Setting up a SPS QT-Tank, what do I need?

[ZURCSREEF]

I tried searching, really couldn't find anything too-informative so I decided to post my own thread on this subject. I have a 125g SPS-only tank and was wondering what do I need to have to set up a SPS-QT tank? I was thinking about using a 20g-long tank, but needed to know what type of filtration this QT tank will need, what type of lighting.. any special chemcials/additives to run in the QT... What else do I need to know about setting up and running a QT?

All suggestions and comments are greatly appreciative, please post pics if you have any of your QT setup.

Thanks,
-Mike C.

 

[poknsnok]

a powerhead or 2... 70 watts of light or s and make sure you do 10-20% changes weekly.. and keep salinity stable... thats all.. dont need to spending a ton of money. Inspect the corals weekly for critters and i would do a preventitive dip when recieving and another when adding to display. just my opinion. you may want to use interceptor also for 6 hrs before putting in display ... keep reading, there are lots of methods

 

[chrisaggie]

I would reccomend halides on an sps QT. It is likely that you will leave the corals in the QT tank 4-6 weeks and I believe that they need good light during this amount of time. I would suggest a bare bottom tank (easy to see critters) with a sump/refugium with some live rock to keep the tank stable.

 

[impur]

Whats your guys opinion on using a skimmer in the QT tank?

 

[poknsnok]

cant hurt... not totally necessary though with the water changes, IMO

 

[Cody Ray]

As long as the coral is the only think in the QT than there is no need for a skimmer.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Me personally, I use a shallow tank, so a couple 55w PC bulbs over it is fine (everything is at the surface) some egg crate to hold the stuff up, a heater, and an powerhead with one of those hydor flo thingies to have oscillating water. If I want to get special I'll stick one of those HOB carbon trickle filters, shouldn't need to worry too much about bacteria and the like since you don't have any fish or other food stuffs in there (unless you want to feed your corals) for the time they are in QT