I'm not trying to talk you into it ... I just don't want you to go away thinking it's difficult or expensive
Sure, you'd need a fairly big hospital tank, but with lots of water changes, it doesn't have to be huge. Look how many fish Brad had in his 50g
And if close quarters becomes an aggression issue, eggcrate makes a cheap divider
All you need for the QT is a used tank, heater, simple light, HOB filter, no sand, no LR, no skimmer ( but better with ) and lots of water testing and changes
And if you do the hyposalinity method, the water changes are that much cheaper
Everything that isn't a fish stays in the DT and the tank is fed to keep the bacteria alive
All regular maintenance is kept up
Dipping or QTing everything new is easy enough and the QT doesn't have to be large ( mine's a 20g ) when you're only adding one or two new fish at a time
I wish I had room for a longer tank, but all my new fish will be small to start with
I'm suffering through the QT process right now ( going for 6 weeks with no visible signs of infections ), but I know it will be worth it in the long run
This process will also stop me from adding too many fish to the DT at once
