Quarantine tank setup questions

[Zitash]

Hi,

I’m new to the forums. First let me say that the advice I have gotten from reading these forums has been great. I have a couple of questions about setting up a quarantine tank.

My main tank is a 65-gallon with a CPR CY 194 filter and about 55 lbs of live rock. I did the fishless cycle and used live rock to start it. Did my water tests every few days and took my time and let the tank finish cycling. I even logged the the results in a notebook. I waited about 7 weeks before I added anything to the tank. Main tank will be a FOWLR.

In the tank now are a few small hermit crabs, a few snails and two clown fish (Ocellaris). The fish were in a quarantine tank for month before I added them to my tank. They have been in my tank for a month and are doing great. I used a friends QT but I no longer have that available to me.

So with that I am building my own QT setup. I plan on using a sponge filter for the QT. The questions I have are can I put the sponge in my sump to seed it? Should I put it in the bio-bale area? And also how long should I keep it in there before I use the filter to setup the QT?

Thanks,
Don

 

[cmor1701d]

Yes, to keeping a sponge in the sump. That way it's always available shoold you need it for a hospital tank (notice I did NOT say impulse purchase - just SAY NO!), or a planned purchase.

The sponge should be in the sumpr for at least a week before you use it in the QT tank.

 

[Zitash]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[melosu58]

Here is a good link on QT set ups.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Crepe]

The QT doesn't even need to be a tank, you could use a rubbermaid tote.

 

[Krypt]

The QT doesn't even need to be a tank, you could use a rubbermaid tote.

That you can, but you gotta make sure it's BPA free and food grade. If you don't, the plastic may leach chemicals into the water which could be bad. If you stick with the actual Rubbermaid brand it should be fine, it's the knock offs you gotta worry about.

 

[cmor1701d]

Get a Rubbermaid BRUTE tote (20 gallon) at Lowes. All BRUTE prodcuts are food grade. Other Rubbermaid products are not.