QT attached to DT for acros

[xxxduke62xxx]

Been doing some thinking of QT tanks for acropora and the biggest concern is parameters to keep new SPS frags happy while in a seperate system QT. Well if you have the room and want to make a QT attached to your main system I had a idea and want to run it by some RC members. I recently set up my sump and fuge in the basement along with a frag tank and i have the room to add a 10 gallon and a 20 gallon for a QT. What i was thinking was having the 10 gallon for new acro frags with a wrasse and a peppermint shrimp. the drain for the 10 gallon will drain on the right side of the 20 gallon and in that tank i will keep a couple more wrasses some PVC for hiding spots for the fish and maybe a tubber ware with sand for sleeping area for them as well. The QT tank will have a regular lighting cycle and the wrasse tank i would leave the lights on for 24 hour period. Just a cheap light like the ones we use on our fuges The left side will be a return pump into the sump. My thinking is wrasses will eat free floating AEFW and without rocks and a sand bed it leaves very little chance a worm wil be able to get to the DT before a wrasse would spot it and eat it. Also thinking of adding some type of micron filter pad to the drain pipe in the 10 gal QT tank for extra protection on the adult worms. And this will be a easy way to get the frags out for weekly dipping. What are your thoughts? Oh and if there is no frags to be aquired for awhile i would have a shut off valve to shut the system down and just transfer the livestock into my fuge area. Again this is primarily to keep AEFW away. Just looking for away to keep a stable system and not setting up a entirely new system. Do you think it will lower the chances of getting the bug? Like many people most just dip inspect and in the tank it goes because they are nervous on keeping their new acros in a unstable system

 

[animalkingdom]

If its a small system like 10g weekly water changes from your DT will usually be enough to keep things good. I dont think its technically a quarantine if the water is part of one system even if it is filtered first. Also very risky in my mind but definitely better than nothing

 

[xxxduke62xxx]

Well thats my thought on 24hr light cycle for the 20 gallon. There wi[l be wrasses swimming constantly and the AEFW will have no time to move safely. I can care less about redbugs i have hoarded many tablets to treat the tank Its AEFW thats my main concern.

 

[Arkayology]

I would still worry that having the QT tank plumbed into the main system would allow the AEFW to get into the DT. Just because you have wrasses does not mean they will get all the AEFW. All the FW need to do is wait for the wrasses to sleep and move up the plumbing and into your other tanks. Not to mention a fuge light would not be good enough to keep the acros looking good/happy, which would lead to brown SPS and RTN/STN IMO.

 

[xxxduke62xxx]

You have to read origianl post. Not going to have a fuge light on the acros it will be a LED fixture like the AI nano. The fuge light will be in the 20 gallon wrasse tank left on for 24 hours so the wrasses will always be on alert. Sorry didnt specify what light in the QT

 

[Acronic]

The wrasses would get stressed out. Most enjoy a good sandbed to sleep in and they like to sleep. A healthy wrasse would be at peak performance for picking off critters where a stressed wrasse would not. Be careful with the pepppermint shrimp. It will pick the polyps out of the acros if hungry enough. However, it is excellent at eating pests.

As mentioned, weekly waterchanges would be enough to maintain a steady environment to hold acros while in QT. When you ship an acro, it gets stressed and will stay relatively dormant for a few weeks. Especially when it is a fresh import. Monti nudis larve hatch into the water column and disperse quite a distance. It is not absurd to assume many pests reproduce in the same manner.

The best course of action would be to drain DT water into the QT, then, down the drain. Reapeat every waterchange. If the acro in QT looks stressed due to water quality, simply do another waterchange. Would benefit the DT too

 

[rlpardue]

To build on Acronic's good idea, I think the ultimate acro QT would have one of those automatic water change systems where water moves daily from the DT to the QT and then down the drain.

 

[MammothReefer]

I ran my frag tank off my DT and have used it as a QT. It's not ideal but it can work for some things. If you use filter socks and so on it's unlikely AEFW and going to travel back and forth at least I never had that issue but it's always a possibility. I don't think you need the tiered wrasse system it's to complicated and there is no guarantee they will eat the AEFW 100% of the time.

If you don't want to setup another QT I would set it up in a way where you keep your return lines and return pump as far apart in your sump as you can, run filter socks and make sure they are never fully submerged, and don't keep any acropora in the sump (so you aren't breading AEFW in your sump)