Setting up a QT

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

protokix22

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Sep 2, 2011
Messages
57
So I finally listened to all the advice and I'm setting up a quarantine tank. I bought a simple 10 gallon tank from petsmart today. I also bought a submersible heater that was rated for 20 gallons.

I have a 55 gallon tank thats been up and running for around 5 months now. I have a coral beauty, two ocellaris clowns, and two firefish. I wanted to start QTing new fish and give myself an area to medicate if it comes to that. On the display tank, I have a wet dry filter doing most of the work, but I have a Eheim cannister filter rated for 100 gallons as a backup/additional filtration.

I was thinking of using that Eheim cannister for my filtration in the QT tank. Is that too much? I figured at this point, my wet/dry is handling all the work for the display at this point, so taking the cannister off the display and moving it to the QTwould be smart. Any thoughts?

Also, do I have to put any sort of substrate in there. I know that when the QT is up and running I need to do frequent WC, but should I put substrate from my display in the QT to help with biological filtration?

Finally, should I be using the QT for medication, god forbid somethign happens? I'm afraid that anything I use to medicate will stay in the QT forever, and may be harmful in the long run.

Any thoughts or reccomendations you guys have would be greatly appreciated.
 
I think the canister would be ALOT of filter for just a 10g tank. :) A simple and very cheap filter would be a sponge filter.

A qt should have no sand or substrate or live rock. Just filter, heater and maybe some large PVC pipe so the fish can hide in them to feel safe.

If you end up using copper at any point it can leech into the seals of the tank from what I gather but they make stuff that is supposed to remove it. A good reason why you dont add live rock or sand cause it would be pretty much useless if you medicated with copper.
 
Thanks. Now, should I keep the QT up and running constantly? Some things I've read suggest only running it when you're going to be putting something in. I didn't understand why you wouldn't always have it up and running.
 
Also, another point of debate seems to be whether to use water from the display or new mixed water. What do you guys suggest?
 
I think alot of people just put one up when anticipating new fish or to treat when necessary. Thats why I suggested the sponge filter, you can keep it running in your sump and when you need it just pop it out and put on the 10g. :-D

When done they are so cheap you can just get another sponge for a couple bucks and start over. As to whether to use your old water, me, I would just make up a nice new batch of properly mixed salt water. I don't see any benefit from using "used" water, the beneficial bacteria is more apt to be on surfaces of solid objects than actually in the water.
 
The idea of taking the filter from a "live" display tank or sump makes enough sense, but I've always wondered about going back the other way when you put away the QT. Doesn't that then contaminate the sump or display tank?

- D
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. I've got bad news and good news. Good news is that the qt is set up and running. I had to cut out a little bit of my stand to fit a 10 gallon tank in there. I've got your standard sponge filter and a heater and its up and running. Bad news, it looks like I may have to use it sooner than expected. I have a coral beauty who appears to have something wrong with her fin. I noticed that a little bit ago the bottom half of one of her dorsal fins (the ones on the sides that are yellow). Now, she hasn't been using it and the base of the fin, were it attaches to the body is turning white. She's eating fine, and her behavior hasnt really changed either. Bottom line, should I move her to the qt tank and treat it?
 
So I was just going to post a thread about setting up a QT tank. My initial thought was how to have it functional in a moment's notice. I thought having a heater, powerhead and small light on the ready would be great. Once I had the new purchase or sick fish, I could thrown in some LR from the sump and have some beneficial bacteria for filtration. Once I was done with it I could set aside the rock and let it die off, adding it back to the sump later. Carey, this isn't a good idea because copper medication will kill the BB? Wouldn't it also kill anything living in the sponge that was moved over? The sponge or live rock would be serving the same purpose wouldn't they? I'm thinking LR vs sponge just because I wouldn't have to buy the sponges every time no? Thoughts?
 
Yep, copper will kill off anything, whether its on a sponge or rock. If you ended up dosing copper though you would be doing a good amount of water changes anyways, you have to keep the copper at a specific level every single day.

In my mind if I needed a qt for treatment I would most likely do water changes daily anyway. I wouldnt wanna risk any live rock for sure, even if you dried it out the copper would have been leeched into the rock and could slowly release back into the water at a future date.

Depending on what you would be treating for, hyposalinity would probably be the best bet for ich. In that case you wouldnt have to worry about copper leeching. :)

Keep in mind I have been pretty lucky and have never had to set up a qt for treatment but thats what I would do if need be.
 
Hey guys sorry for the long response time. I moved the Coral Beauty into the quarantine tank a little over a week ago. I gave her a fresh water dip for 2 minutes, then moved her into the 10 gallon quarantine I had set up. I have a submersible filter and a submersible heater with a PVC pipe. After about a half an hour in the QT, she was freaking out. She started losing color, I double checked the water and everything was fine. I'm nervous I did something wrong. Any thoughts, and I'm starting to think the coral beauty just did not appreciate the hospitalization.
 
Back
Top Bottom