Building a Quarantine Tank

[foma2000]

hey. A fish of mine died a cupple of days ago og god knows what and i got some advice to start a quarantine tank. the tank i have at home is only 9 gal so its not really worth it for me, but i mantain a 700 gal tank at a local restrant, and we had a large die off of tangs due to parasites so its time for a Quarantine.

so i reall want to learn whats needed for the bare bones qt. (but if you have time you could also let me know what would be the best of the best for a qt )
i really should already have learned about this along time ago but oh well. im really interested to hear your oppinions.

 

[theatrus]

10-30 gal tank (depending on fish), no substrate, HOB filter (maybe a good use of a bio-wheel?) with some space to run carbon, but also allows you to not run carbon for meds, heater, and the small fluorescent fixture you got on your first tank which you no longer use

If you're feeling luxurious, LR rubble, otherwise some PVC bits and pieces (easy to steralize if need be) like elbows to prevent too much environmental stress for shy fish.

 

[foma2000]

sweet. i heard that the lights were an option. what do people recomend on that.

i also hate bio wheels!!!! if anything goes wrong with the power supply you get chapped because it wont start up again. its just common physics. to much load. ill stop now.

but if anyone has anyother opinions on qt's it would be great. like lighting

 

[theatrus]

I always figured the lighting was there to let you look at the fish Keeping it on a regular day/night cycle isn't a bad idea either. Almost anything will go in this case.

You can't beat the Aquaclear HOBs for cheapness and versitility.

 

[quarryshark]

Just wanted to add, a heater and a thermometer are a must too.
Here is a pic of one of my 10 gallon qt tanks. Maybe a visual will help. I jut used a simple HOB trickle filter, works fine.

 

[foma2000]

thanks this is great. are there any limitations on the number of fish that you can quarantine at onece? the aquarium that i stock is very large and i usaly bring in about 20 fish at one time. would i need indavidual qt or could i just use a very large qt?
and how much time should i really leave the fish in their? ive heard anywhere from a cupple days up to a month.

 

[revhtree]

With a 700g tamk, and that many fish, you will need a big qt, or two or three smaller ones. Personally if I had a 700g tank, I would at least have a 90g qt at smallest and bigger if possible. Thats my opinion.

On the other hand if it is going to be used strictly for new additions, and not to treat your WHOLE livestock, I would shoot for a 20-30g. I would only add 2 at a time, 3 being the most. Leave them in qt for a few weeks, then move them to the main, and 2 more new fish to the qt if the others showed no signs of deseise.

IMHO!

Love to see a oic of the 700g!!!!

 

[foma2000]

good advice. but its not really posible to only add 2 or three at a time. the cost of stocking it is already so high that i go straight to the whole saler to save money, but he has a min order of a cupple hundred dollors. so i buy all the fish at once. most of them are for other tanks but i still come out of it with around 20 fish for the big tank. so i still have the problem of quaranting them.
is it maby not even worth it because it would have to be so large?
orrrr. this is a big or. wold it work to get one of those long narrow segmented display cases with the dividers? that way i'd only really have one tank to deal with.

P.S. i dont have a digital camara but as soon as i do ill get pics up.

 

[revhtree]

Well, in that case.......what is the biggest tank you can buy, and have a place for??

Remember that ich is ich, in a 10g or a 700g. To much money to flush down the drain. Also I understand what your saying about the wholeseller.

PS. Can I buy from that wholeseller too??

 

[foma2000]

i already have one of those long skiny tanks so i dont need to buy one, id estamate it at about 60 or 70 gal. would that work ok?

to buy from the wholeseller you have to have a wholeseller lisence. there not hard to get(just fill out some paper work) theres also usualy a min purchas order that in the hundreds, so if you were to get your lisence you might think abou getting fish for friends to.

 

[IfoundNemo]

How and where do i go to apply for the lisence? Know any wholeseller in the SouthEast area?

 

[quarryshark]

You may need something more like this. Here is my entire hospital 2-10 gallons and a 40 gallon(pic 2). I employ an extra garbage can to expand the volume of the 40 gallon to handle a big bioload. By using an overflow and a return pump (pic 1), I add another 20 gallons of water volume.

 

[foma2000]

thats a really good idea, should it only be used for water? or what about droping something in their from the display tank? or maby a chunk of rock from the sump..... the wheels are spinning.

about the whole seller lisence. send me a private message and ill try to give you instructions.

 

[quarryshark]

I just used a big (4'x4"x12") sponge that I seed in the sump for a few week and threw it in the garbage can, a lot of good bacteria. The problem with using rock, it you would have to remove it if you treat with meds. If you had a parasitic outbreak, you would have another problem because the rock could not go back to your main tank. Would infect the main if you did. What would you do with the rock?
A big sponge IMO is best.

 

[foma2000]

i was just thinking that you could through the live rock in the garbage can. then i got to thinking of other things you could add on to the garbage can. none of wich would work. inface forget the rock, bad idea.

but could you possibly put some of the fish in the garbage can instead of just using it for extra water only. or would that just turn out bad?

 

[quarryshark]

but could you possibly put some of the fish in the garbage can instead of just using it for extra water only. or would that just turn out bad?

You could, just would need to protect them from the pump somehow.

 

[foma2000]

right, right. well thanks every one, i think im now ready to go build a massive qt