Live Rock In Quarantine?

[MarkoD]

ok so i set up a 25 gallon quarantine tank with a 15 gallon sump.

in the quarantine tank i have a powerhead, a few pieces of PVC pipe for hiding spots and a few fake plants

in the sump i have my heater and i transfered a few pieces of liverock from my main display's sump. the one piece of liverock has a bunch of sponges on it

is this ok for now? i have a bucket full of bioballs but i dont know what to use.

if i medicate the tank, will the good bacteria die or just the sponges and whatever little bugs are on the rock?

[sgreen]

The live rock will hold the medication and it could kill whatever is in the rock, I would take the rock out.

[MarkoD]

ok thanks for the advice. ill remove the rock before medicating.

but what about having bioballs in the sump? would the medication kill the beneficial bacteria on the bioballs?

[phi delt reefer]

marko - get an AquaClear HOB filter and throw it on the back of the tank to filter the quarantine water. Take the filter pads from the hob and throw them in your "display tank" or display tank sump for a couple days to start accumlating the beneficial bacterial. Do a water change in your display tank and throw that water into your QT tank and put the filter pads into the HOB. You should be good from there

Bioballs are too much work to keep clean.


once you are done with the QT you can just empty the tank and throw out the filter pads. When you need to QT again just put some new filter pads back in your DT and reapeat the process i mentioned above.

[MarkoD]

i cant use water from the display tank because im afraid that theres ich still in the water (which is the reason for the QT)

i set up the QT few days ago and have had a few pieces of LR in there.

and im going to be using the QT for the next few months while i stock my 180 gallon. im not sure that a filter pad is going to help me out long term.
plus i already have everything setup with the sump

[MarkoD]

maybe i can just put filter pads in the sump and change or clean one every week or so

[phi delt reefer]

have a read of this thread and ICH;

http://www.reefland.com/forum/marine...-ich-help.html

the ich parasites can latch onto anything (ie live rock/sand from you display)

with that said maybe run the QT with nothing more than a fresh set of filter pads (to keep the tank clean) and regular water changes to export the waste.


are you removing all of your fish to QT them?

[MarkoD]

No only new fish. The 3 fish I have left in my display are no longer infected

[Myka]

This is how I do a QT.

Equipment:
~ Tank
~ Heater
~ Powerhead
~ AquaClear power filter
~ PVC pipes
~ Carbon
~ Seachem Prime
~ Seachem Ammonia Alert; and/or
~ Salicylate ammonia test kit (API is preferred, Elos and Salifert not compatible with Prime)


Use water from the display tank to fill up the quarantine tank (doesn't matter if the water is infected because apparently so is the fish, right? hehe). The filter floss media I use in the sump in my display tank fits into the AquaClear with a bit of trimming. I use the used media from the display tank to "seed" nitrifying bacteria to the QT. Use two pieces of media, one new one and one used one. Once a week replace the older one with a new piece.

If medications are being used I will dose the QT with Prime. Most medications will kill nitrifying bacteria so the seeded media is a moot point in the power filter - just use new media.

For Ich I don't medicate, I use hyposalinity so a refractometer is required. Google "marine ich hyposalinity" for more info on that.

The Prime is to de-toxify ammonia. The Ammonia Alert is to indicate if you need to add more Prime (or do a water change) to lower the ammonia. Ammonia is you biggest concern in a QT, and is why a person would be concerned about nitrifying bacteria. No nitrifying bacteria (due to "freshness" of tank or because of medications) and ammonia will be soon to come. You need to use a salicylate test kit to test for ammonia as the Nessler types will give you a "false" ammonia reading when using Prime. i like to use the Ammonia Alert (which I find is surprisingly accurate) in addition to daily testing for ammonia.

Use carbon in the power filter to remove medications when finished so you can monitor the fish's health post-medication for a week or two sans medication before re-introducing to display.

[MarkoD]

thanks for the great write up.... but im not going to be quarantining fish that are already in my tank.... im gonna be quarantining new fish before introducing them into my tank.