QT before DT

A

allendehl

New member
Hi folks,

DT still not here, hopefully shipping today. It's coming from Texas so I sure need to cut Red Sea some slack. They've had bigger problems.

That being said, I believe it would be a good idea to start a QT before hand and that way, not only I have friends ready for when my tank cycles but also start getting my feet wet with testing, water changes and all that. Is this a good idea?

QA will have to be in my garage, one hurdle I need to sort. I may need to add a small thermoelectric chiller since I'm in Miami and it gets real hot in there.

I need your opinion about my plan and projected equipment, please.

This is my planned setup:

- 10G Tank
- HOB Filter (https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/liberty-75-hob-power-filter-eheim.html)
- Ammonia badge
- Some chunks of PVC pipes

I don't have how to seed the tank, so I'd have to rely on artificial stuff, I believe Bio Spira would do it.

Q: How do I know my QT tank is ready to receive some guests?
Q: How many fishes(max) would you recommend I place in my new QT. I know they need to be compatible. Do you have any suggestions of some good and fun pals to start with?
Q: Should I treat them in QT? If so....with what?

Thank you very much as usual!
 
+1 on the 20 or even 40g tank for a QT, regardless of the fish you end up getting. Just like your DT, the larger the volume, the more stable the water and the less chance of aggression issues.

To keep it cool, just place a fan so that it blows across the top. Yo will lose water to evaporation quicker that way, but that is also how you will lose the heat.

As for treating the fish - I am a firm believer in the TTM (Tank Transfer Method) for ridding them of Ich, and a good round or two of Prazipro will take care of any flukes or intestinal parasites they may have.

IMHO, no need at all to cycle anything for the QT - if you go the TTM route, you will be changing everything every 3 days anyway. Just keep some Prime on hand so that if your ammonia badge does show anything you can easily take care of it.

hth!
 
I plan on using a ten gallon observation tank after doing the TTM with five gallon buckets, but I know my fish are all going to be small. I plan on using a HOB filter but I am going to run it in my sump while the tank is cycling. Then I'll set it up with DT water. I also plan on running another ten for inverts, corals and such.
 
billdogg said:
+1 on the 20 or even 40g tank for a QT, regardless of the fish you end up getting. Just like your DT, the larger the volume, the more stable the water and the less chance of aggression issues.

To keep it cool, just place a fan so that it blows across the top. Yo will lose water to evaporation quicker that way, but that is also how you will lose the heat.

As for treating the fish - I am a firm believer in the TTM (Tank Transfer Method) for ridding them of Ich, and a good round or two of Prazipro will take care of any flukes or intestinal parasites they may have.

IMHO, no need at all to cycle anything for the QT - if you go the TTM route, you will be changing everything every 3 days anyway. Just keep some Prime on hand so that if your ammonia badge does show anything you can easily take care of it.

hth!
Click to expand...
Thank you!...The 10G tank is a matter of space that I'll need to figure out once I have everything going on. I bought it in Walmart for $15 so no biggy if I decide to replace it later on for a bigger one.

I'll research the TTM and assess how feasible is in my case. But if you have time, I'd appreciate you sharing your protocol.

As for the cycling goes, you mean I can just get water of my LFS and start the QT with fish right out of the bat and just keep an eye on the parameters to know when to change water? What kind of values I'm looking for and what is the signal to change water? Also about the ammonia, if I'm changing water every 3 days what are the chances of ammonia going up? What do you mean by "Just keep some Prime on hand" (sorry if the question is too dumb)

Thanks Lot!
 
Last edited:
allendehl said:
Thank you!...The 10G tank is a matter of space that I'll need to figure out once I have everything going on. I bought it in Walmart for $15 so no biggy if I decide to replace it later on for a bigger one.

I'll research the TTM and assess how feasible is in my case. But if you have time, I'd appreciate you sharing your protocol.

As for the cycling goes, you mean I can just get water of my LFS and start the QT with fish right out of the bat and just keep an eye on the parameters to know when to change water? What kind of values I'm looking for and what is the signal to change water? Also about the ammonia, if I'm changing water every 3 days what are the chances of ammonia going up? What do you mean by "Just keep some Prime on hand" (sorry if the question is too dumb)

Thanks Lot!
Click to expand...

Just follow the sticky at the top of this forum. That's how I learned to do it and it is pretty much foolproof. As for space needed, depending on the size of the fish, it can easily be done using 5g buckets!

IMHO/IME, there really isn't a need to "cycle" a QT. What I do is fill my QT with water from my frag tank so that I know it is at the correct temperature and all parameters match my system. I then do a preemptive
water change on the QT every few days, using, you guessed it, more water from the frag tank. It is a win-win that way. I don't have to worry about waste buildup in the QT, and the FT gets plenty of water changes.

Prime is a ammonia neutralizer. IMHO, EVERY reefer should keep a bottle on hand "justincase". Bad things happen quickly in this hobby, and there have been times when a couple capfuls of prime have saved the day for me (and my livestock)

hth!
 
billdogg said:
Just follow the sticky at the top of this forum.
Click to expand...
Uh...how could I missed that golden sticky! It really is fool proof.

Now, what kind of container? Can it be plastic?

One more question. How many fish should I treat at the same time? I take one per transfer bucket?

Also, once TTM is complete and they go to QT, how many can I have there?

Any suggestion for start ups?

Thanks again!
 
Just don't combine prime and copper. It will change the copper from Cu2+ to Cu+ which is very lethal. I do agree though prime should be in every reefers closet.
 
Hi guys, I've been looking for Prime and I can't find it. I may be lookong for the wrong terms. can anyone point me to a link?

thanks!
 
billdogg said:
+1 on the 20 or even 40g tank for a QT, regardless of the fish you end up getting. Just like your DT, the larger the volume, the more stable the water and the less chance of aggression issues.

To keep it cool, just place a fan so that it blows across the top. Yo will lose water to evaporation quicker that way, but that is also how you will lose the heat.

As for treating the fish - I am a firm believer in the TTM (Tank Transfer Method) for ridding them of Ich, and a good round or two of Prazipro will take care of any flukes or intestinal parasites they may have.

IMHO, no need at all to cycle anything for the QT - if you go the TTM route, you will be changing everything every 3 days anyway. Just keep some Prime on hand so that if your ammonia badge does show anything you can easily take care of it.

hth!
Click to expand...

Would something like this work to cool off the QT and TTM tanks (of course, separate units)
I poured tap water yesterday in my QT and one of my TTM buckets and the temp of both tanks was around 83F. it wasn't the hottest time of the day and the water was just poured, I need to continue measuring the temp during different times of the day to have a better picture.
 
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