Quarantine Tank thoughts - Page 2

Reef Pilot · #1 02-21-2015, 03:58 PM

I just have a 30g QT running all the time in a downstairs storage room. It has a canister filter with foam and some live rock rubble. Every once in a while I do a 90% water change with DT water after a DT water change. Have used it many, many times both for fish and corals. For fish, always did the hypo routine. Have never had any issues. Only drawback is the length of time it takes for fish.

Brad, if you don't have the room, why don't you try the tank transfer method. I have been toying with the idea of using some of my many IO empty buckets for this. Maybe a little small, but for just one or two small new fish, might be OK. I would use PVC pieces to make the fish feel secure, an airstone, heater and a piece of lexan for a lid (with lots of airholes). I think they only have to be in there for about 3 days at a time before a transfer, so shouldn't be too hard to keep the water good (with prime or whatever). The final transfer might be to a small glass tank, just so you can observe them better before moving them to the DT.

Just a thought... I might give this TT method a try myself sometime.

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #2 01-11-2016, 05:02 AM

For all my tanks (unfortunately, don't usually have a QT tank always setup and only set up as needed), I now use Hydroton, clay ball media imported from Germany as my biological filter media. What I can do using Hydroton is keep some in my sump and throw it into a HOB filter or media reactor or even an old stocking to hang in my QT tank as needed. Then if you have to use copper or other medication, you can leave dead rock in the QT for your new fish to hide in and add the Hydroton for biological filtration. If you medicate, toss out the old Hydroton and add more in your sump for future QT purposes.

For those who've never heard of or used Hydroton, Paul at Oceanic Corals was the one who first started using it as a very effective, efficient biological media. I love the stuff and swear by it. I always try to keep some extra on hand and its much more effective than live rock IME, including eliminating my nitrates. Feeding 4+ times daily, my nitrates used to be high (think HOT PINK on the test kits), but now they are way low.

Reef Pilot · #3 01-11-2016, 02:12 PM

I actually haven't tried the TT method yet, as I have not bought any new fish for years. But since I lost a few during our summer outage, might just get a few replacements in the not too distant future.

I would do the TT first with buckets, and then transfer them to my QT tank. The length of the stay there would depend on the type of fish. Some (like butterfly fish) need longer acclimatization to get trained on new foods, etc. Also may want to give them a prazi treatment to get rid of any internal pests.

sdeschutter · #4 01-11-2016, 02:40 PM

What is a prazi treatment? I have a little cherub angel and goby in the qt tank right now. They have been in there for two weeks. I'm thinking a month would be a good length before I put them in the DT

Reef Pilot · #5 01-11-2016, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdeschutter

What is a prazi treatment? I have a little cherub angel and goby in the qt tank right now. They have been in there for two weeks. I'm thinking a month would be a good length before I put them in the DT

http://www.hikariusa.com/solutions/healthaid/prazipro/

Animal-Chin · #6 01-11-2016, 03:37 PM

I had a horrible QT experience. About a year and a half ago my tank got velvet. WIPED out my entire livestock in 5 days, brutal. I let my display go fallow for 2 months and while doing that I set up a 20 gallon long QT. Had a HOB filter, live rock and a Hydor pump for flow. Put in a clay pot for hiding. Pretty much followed every instruction on line I could find. Let the QT cycle and bought my first fish, a baby regal tang.

Regal tang hated the QT. Never got it to eat and it died.

Bought a schooling banner fish. It came in with ich, great so I medicated with some stuff I got at oceanic and got rid of the ich. Fish never made it though, died shortly after the ich was gone.

Did a 100% water change and let the tank cycle again although never saw ammonia as the live rock was already established.

Bought a Naso tang. It hid in the pot, never took food and died.

Bought another small regal, it would pick on algae a bit but basically hid and died.

Took down the QT and started just adding fish back to the display, havn't had an issue since.

I think my QT tank was just the wrong environment for the fish I was buying. Online, in many many articles they say a 20 gallon long is plenty of QT but man did I have issues...