Need help setting up a Quarantine System

[El Langostino]

I was thinking about setting up a small QT so I'd just like to know all of the necessary items. I was planning on just using ambient room light instead of purchasing a small fixture. My rough list would be:

10 gallon tank
heater
thermometer
power head
sponge filter

If this is incorrect or I have omitted something vital, please correct me on it.

Also, if I fill a 10 gallon qt tank with water from my well established display it should be ready for fish immediately, correct?

I was thinking about buying a 12 gallon nano cube so everything I needed would already be included and high quality as opposed to having to go out and purchase everything individually, even though the nano is probably a bit more expensive. Any thoughts on this?

Also, a bit off topic but I've heard of some ppl converting nanos to refugiums that fit under the stand next to the sump? How is this done?


thanks a lot

 

[Fred_J]

I'll tackle the quarantine portion. Your list looks good, and it will be ready for fish as soon as the sponge filter is cycled. A lot of people keep a sponge filter running in their sump so it stays ready. You don't want to go overboard so you still use it as a hospital tank also.
Fred

 

[Blown 346]

You coukd buy a NANO cube but for that price you could have a 20 gallon quarantine tank with all the immentities.
I would get the largest Q tank you can get for space wise and price.

The bigger the better and the more room for error, since the smaller the tank the more potent things can be and quickly die.
Your list sounds good.
Yes you can put fish in it imediatly if you use water from your already established tank. I did this and just got a piece of a sponge and placed it into the tank, with some rubble rock to help get more bacteria in the tank.


To make a fuge out of a nano you will need two power heads, and two pieces of tubing.
Place one power head in the main tank, run the tubing from the powerhead into the fuge below.
Have the other powerhead in the fuge with tubing running back to the main tank. You will have to make sure that the pump in the main tank isnt too powerful otherwise you will overflow your fuge.
Also make sure that the pump in the fuge isnt too powerful or you will run it dry. You need the right variables but the pump in the fuge has to be a little more powerful than the main tanks since it will be pushing water up to the main tank. Headloss with the fuge pump needs to be looked at.

 

[old salty]

Throw in two pieces of PVC; preferrable 2 inch stuff for hiding places.

 

[Rob Martin]

I set up my Q.T tank four weeks ago,didn't have time to cycle it as i needed to get the fish in there quickly to treat Ich, i used existing main tank water with an internal sponge filter with well established bacteria,hower,i still got an ammonia spike in the first week (lost a beautiful Raccoon Butterfly in the process ) & had to resort to Kent Ammonia Detox & 25% water changes every other day.It finally stabilised after about 2 weeks

 

[BenH98]

did you fill your QT with 100% display water, and you still got an ammonia spike?

 

[Rob Martin]

Yes, i tested the water first & everything was fine,not sure what went wrong.