Setting up new Quarantine tank to run 24/7

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BamBam507

New member
Looking for some input from fellow reefers

Setting up a 20G long for my Quarantine tank going to cycle the tank and end up ghost feeding it to keep the beneficial bacteria thriving when not occupied.

a few questions:

I have a sponge filter and also i have the marineland hob bio wheel filters. Considering running both (spnge and hob). trying to decide on what hob to use. I have a 200 and a 350. ( 200 gph and 350 gph) just use the 200 or 350?

should i plan on using a small maxi jet power head on other end to keep circulation? (only when fish in or 24/7?)

any input is welcomed

thnx
 
I don't see the point of those filters.

Just put in sand (if you need to QT wrasses) and some rock or large PVC pipes/joints.

Add heater and 2 powerheads.

If you want to keep your tank cycled, just use Dr. Tim's ammonia or any other source of PURE ammonia.

A hang on or internal skimmer is not a bad idea to aerate the water when you're not medicating.
 
Have the 200 hob and sponge filter going with heater. had that maxi jet 600 in there and with hob and power head was to much flow

dont knock my plumbing lol originally had this shelf set up for two QT tanks fish and other for inverts / corals
 
Having a permanently running quarantine tank in which medications are administered is pointless IMO unless you are going to set it up as an observation tank for fish and inverts, but treat elsewhere. The first time you have a fish with ich that requires copper, you will have to fully clean out the tank afterwards anyhow, sort of defeating the purpose of setting it up 'permanently' in the first place. Far better to configure some kind of canister on your main tank where you can keep a reservoir of biomedia available whenever you need it. For example, I run a pair of phosban 550 reactors with denitrate in them which functions superbly as a bio media. I have more than enough to setup as many QT tanks as necessary (have three running at the moment).
 
I keep in my sump a mesh bag(from garlic, oranges, onion, etc.) with "Hydroton". Whenever I need to fire up a quarantine tank, I do a water change in my tank, save the used water for the quarantine tank. Toss the "Hydroton" bag in the QT and I have a fully cycled QT ready to go. Usually I quarantine everything for 6 weeks.
For corals I dip, quarantine, dip and only after that it goes to the display tank. For corals I quarantine one coral/tank (I have some 2 gal tanks for that). I use 1 hybrid 10w LED/tank, heater, HOB skimmer.
 
my thought of having a cycled qt on hand is less chance for levels to spike (or so i thought) and to have a tank on hand instantly when first signs of disease for tank mate.

I understand once i would treat fish that I would need to tear down and clean. I am looking to get more fish soon (or as soon as i get QT set up correctly)

just confused with how many ways and directions to do things.

-------------
about a month ago I tried to qt 3 chromi's

used water from DT water sat for a day or two I wanted to make sure new heater was set correctly.

added 3 chromi's

soon i realized that the power head i had in a ten gal tank was to large maxijet 1200. i noticed that the fish were struggling in the flow, and one had been sucked to the intake of the maxi jet. (once or twice) and i pushed him off of it. so i removed said power head and put a hob bio wheel 200 on ( smallest pump I had on hand) <--day two of fish qt did 20% wc attempted to feed fish saw none eat.

day 4 did 20% wc fed. one ate

day 6 did 20% w.c fed one ate

day 7 1 chromi died

day 8 did 20% wc noticed 1 chromi died

day 9 third chromi died.
--------------

Just hoping to have better luck this next go round.


had a bad case of ich early this year when two tangs were added in about a 3 week time period. took out 95% of live stock.

so not wanting to go threw that again
 
I feel like this is kind of a dumb question. but since doing frequent water changes in a qt does one need to add evap water or just continue with regular water changes?

how often do you water change?
 
BamBam507 said:
I feel like this is kind of a dumb question. but since doing frequent water changes in a qt does one need to add evap water or just continue with regular water changes?

how often do you water change?
Click to expand...

Not a dumb question at all. You should note the starting level of the water in the QT and then add water (without salt) to make up for evaporation at least every other day. I only do water changes in my QT if I see an ammonia problem (I use one of those ammonia alert badges), if the medications dictate it, or if the water starts to smell or look really bad.
 
