Running a QT for extended periods of time. Need advise.

[curtcherry]

I am stocking a 180 and plan on running a QT or two for an extended period of time.

Plan on using Paraguard in QT for 21 days then a week to four for observation.

Currently have one small blue tang in QT. Will be adding another tang soon. May start second QT so I can add all tangs at once to DT.

Currently:
20 long bare bottom
Heater
HOB filter with floss (no carbon)
Small Koralia
Air stone - if need be
Have 3" and 2 1/2" Pvc elbows in it

In Reserve:
29 gallon - have Caribsea seaflor in it at the moment
HOB Filter
Will need a heater and a power head

Have salinity at 1.021 (because that is what the fish store is running)

I have Seachem Prime on hand to reduce ammonia in 20long as it is bare bottom. Have one 32 gallon can of RO/DI salt water and one32 gallon of RO/DI water.

Question on water changes. Do them as needed? Once a week? More? Use prime as needed after testing for ammonia???

Any thoughts on running a bare bottom tank for extended time?

 

[2015GaTor]

I have a 20g long for a QT as well. I have the same type setup except I am using a rio pump instead of koralia. You probably want to also have a seachem ammonia meter so you can identify if the ammonia is spiking and you need a quick water change. I have noticed that the water gets dirty pretty quick with feeding twice a day. I have been doing 4g water changes every few days. I guess it just depends on how many fish are in the QT and how big they are. I had to pull mine from the DT because one of them had velvet and didn't really have a choice to stick the 5 fish into the QT all at once. Probably why my water is getting dirty quick and need more water changes but what can ya do! Good luck. Hopefully someone more experienced can give more insight.

 

[kmbyrnes]

When I was actively stocking my 350 I had a fully cycled 40b plus 2 sets of TTM tanks.
I took the 40 down when I was down to one or two fish to add.
Now I set up a 20g with a filter pad from my sump when I start TTM on a fish. By the time TTM is done, the 20 is cycled for a 4-6 week observation period.