Mayday! Clowns look terrible

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by outtafocus

When I do decide to buy fish again, they will be going straight into a 10gal QT, however, what should be used as a bio filter? The copper solution will kill anything on live rock.
Suggestions?

Start QT with 5gal. from your main tank and 5gal. new water.

No live rock. Just a BB tank with a few things for hiding. eg: PVC pipe.

Simple filter, (I use an Aquaclear 150 on a 20g QT), no carbon, no other media. Just foam. You could even just go with one of those internal foam filters.

Primary dose with Copper-Safe twice. First week and second week.

Test for ammonia frequently. It will begin to spike right away. Should test for this at least every other day.

Do a 2gal. water change (20%) every day for the entire QT period. This will help keep the ammonia at reasonable levels.

Supplementary dose enough Copper-Safe (enough for 2gal.) every day to compensate for Copper-Safe removed due to the 20% water changes.

It wouldn't hurt to test for nitrites and nitrates as well, IME. (I lost a $100 Flame Angel 2 days before QT was to end because I didn't think to test for nitrates and they were off the chart). Doh!

QT duration? Some say 2weeks, some say 3.

If your fish show signs of disease, continue QT for 2 weeks past the time symptoms dissappear.

At the end of QT, when the fish is/are transferred to the main tank, shut your QT tank down. Clean it all up and just let it sit empty until you need it again.

The above is the advice this rookie reefer was given by my LFS and everything went perfectly except for the nitrates thing, and that was my fault. I did two QT's back to back without shutting the tank down and starting again with a fresh batch of QT water. Thus the water had cycled into exceptionally high nitrates by the end of the second QT.

Cheers, ,