Starting quarantine tank

[Todd]

I am in the middle of cycling my tank(150 gallon, VERY EXCITED). I just went and bought a new 10 gallon kit for my quarantine. When should I set it up? Should I wait until my cycle is over and then just transfer the cycled water over to the 10 gal.?

I plan on buying a couple of clowns and some turbo snails when my cycle is over. Do I need to quarantine them, seeing as though they will be the first fish in the tank?

I have probably another week or so before my cycle is over. After starting my tank and adding 100 lbs. of LR, I see now how hard it is to be patient in this hobby.

 

[cmor1701d]

Do yourself a favor and QT everything before placing it into the main tank. I would start the QT tank now. I have a small HOB with biowheel for my QT. You will need to cycle the QT tank but the biowheel will help with that. You can place the filter (and biowheel if you have one) in the main tank or sump NOW so they can become coated with the bacteria you need for the QT tank. After a week in the main tank you should be good to go with the QT tank.

Also keep enough mixed water on hand to do 2x/daily PWCs on the QT tank. Small tanks can foul quickly so it's important to have change water on hand.

As you are just starting your tank I would leave the QT running between additions. After you add a fish to the main you can get another fish and place it in QT. After a month in QT you can repeat the process till you're done.

 

[melosu58]

I agree I would start the QT now.

 

[tecwzrd]

Considering you have 150 gal tank a 10 gal qt is not going to cut it. Personally for qt tanks I always recommend a size of roughly 40% of the main in case you have to qt the entire tank for ich/parasites so you NEVER have to medicate the main. I use a 20 gal long for qt and my main is a 55 gal. I’d highly recommend at least a 30 gal and closer to 55 gal tank kept bare of substrate/lr with a few PVC pieces for hiding in case of emergencies. If you do not have your qt tank cycled or have established bacterial support from another tank look at having to do up to 30+% PWC every day. Also have an nh3/no2 remover like Ammo-Lock or Amquel in case of nh3/no2 spikes.

Drip acclimation is only needed in a QT for invertebrates preferably for 2+ hours. With fish, you need to get them out of the transport bag as quickly as possible. Test the transport water for temp, salinity, pH and so on. Then manipulate the QT parameters to match. Once done, the acclimation timeframe can be greatly reduced. Temp, pH and salinity being the main concerns. Bring the QT sg/ph/temp up to the main tank over the 6+ weeks kept in QT and increase the sg/ph slowly and every 3+ days to avoid stress.

See Help setting up a QT tank & Equipment for drip acclimation.