Qt ?????
- Thread starter bobcat178
- Start date
otrlynn
Active member
Hmm, I did a heck of a lot of water changes (3-4) per week on a 29 gallon QT with three small fish and a med. size Kole Tang. I think you might really be pushing it even with a skimmer, with nine fish in a 29 gallon. I would divide them into two tanks. Also, you are really looking at 6-8 weeks that the DT should be fishless to assure that there is no more ich in it.
brians4671
New member
are you using hypo method if so your skimmer wont work with the lower specific gravity.
otrlynn
Active member
You can't put copper-based medication in the DT with live rock and sand, which will absorb it, probably killing much of the life in it and rendering it unsafe to us with any invertebrates in the future. I believe you could use hyposalinity in the DT if there are no invertebrates in the tank (hyposalinity will kill them) My understanding is that you may have some die off of beneficial bacteria in the live rock, but that it will gradually re-adjust to the reduced salinity. I don't know about the skimmer not working at the lower specific gravity, but at least you are working with a much larger tank. I'm hoping some other experienced reefers will help you out here.
Drop sg to 1.009 .Be sure to use a well calibrated refractometer. The fish have an internal salinity of 1.008. I f you slip below that you will do harm to them. If you stay too high the hypo will not kill the crytocaryon irritans parasite.
You can go down fairly quickly. A two day period should be ok for your denitrifying bacteria to adjust( most live 24 to 48 hours) and new strains will adjust o lower sg. The fish do not have to do anything to adjust except drink less water so there is no stress on them. Any invertebrates will die in this low salinity, this includes pods, corals, shrimp, crabs, etc. Watch ammonia closely since die off inside the rock may cause a spike at a time when your bacteria are adjusting.I would do this realtiovely soon to bar a reinfestation which will be much worse than the original infestation.
When you go back up raise the sg a point a day to avoid stressing the fish who do now have to work pretty hard to readjust to the higher sg.
You can go down fairly quickly. A two day period should be ok for your denitrifying bacteria to adjust( most live 24 to 48 hours) and new strains will adjust o lower sg. The fish do not have to do anything to adjust except drink less water so there is no stress on them. Any invertebrates will die in this low salinity, this includes pods, corals, shrimp, crabs, etc. Watch ammonia closely since die off inside the rock may cause a spike at a time when your bacteria are adjusting.I would do this realtiovely soon to bar a reinfestation which will be much worse than the original infestation.
When you go back up raise the sg a point a day to avoid stressing the fish who do now have to work pretty hard to readjust to the higher sg.
otrlynn
Active member
Here is a lot of information about quarantine tanks. Actual tank set up is discussed toward the end of the article. I second the importance of measuring ammonia and doing water changes if you detect any. Amquel or Ammo-Lock can be used if necessary in a pinch to convert the ammonia to a non-toxic form, but it does not substitute for water changes. Also, check you s.g. daily with a refractometer because once it is down to 1.009 you want to keep it right there. Too low=death, too high=not effective
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php
