Quarantine tanks...

[spencerC]

What would be required for them?
I have a spare 10 gal tank, I'm just wondering what else I would need equipment-wise to have it as a working quarantine tank.

Will I want to have substrate in there? Wouldn't that potentially house a bacteria/illness that the fish may have and pass it on to the next one who goes through?

Would a relatively simple/inexpensive filter work because of the 1-at-a-time inhabitance? Would i need a protein skimmer?

Would something like this work as well?
http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/2210/Deco-Kit-3/

[spencerC]

bump? :neutral:

[Joe Reefer]

The tank you linked to is a little small for a QT tank IMO. The size of your QT depends on the size of your main tank and what your going to put in quarentine. For example, If you need to quarentine a 6" naso your going to need a large tank for it to be comfortable in. I use a 10 gallon breeder w/ a heater, some floss, carbon and amonia remover in a small fluval. The only thing in the tank is the fish and a piece of 4" pipe for it to hide in. I do water changes every couple days with water from my main tank. If your planning on qt'ing coral lighting would be something you would have to consider. For now I just dip and inspect all the non-swimming inhabitants the go in my main tank.

[fishoholic]

We use a 10g tank for QT. We use some water from our main tank and run a fluval filter on it. No sand/substrate because you don't want bacteria to grow in it. A piece of pipe for the fish to hide in is nice too.

[michika]

I used to do the same as everyone else here has mentioned, no substrate, and a piece of pipe. I also used to have the bottom of my 30g tank painted dark blue because I found the reflection of a clean bottom can stress fish.

When I used to QT SPS frags, I just dip now due to space constraints, I found that it was hard to keep good water quality. I tried really hard to maintain good parameters, but it was just too hard and I eventually gave up. I still dip religiously though, once going in, and once going out.

[mseepman]

I assume by dip you mean a "fresh water" dip?

[spencerC]

ohhhh k great this sounds like good news.
I'll probably just need to paint the bottom, get some suitable pipe for the fish to hide in,
a little filter to strap onto it from pet-cetera, and maybe a small heater too?
Would the heater in that small tank be dangerous for the fish burning itself? I figure they don't get that hot... but I've never used a heater before so i wouldnt know.

[surgeonfish]

A heater should not burn your fish.

I was wondering if everyone keeps their quarantine tank up and running or just set them up when obtaining new fish? I worry about stressing the fish out with the tank "cycling" if they keep the fish quarantined for a few weeks. Therefore, I keep my quarantine tank running constantly with a few fish to keep it stable for new arrivals. I have a simple small skimmer, external filter and natural sunlight.

[spencerC]

For lighting, I will have the QT tank right in between my reptile (10 gal with very old green anole, nothing special, it's got 2 lights on it, one flouresent, one plant-grow bulb) set-up and the main aquarium, so i'm thinking it will get plenty of the light it needs.

I'll probably keep mine running. Not exactly sure yet.

[spencerC]

Hey, i bet this would work pretty well?
A bit more expensive but very suitable.
Could be used easily after you're done with it as a QT too!

$169.99
http://oceanaquatics.com/product_images/PCI-nanotank.JPG

http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/875/PCI-12.5G-Tank/

[michika]

I assume by dip you mean a "fresh water" dip?

Nope, I dip using Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure.(http://www.tropic-marin.com/web/engl...coral-cure.htm) Sometimes I also dip with interceptor as well if I fear Red Bugs may enter my system on new frags.

[Captainhemo]

Another optio, if you don't want to keep the QT tank contiumuously setup, you can keep the bacteria in your filter alive by running it on your main tank (sump works well). Then when you need the QT tank, you can just move the filter back over and fill the QT tank wiht some water from the main tank.
When you're finished the QT. just put the fitler sytem back on your main system, rinse off the heater, pipe, etc, put it all in the tank and store it in the closet until it's needed next tiem. Works for me :D