blackhorse said:
I'm considering getting a 10 gallon for my quarantine tank. What are the procedures for setting it up? How do I cycle it? Can I just take some live rock from my main tank and put it in there? With all the filter choices which would be best for quarantine tank?
The articles posted already are a good start. Just cycle it like you would your normal tank, but only use a 1/2 of a cocktail shrimp, or some fish food.
I wouldn't use live rock from your main - although that would seriously decrease your cycle... assuming you'd cycle at all. Reason for not using it is if you ever have to add anything medication wise to your QT, you're not going to want that rock back in your main. Also, it's usually a good idea to keep cross-contamination between your QT and main to an absolute minimum, or at least "one-way", from your main to the QT. Usually... it's just the fish that's being transferred between the two. Also... many medications will be limited to their effectiveness if you have any rock or substrate in the QT.
If you don't need the rock back in your main, then it'd probably be OK to put it in your QT... but just don't plan on putting it back into your main, and plan on taking it out if you have to run any meds.
I've got a 10g QT, and run a Marineland BioWheel 100 on it. I've also got a BioWheel 100 on my main. If the QT is stored, and I need it back up and running, I can just put the seeded BioWheel from the main onto the QT and away I go. Once you're done with the QT, you can either leave it running or break it down and sterilize the BioWheel and put it back on your main.