[Myka]

I use the SeaChem Ammonia Alerts in my quarantine tanks. They are cheap and last a year. However, I find the numbers listed on the Alert to be pretty much completely useless. An actual test often shows ammonia to be 10x what the Alert says it is. I use the Alert as an alert, not as a test kit. If there is any color change on the Alert I take steps to detoxify the ammonia.

I like to use ChlorAm-X, but this is not available to most people. My second choice is AmQuel as it is twice as concentrated as Prime and half the price. I do not use any biological filtration means in my quarantine tanks. I choose to use PVC piping and a plastic plant (not fabric) to help the fish feel safe. Instead of relying on biological filtration which I find unreliable in a quarantine situation, I dose ammonia detoxifier/binder everyday (just enough to keep the color yellow on the Alert), and do 50% waterchanges twice a week to remove the bound ammonia. Running a quarantine tank this way is much simpler and easier.

If you use live rock in the tank and the fish in quarantine breaks out with a disease that needs treatment you must either sacrifice the rock or remove it. Live rock is incompatible with many medications because it will absorb the medication and reduce the concentration in the water column rendering the treatment useless. Other medications with kill the biological bacteria in the rock and thus produce ammonia in the tank. So, if the fish needs treatment now you have to disturb an already stressed fish by altering his environment to remove the rock. So why not start with no rock to begin with? Running a quarantine as I described above requires no altering of the environment when medications need to be added.