Quarantine question

[leeveh99]

Hey guys, I set up a 10 gal quarantine tank about two weeks ago. I had the saltwater aging for about a week while I had my filter from my hang on the back filter sitting in my display tank. I put the filter into my quarantine tank and the next day I added a small pinch of dried fish food. Two days later I took a water test and these were my readings.

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

SG 1.021
Temp 75 F

Now, two days after the first test, I tested again. New readings are

PH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
SG 1.021
Temp 79 F

So basically nothing has changed.

After testing I added a much larger pinch of food, now you can see some floating on the bottom of the tank and topped off with about a gal of water from my display tank.

I want to get either a flame angel or yellow tang at the end of November. Am I maintaining my quarantine tank properly or do I need to be doing something different? I am pretty sure I am looking for my ammonia spike a then downfall as the bacteria breaks it down.

All advice greatly appreciated!

[Kurt_Nelson]

Is the display tank that the HOB filter came from a cycled, working tank? I mean... are there fish in it? If so, then the HOB probably had bacteria built up on it and your quarantine tank *may* be cycled because of it.

But if the HOB is from a barren tank that doesn't have anything to build up a bacteria population, then your HOB probably didn't have much, if any, bacteria and isn't going to speed along cycling your quarantine tank. Remember... the bacteria is on the filter sponge, not in the water.

I found it can take a good week or so to get ammonia readings. I wouldn't assume your quarantine tank is cycled until you start seeing nitrates show up with no ammonia present.

[melosu58]

I agree. I dont think you`ve waited enough to get ammonia readings. It will take about a week.

[leeveh99]

The water that I used to top off was from my display tank that has already cycled. I have had two clowns in it for about 2 months now and whenever I take my readings they are perfect. I am just maintaining weekly water changes. I am sure that the filter I had in the tank for a week would have been in there long enough to gather a sufficient ammount of bacteria. If my readings are still good within a couple of weeks is it safe to assume that I can start to quarantine fish in there?

[leeveh99]

Also, how often should I be feeding my empty tank?

[leeveh99]

Any more advice on this??? Thanks

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by leeveh99

The water that I used to top off was from my display tank that has already cycled.

The problem here is that the water is not where the nitrifying bacteria that enables the cycle resides at. It resides on surfaces like the LR, tank sides and anything with a surface on it. So you can see that adding the water fron a cycled tank makes no difference.