Ok - the Cupramine is ordered along with the test kits that are relevant. I hope to have it Friday (though there is a snafu on my overnight shipping getting reset to ground due to an error in my checkout and the marinedepot.com site inconsistently resetting some fields and not others when you are asked to fix something).
I need to doublecheck my plan here, so feedback, corrections and additions are requested:
- Get the two 20 gallon tanks (for the reasons explained previously in this thread vs. a 40 or other larger size)
- Get two
HOB filters with sponges and either no carbon or the ability to leave the carbon/polybag out
- Get two heaters (as needed)
- Seed the two 20's with 10 gallons each from my main tank and add new salinated
RO/
DI water to top them off?
(or)
- Do one tank first with a full 20 gallons from my main, top off the main, wait a day or two and repeat a full 20 for the other
QT using main tank water?
(or)
- Do all new water for the QTs and just match
SG, temp and pH (with buffer additives) to match the main as closely as possible?
- Do I throw in some bio-balls from the (decreasing) collection in the main's wet/dry? If so, how many and where do I put them?
- Toss in a few random
PVC fittings to provide hiding spaces in the bare tanks
- After the above steps are addressed to satisfaction, move the fish to the tanks. I'm planning maybe Angel & Scopas in one and Butterfly and clown pair in the other (or vice-versa... just one larger fish and something smaller but not Butterfly and Angel together).
- Start cupramine as per its instructions immediately? If so, do I dose the water and confirm the copper levels BEFORE the fish are added or after they have been moved to the plain
QT?
- Start daily (or 2x daily?) parameter checks. Do water changes as needed to keep ammonia and nitrites down and copper where it should be.
- Keep putting some food in the main tank throughout the entire process. I need to feed the inverts anyway (cleaner shrimp and hermits - which I suppose can fend for themselves). How much food and how often to keep my
LR and biologicals happy?
We have a spare bathroom in the back of the house that gets no real use. I am planning to put some 2x4's across the old clawfoot tub to provide a stable platform and set the tanks over the tub. This allows for water splashing, draining and other messes during changes that can just go down the drain. I can also run my Kent
RO in this room off the sink for mixing water changes.
This room also can be dimmed at the window to keep the light low. Do I run ANY light (like during feeding) or leave it dim and dark throughout?
Am I taking any risks here with the biological stability of my main tank with all the fish gone - or is this a positive for the main (beyond just letting the ick cycle itself to death)?
Can I continue to add some already planned inverts to the main during this fish-free period? Mushrooms, anemones, shrimp, starfish, etc? I'd think it might be nice to get them established while the fish are gone and it'll make the tank a bit more interesting in the meantime. Obviously, I'd not add anything the fish wouldn't live with when they return.
I forgot - I have a brittlestar in the main as well. I assume he falls in the same category with the other inverts and is ok to leave in the fallowed tank?
Do my water changes in the main slow way down now or do I keep testing it as per normal and keep up the routine water changes?
I'll think of a million more things... but these are the issues on my mind now as I set out to get QTs going and ich treatments underway in the next 24 hours (and for the next 6 - 8 weeks).
Thanks!
- Aaron