QT Tank questions:

[lachrimae]

Hi everyone!

I'm using a quarantine tank for the first time (finally...) and have a few questions.

I know there may be some mistakes in here but this is what I did to set it up:
10g tank
Filled it with water directly from my 135g
Added one medium sized live rock from 135g
Put in one 32oz plastic cup, 1/2 full of live sand from 135g
Added misc PVC pipe for fish
Put the filter pads from the 10g's hang on back filter inside the 135g for 12 hours to (hopefully) get some good bacteria, then put on 10g
Then put fish in qt tank (two small Occ clowns that are hopefully mated & two small Pajama Cardinalfish)

I'm going to change 1g water every other day for the next 2 weeks and then, if no issues have arisen, I'll put them in the main tank.

Question is: Should I use freshly mixed SW for the change or should I use water from my 135g? I'm concerned that there may not be enough good bacteria in the 10g and thought that water from the 135g might help out by introducing some additional bacteria that's in the water column... although it could introduce less than "perfect" water.

Additionally: Any recommendations you have for setting up my qt tank next time would be appreciated. I want to do whatever is best for the fish of course but I really need to be able to set it up within a day or two notice. I know, I should probably set it up a week or more in advance but I'm not always so good at pre-planning my purchases :)

Thanks for any thoughts!

Mark

PS: This is for new fish, not sick...

[demodiki]

I understand your need for the good bacteria but I would not put LR in a QT tank. I would also use new SW for the water changes.

[alton]

I like the idea, neither of the two fish you mentioned are ich magnets. So it is just a matter of getting them eating and make sure they are not carrying something you don't want to add to your main tank.

[lachrimae]

demodiki

Would you refrain from using live rock in a quarantine because, in the event of an infection, it would have to be bleached & killed off or is there another reason?

If it's for the danger of losing it, you do make a good point.

[pilot_bell777]

Your good bacteria is not "IN" the water per sa but on surface areas like rock, glass, sub stra, etc, etc so taking water from the display tank isn't helping all that much. If you put a LR from your display tank then you are probably going to be loosing it and killing off anything on it.

Here is what I always did:

Setup a QT Tank with new salt water, allow to cycle
Tried to match display tank water as much as possible

Bought new fish, Fresh water dipped them, added to QT tank.
If no problems, slowly drip aclimated them to the display tank


Just remember to take it slow and not try to add things too fast. Read on wet web media .com

[blueboy]

i'm tagging along here and have a couple of thoughts. one, the water from the main tank may be less than perfect, but it's the same as were they're going eventually anyways, i don't see the harm(is this faulty logic?). also how is the QT going to cycle if no bacteria is introduced from the main tank, i.e. fresh saltwater, no rock, and no life. where does the bacteria come from? you don't want to introduce sensitive fish to a sterile enviroment. hopefully these ?s (or more likely their answers) will be of some help to the author of the thread.

[pilot_bell777]

If you add things like base rock, pvc pipe, your floss on your filter and you can seed it with bacteria by putting your filter in with your main tank for a little while. The bacteria will grow and cycle the tank. No different than when you cycled your main tank.

If you add water from the main tank, then a cycle starts you start with a nice amon spike....so now it is not the same water! LOL

You can do it how you want, just putting what I read on WWM and what I always did for my QT tank, never had a problem except with ICH and when you keep tangs, you can QT all you want and your not going to stop that! LOL specailly on a PB!

I just setp my QT tank like it was a new Salt water tank but didn't not invest the money in LR, LS, Lights, etc, etc...... I did put sand in there.

I guess if you have enough to spare you can fill a ten gallon or something with sand, a little LR, and such from teh main tank and bypass all that; but I couldn't spare it at the time so I set it up and let it cycle adn then put my fish in there for a while then aclimated them to the main tank! Worked great.............JME

Like everything, there are 20 differnt ways to do everything. Wasn't saying this was the only way, but like I said.....Here is what "I DID"!

The fact of the matter is though just adding water from the main tank isn't going to help all that much and without adding enough of the surface that has bacteria on it from the main tank you are going to get a cycle, maybe small maybe full blow so in my logic it was easier to just setup the system from scratch cause they were only going to be in there for a little while!

I'll do it again this way when I need to because it worked perfect for me everytime I used it. Forces you to take it slow too! LOL Somethng that most people have a hard time with, including myself! LOL

JME though

[demodiki]

If you ever have to medicate your tank you are just going to be killing all of the beneficial organisms on the live rock anyways. If you ever have to use copper in your QT you won't be able to put it back into your main display either.

[JeffCo]

What you have now is probably ok, but I would take the live rock out, it could have some die off and cause an ammonia spike, (which is not what you want).
For future: I keep a cheap air driven sponge filter in my sump running at all times. This way whenever you need to setup a quarentine tank, you already have all your beneficial bacteria loaded in the sponge filter.

Then use this in your quarentine tank with your mature tank water, add a heater and some pvc and your good to go.

[Reef69]

Ok, I would take the substrate out (sand) and the live rock out..you want your QT to be an steril as possible..leave in the PVC so the fish has somewhere to hide. If the fish ate and looked fine at the store, there is no need to QT them..

[lachrimae]

JeffCo, that's great advice. I'll start running a sponge filter on my main tank's refugium or sump for QT quick starts.

If I do that then I can alleviate the need (or lack of) for live rock or sand (in a cup) in the QT.

I have heard varying reports on whether or not to use water from the main tank or a fresh batch. There is even conflicting info on WWM.

Thanks again,

Mark

[pilot_bell777]

Ok, I would take the substrate out (sand) and the live rock out..you want your QT to be an steril as possible..leave in the PVC so the fish has somewhere to hide. If the fish ate and looked fine at the store, there is no need to QT them..

You are not QTing them to see if they will eat, you are QTing them to protect your main tank against any infection they might have. Some fish have been there in the LFS for a day or two so unless you are watching them for a month at the LFS before you buy it and you know 100% that it si the same fish then you need to QT. Eating at the LFS is one way to help make sure that you are getting a healthy fish, but QTing is protecting your display tank against things that coudl not be showing their ugly heads yet and when you have something that looks and acts healthy added to your main tank whipe it out completely......you tent to QT!


For future: I keep a cheap air driven sponge filter in my sump running at all times.
The only problem with this is if you don't clean the filter/sponge/floss regularly you will get a Nit. spike. If you just put your filter in there a couple days before you setup your QT, you should be good to go. I personally never used teh water from the tank.