Quarantine tank will this work?

[nightOwl]

I have a 20-gal tank...that I want to use as a quarantine tank. I currently have a sponge in the sump of my 90gal tank and will keep it in there for the next two weeks. Over the next two weeks I plan to put 10 ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ 15 gal of the old water in the quarantine tank. At the end of the two weeks I will place the sponge in the q-tank. By using old water and the sponge I am wondering will I still have to let the 20 gal tank cycle? Any help will be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks,
Henry

 

[PatMayo]

You should not have to. I would not set it up until you use it. Check out this article by Steven Pro. It has some really good information in it that will help you. Also put a little corner filter with air and foam in addition to your foam from the big tank it will have another additional place for the bacteria to grow. If you put too many fish in you could have a cycle if the nitrifying bacteria cannot keep up with the load.

Check out the link.

Regards,

Pat

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

I think also that 20 gallons is a little large unless you intend to house a lot of critters which I don't recommend.

 

[nightOwl]

Hi Pat,
Thanks I will check out that article. I was using the 20 since it was availble but also have a 10 gal I could use. The sponge I have collecting bacteria is actually a corner filter . So that should work out well. I was planning on only getting one or two fish. Would a 10 gal support 2 fish for a few weeks?

Henry

 

[PatMayo]

Nightowl, you are better off only getting one fish at a time. Look at it this way, if one of the fish you have has ick and you put 2 in qt now both have ick. Additionally, if you do one at a time you will give your tank plenty of time to adjust to the new bio load.

You can see why it is so critical to plan your tank and the critters and the order of introduction.

Impulse buying and being quick to pull the trigger is typically fraught with danger. If not short term certainly long term. We all want the beautiful Melev type fish tank, but unless you have unlimited resources it just isn't practical.

I have added the Melev web site in case you have not seen it. Impressive but also experienced. Lots of good information there.

Regards,

Pat

http://www.melevsreef.com/

 

[nightOwl]

Thanks Pat,
I visit Melev's website about once a week or so. I love to look at the pictures and read his articles and also check his online diary of his tanks . The Hidden treasures provide lots of eduacational information. Because of his website i have a list of things I plan to do once I get a good amount of free time.
I think my tank can handle two at one time since I am down to only two fish in a 90 gal. I had an ich outbreak back before September and lost about 5 fish. Ich is nasty. Plus the place I intend to by the fish from get them really small. Which makes them cheaper and less of an impact on the bio-load. Thinking about it thought only one at a time probably makes sense as the store has the two fish types i plan to get next on different water systems. The fish I plan to get are replacement fish. So I wont be doing any impulse buying . This is the same guy who had his tank up for almost a year before I added anything other than snails and hermits. I am just finally getting around to having time to take care of some new inhabitants so I figured I would plan ahead.

Thanks again,

Henry

 

[PatMayo]

Sounds good.

Pat