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I would love to have a tank as large as that! If you have invested that much money into fish and the tank itself then I am pretty sure they have a decent sized QT system. They likely QT'd every fish when they got it so the chances of anything showing up are slim. Would love to figure out how to though.
 
When I took a tour behind the scenes at either Long Beach or Georgia, they had huge vats with large fish or big groups of fish in QT. I mean, they have the room...it's not like they are having to ask their wife to put a 20g QT on the kitchen counter :D
 
i'm sure they get hit with parasite outbreaks from time to time. the 2nd vid is about the wildest thing i've ever seen.

so question is how do these guys deal with parasite outbreaks? or how do they even manage to QT all these fish.

If you're talking about a hospital tank, they don't. They'd have to go in and catch all the fish to transfer them, and that's not going to happen.
They QT the fish before adding them here, to minimize the chance of introducing disease to the display tank. They work to keep high water quality, and keep the fish well fed.
 
i think they employ UV.

They don't. That tank is actually remarkably simple and based on solid maintenance. Skimmers, sand filter, kalk top off, calcium reactor, surge tank and the live rock. Oh yeah, and roughly 20,000 watts of lighting.

They do have quarantine tanks there, there are probably 6-10 tanks that are a couple hundred gallons.
 
Its actually not too difficult to accomplish this but it does take patience. Im not sure how other people claim to put large amounts of fish together in confined spaces but what I have done works pretty well. Involves quarantining large batches, adding the fish in batches pretty close together time wise, good water quality, and temporary hiding places. Add aggressive fish last and try to make them SMALL. This method works well for me with putting aggressive fish together.

As for disease outbreak. Always quarantine new fish obviously and keep good water quality. I really dont understand how people have disease outbreaks and tank crashes. This is almost always attributed to bad water quality, or a sudden drastic change in a water parameter such as temp or pH. Also....FEED YOUR FREAKIN FISH. The more I feed my fish the healthier they seem. Oh and no such thing as an ickless tank really.

I have a 300 gallon with 15 LARGE Tangs, 3 Angels, 2 Triggers, 10 Chromis,10 Anthias, 5 clowns, couple blennies and gobies. Havnt had a fish loss in 10 months. I could add more I think but dont feel like spending more money. Anyways I am starting to rant, can PM if anyone want more details on getting a lot of fish in their tank and have them all get along.
 
They have ample quarantine space and tanks for fish that may need treatment. That is standard in the industry. Btw, it is easier to catch fish when you can get into the tank with them.
 
Its actually not too difficult to accomplish this but it does take patience. Im not sure how other people claim to put large amounts of fish together in confined spaces but what I have done works pretty well. Involves quarantining large batches, adding the fish in batches pretty close together time wise, good water quality, and temporary hiding places. Add aggressive fish last and try to make them SMALL. This method works well for me with putting aggressive fish together.

As for disease outbreak. Always quarantine new fish obviously and keep good water quality. I really dont understand how people have disease outbreaks and tank crashes. This is almost always attributed to bad water quality, or a sudden drastic change in a water parameter such as temp or pH. Also....FEED YOUR FREAKIN FISH. The more I feed my fish the healthier they seem. Oh and no such thing as an ickless tank really.

I have a 300 gallon with 15 LARGE Tangs, 3 Angels, 2 Triggers, 10 Chromis,10 Anthias, 5 clowns, couple blennies and gobies. Havnt had a fish loss in 10 months. I could add more I think but dont feel like spending more money. Anyways I am starting to rant, can PM if anyone want more details on getting a lot of fish in their tank and have them all get along.

got a pic or vid? i just went thru your entire build thread... some good reading.
 
I'm going thru this issue right now. The wife has graciously agreed to let me do a big L shaped that will be just north of 2500G in the new house. We luckily have a basement right under where the main tank will be and I'm now planning the QT set up. I'll likely have three 30G tanks for smaller fish / inverts (one with a sand bottom for jaws, gobies, etc.) ; and I'm going to convert my current 225G SPS tank to a large fish QT (thinking tangs here). My regiment of QT'ing fish for 2M+ will not change.
 
Btw, it is easier to catch fish when you can get into the tank with them.

Coming from someone who actually does this, try to catch a vlamingi tang in a 20 000, and I'll get one out of a 200, and we'll see who wins ;) Unless it is very slow, getting fish out of a small tank is way easier than a big one.
 
The public aquariums also have access to lab equipment. They send in samples to cut down QT time.

AZA standards list 30 days as an acceptable quarantine period, but both the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the National Aquarium in DC quarantine fish for 60-90 days depending on prophylactic treatments used. I think that these times are pretty typical for public aquariums. There is no reducing of these times, although they can be and often are extended if the fish are treated for parasites or disease. No one wants to risk introducing anything unhealthy into an established display tank. The quarantine period also allows for time to get the fish eating appropriate foods and targeting if desired.
 
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