Quarantine tank ??

[mikem691]

Im looking at getting a quarantine tank and was wondering what you do when its not being used for either new fish or sick fish.
do you keep it running with some hardy fish so it stays cycled?
Just wondering what every else does

 

[mllrtime33]

Curious about this too...

 

[Fineexampl]

What i do with QT is to keep a spare filter on my main tank (sponge, hob, etc.) and from there a clean spare tank with bare bottom. Fill with clean dechlorinated water, add filter, good to go.

 

[jondamon]

You can run the small filter for a QT tank in your normal tank during times when your QT is not in use.

Depending upon how you use your QT tank will determine what to do to the filter after it's been used in QT.

For eg if you use the filter in the QT and have to treat Ich or fin rot etc then I would sterilise the filter in bleach etc before introducing it into your display tank. Obviously soak your QT filter in dechlorinator after the bleach to make it safe to reintroduce to your display tank.

As long as your QT filter has been running for a few weeks in the display tank it should be seeded enough to almost instantly cycle the QT tank.

Hope this helped.



Jon

 

[mikem691]

Thank you both for the info. Also how long should a new members be quarantined before being moved to main tank

 

[jondamon]

Anything from 2weeks to 2months depending upon any problems that need rectifying before introducing them into your display.



Jon

 

[Athaocity]

by bleach, is there specific kind if bleach? or clorox bleach can do?

 

[jlk]

Yep, household regular bleach (not the concentrated stuff!). Disinfect 9 parts water to 1 part bleach. I actually keep my qt cycled by dosing ammonia when its not in use and use it for growing some basic plants. I dont dose amm daily- maybe 1-2x a week to 5ppm and it stays happily cycled when not in use. Its important though that you either have a seperate set of equipment for the qt (water changer/grav vac, buckets, nets, etc) OR you disinfect your equipment with bleach before using it again on your main tank. Otherwise, you defeat the purpose of qt because disease can be transferred via the equipment to your main tank (wash your hands between tanks as well).

 

[FishyBusiness]

I was wondering about this too. What size tank works best and does it need to be a full setup (minus the substrate)? Also how long should fish be kept in a QT?

 

[librarygirl]

At least a 10 gal should do unless you're planning on QT a lot of new fish at once or you have larger fish that wouldn't fit into a 10 gal if they got sick. I keep mine in the closet lol You could either run an extra filter on your main tank (even a sponge filter would do) that you could then pull out if needed for a QT or if you have a large filter (like a canister) you should be able to pull out some media for a QT tank without disrupting the main tank too much. New fish should be QT for about a month as some diseases can take that long to show up. I also have a spare heater and air pump handy for setting up QT tanks. Something in the tank to help the fish feel secure is a good idea (decorations, plants, etc), that's about all I put in mine.