I would use an ATO to keep the salinity the same. I would also not deal with trying to dose Prime or something to keep ammonia under control and just keep a cycled tank or media ready.

Animals in QT are already stressed from shipping or disease, you want this to be a hospital not an Iron Man for sick fish.
 
So I should.

Pull the sponge from qt place in sump. (As is or with air pump hooked to it to seed bacteria in sponge) and keep pump and heater running on the clean 20gallons in qt till sponge is ready ?

If I place sponge in sump tonight should be seeded enuffafter new years?

What's the down fall of using seeded sponge and a bottle of cycle?

Acording to mr saltwater add seeded sponge and 24 hours later qt will be ready for fish?

I think im over analizing. And taking to much into consideration. Of wanting tank to cycle first. But this is not the case with a qt?

I don't want levels to spike and stress/ kill fish.
 
Bottle of bacteria can help cycle but it's not too effective and most bottles out there are already bad if they've seen any temperature extreme at any point in the shipping or storing process.

It's best to order directly from Dr. Tim's like it's livestock which it sort of is.

I think that's irresponsible to say a seeded sponge will guarantee a 24 hour cycle. The only to know if a tank is truly cycled is to add pure ammonia and measure the ammonia levels a couple hours later.
 
So sponge went into sump tonight. will probably wait 3 weeks or so then place sponge back to QT.

then will put 10 gallons of water change water into 20gal long QT tank and get ready to Quarantine a new fish. Havent decided what to get yet.

DT is a 92 gal corner tank with 30 gal sump. live stock currently is two clowns, sail fin blenny, manderin, clean up crew and two sand sifting starfish. also various coral.

Might have to transfer my build log to this site
 
Added fish today.

3.) Green Chromis
1.) Black bar Chromis

added a 3" Pvc T for larger hiding spot

going to watch the behavior of the black bar. if he claims a spot then i may add egg crate to divide the tank from green/black bar. for less stress

Have read that when solo they behave more like a damsel (territorial )
 
I have a 40G breeder I run continuously. I am still adding fish to my DT's, so it's on all the time. My routine is I typically order 2-4 fish to be added to my DT's. On the day they arrive, i drain 35 gallons from my QT, and replace it with water from my target DT. (The target DT gets a small water change with fresh ASW as a result). My QT has a power filter with a sponge insert for a biofilter, some PVC pipes, and if I am adding a wrasse, a tupperware tub half full of fine sand, and a heater. After the first week, once the new fish are eating well, I drop the salinity for a round of hypo. I bring the salinity back up using ASW from the target DT. After 6 weeks, my new fish are acclimated to the water parameters of my DT.

I have less than $100.00 invested in my QT, and the cost of running it is negligible.
 
If the prior inhabitants were asymptomatic I guess that's ok, but I'm much more anal than that. My QT gets emptied, thoroughly cleaned and allowed to dry before I'll add any new fish. Plus I do more like 10-12 weeks QT for most of my fish.
 
10-12 weeks. That's impressive. I do 6 weeks only.
After a quarantine cycle ends, tank, skimmer, powerheads, heater and the ato floatswitch get washed with bleach and the "Hydroton" bag gets discarded. After the bleach wash and rinse, I rinse with a weak solution of HCl to get rid of the remaining bleach. A final rise with water and the equpment is ready to be reused.
 
So I came home on lunch break to find one green chromis laying on bottom of tank beaten up with gills gasping. Minutes later no more gasping.

I have notice the black bar chromis has been flinching/ short chase of the green chromis

After further reeding on the black bar chromis. When housed solo they take on the attitude of a damsel. And in schools more like a green chromis.

So next friday will be day 14 of copper. After that the black bar is going to a friends 220 fowler tank.

For now I placed eggcrate between the two green chromis and the black bar. I tried this a week or so ago and the fish would still get bu on the sides. So now placed filter floss on two sides of the eggcrate sandwitching it between the two layers of eggcrate. To keep them on their seperate sides

Will do water tests tonight to see if parameters were part of this
 
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