Setting up QT!

[pkremer]

OK, I have finally seen the light and have purchased a tank to use as a QT/hospital tank.

Maybe I made a mistake, but I wanted to save a little money over my LFS, I bought a 10 gallon kit at Wal-Mart for $50. It came with a heater, a hood with light, and an AquaTech 5-15 filter.

I think this will work beautifully for my QT purposes, but I was curious about the filter. Obviously, this is not the same quality as my Penguin 330 on my main tank, but I noticed that this one does not have a BioWheel. How do I cycle this tank without a BioWheel? Will the necessary bacteria grow on the filter media (activated carbon)? I do have two established bio-wheels on the Penguin 330, but I can't put them in this filter...I have heard about squeezings? What does this involve?

Also, to keep it cycled, I was thinking about just keep an oto or 2 in there? Or would that be unfair to them?

Paul

 

[flipz]

hey pkremer,
in our case you can't really "squeeze" a bio wheel. in fact you don't want to touch the paper wheels at all. your best choice would have been to buy a sponge/corner filter and air pump and put it in your tank for a few weeks, and then squeeze that one into the QT, or just movie it entirely. unless you wanted to wait though it's too late to do that.

i believe that you can just take one of your biowheels and float it in the water. you will probably get a mini cycle but it should work fine. you could also temporarily move a cup full of substrate, or some plastic plants to QT. however most would say to not have really anything in your QT other than fish.

keeping oto in there wouldn't be unfair as long as you feed them. lol. good luck!

-brent

 

[smilla4]

Prior thread on QTing w/ good info:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=21249

 

[Menagerie]

You can squeeze the filter pad in the filter--that will have plenty of bacteria.

 

[flipz]

You can squeeze the filter pad in the filter--that will have plenty of bacteria.

umm... duh. honestly, why didn't that even cross my mind? haha

 

[Aquafriend]

I fully cycled my 10g by putting 6g of cycled water from my 20g into it (during my weekly water change). I then topped the 10g up with dechlorinated tap water. Plus I put the foam from my new 10g filter into the 20g for a week to seed it. At the same time as that was going on, I took some gravel from the cycled tank (20g), put it into a nylon stocking, and put it into the filter on my new tank. So between the water from the water change, the wrapped up gravel in the filter, and the new foam seeding in the cycled tank, I cycled my 10g, literally, overnight. I've now been testing it for the past week, and the water params are still perfect.

 

[flipz]

It's the foam filter and the gravel that did the instant cycle. Transferring water is good to keep ph, temp, etc, the same, but all the good bacteria attaches to surfaces as opposed to just floating around in the water. Glad to hear it worked!

-brent

 

[pkremer]

Well, here's what I have done:

I set up the tank, and last night added a blue gourami to get cycling. Last night, I had intended him to be a permanent resident of this tank, and with no gravel and just one decoration and one plant, I thought that I would get the gourami from Wal-Mart, as a 10 gallon tank with no gravel and no decorations is all he has ever been used to (yes, yes, I don't need the Wal-mart lecture, he is in QT and will be for 3 weeks. ).

This morning, after the blue gourami had been in there for about 12 hours, I took both filter pads from my Penguin 330 and squeezed them, allowing the water to pour from the pads directly into the Aqua-Tech 5-15 filter before it flowed through the pad.

It's probably too early to tell, but at 24 hours I am reading a tiny tiny (just barely above 0) level of ammonia, no nitrite, and perhaps or perhaps not a tiny bit of nitrates. I will resqueeze the pads in there again in a couple days, and am always ready to do a water change if necessary, so it looks as though things are in hand.

Now, though, as I look at the gourami, he is so pretty I almost want him in my main tank! I did some research, and I think he will work in there after the QT time has passed, leaving me to get another permanent resident to keep QT tank cycled. I was thinking about a male betta? Wouldn't he be fine all by himself in a 10 gallon tank, and if I ever needed to keep him safe from other fish (say, tiger barbs) while they are in QT for a few weeks, put him in a fry tank? Or if I need to treat fish in QT, put him in a fry tank in my main aquarium?

Sorry about the length of the post! Any thoughts?

Paul

PS - By the way, I almost feel to a point like I 'rescued' him from Wal-Mart. 10 minutes after they put food in, the floors of the tanks are still littered with food, and from time to time there are major ich infestations, not to mention all the kids banging on the glass! He and his friends looked OK last night, but you can guarantee he'll spend 3 full weeks in QT with no exception!

 

[flipz]

Just a question. Why did you not squeeze the pads into your tank until 12 hours after you put the fish in?

-brent

 

[pkremer]

2 reasons:

1) I am still somewhat new at this. I thought that in order for the bacteria to take hold, there needed to be a little ammonia in the tank, which I didn't think there would be 5 minutes after I put my gourami in. After 12 hours, I assumed there would be a small amount of ammonia in the water.

2) I was trying to figure out the best way to do it. The two times I have turned the filter off on the Penguin 330 even for 1 second (to replug the cord into a different slot) the filter has dumped debris into the water and clouded it up. I was afraid that when I removed the pads (even though I only did it one at a time) that it would do the same. I eventually the next morning realized there probably was no way to avoid that, and so removed and squeezed the pads. It did dump debris and make the top of the water cloudy for about an hour, but then it went away, and the fish don't appear any worse for the wear.

Paul

 

[pkremer]

I did my water test tonight on my QT tank 36 hours after I squeezed the pads into the filter.

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 10

Without this forum, I would have struggled and probably killed a bunch of fish in the process! I raise my hand and my 8 fish in 2 tanks raise their fins in a salute of thanks!