We're having nothing but problems with a 20G standalone quarantine system.
We've now killed off more livestock in the quarantine that were in the original main tank. We're able to determine what happened each time and it always turns out to be a mistake caused by us. (Ammonia, lack of oxygen, stress etc.)
While a full QT is a best case scenario I'd appreciate comments on the following idea. I don't need comments about how important a QT is, I'd like to hear from people who use alternative methods.
We're going to plumb the QT into the main system. The rest of the tank has about 300G of moving water. Most of the water would run through the refugium and sump but a small amount would run into the QT and then back into the sump. I am thinking a very low flow 2x/ the QT per hour.
Everything would be running in the QT, heater, powerhead, filter etc. but the main tank water would be adjusting the fish to our parameters in a stress free environment. It would be easy for us to examine the new livestock every day and immediately upon noticing any problems we simply turn off the water flow from the main system. Everything for the standalone QT is already running so it immediately becomes a hospital tank. If we use any treatment we just sterilize it before the next use.
We always buy our fish from the same local LFS and never buy anything that hasn't already been in their tanks for at least 10-14 days already.
Thoughts?
We've now killed off more livestock in the quarantine that were in the original main tank. We're able to determine what happened each time and it always turns out to be a mistake caused by us. (Ammonia, lack of oxygen, stress etc.)
While a full QT is a best case scenario I'd appreciate comments on the following idea. I don't need comments about how important a QT is, I'd like to hear from people who use alternative methods.
We're going to plumb the QT into the main system. The rest of the tank has about 300G of moving water. Most of the water would run through the refugium and sump but a small amount would run into the QT and then back into the sump. I am thinking a very low flow 2x/ the QT per hour.
Everything would be running in the QT, heater, powerhead, filter etc. but the main tank water would be adjusting the fish to our parameters in a stress free environment. It would be easy for us to examine the new livestock every day and immediately upon noticing any problems we simply turn off the water flow from the main system. Everything for the standalone QT is already running so it immediately becomes a hospital tank. If we use any treatment we just sterilize it before the next use.
We always buy our fish from the same local LFS and never buy anything that hasn't already been in their tanks for at least 10-14 days already.
Thoughts?