quarantine tank issues

[burtonpj48]

I have been running my qt tank since may of last year. Yesterday was the first time i brought home fish, since the qt tank has been running. I checked the N03 and amonia, and ph. all the levels were good. After 24 hrs trying to qt my fish, the amonia was low but, the nitrates were off the charts, at the maximum level. After so many months of the tank running i didnt think i would have problems. How did the nitrates jump so high in one day? Has anyone ever had this happen to them?

[bvlester]

The nirates jumped because it is in a cycle you have to keep some thing in the tank when you are not QTing I have some cheato a mini bristel start some LR this ll helps to keep things working. I also put a bit of fod in there once in a while and turn the light on regularly.

Bill

[MrsBugmaster]

+1 on what bvlester said. I always put a very small amount of food in the tank once a week, you have to "feed" the tank to keep the good bacteria alive. I use like 1 flake of flaked food or 2 or 3 of the small pellets.

[bvlester]

as I said I have a bristel star in ther and have to feed probably a bit more thanMrsBugmaster though.

[mark]

That's the major problem of a bare QT and why people sometimes keep some foam media etc in the sump of the display (so if they quickly need to set up a QT, they have some bio-filtration available).

It's amazing how fast ammonia and NO2 can buildup and why the importance testing and frequent water changes.

[bvlester]

even with foam media available unless it is alot it takes up to 2-3 days before the bioload is at it's max. If you have LR in the tank to begin with and some live animail then you have to feed it and it will keep the bio filter built up I also have some cheato in there just because I had extra. I don't get HA or red slime in the take and it has been up and running for 6 months. All new fish go into it for a minimum of 2-3 weeks and at that point the disition is made to keep them in there or move them.

Bill

[marie]

I have quarantined all new fish for the last 4 yrs. Here are somethings I've learned .....It's too hard to keep a bare tank cycled just in case you come home with an impulse bought fish. Besides if I have a tank with water in it, it ends up filled with live rock and other critters, making it useless to medicate fish if I need to.

For me, the best thing I've found is to use a small tank (10g) which I set up with tank water when I need it. I then do 25% water changes twice a day (3g water changes are quick and easy to do) to keep ammonia levels down.

Oh and every fish is automatically treated with cupramine for the first 2 weeks

[burtonpj48]

I have quarantined all new fish for the last 4 yrs. Here are somethings I've learned .....It's too hard to keep a bare tank cycled just in case you come home with an impulse bought fish. Besides if I have a tank with water in it, it ends up filled with live rock and other critters, making it useless to medicate fish if I need to.

For me, the best thing I've found is to use a small tank (10g) which I set up with tank water when I need it. I then do 25% water changes twice a day (3g water changes are quick and easy to do) to keep ammonia levels down.

Oh and every fish is automatically treated with cupramine for the first 2 weeks

I have a 10g tank too, i remember when i first used my qt tank in february last year and i also used tank water, I never understood why the ammonia, nitrates would rise if the tank water was cycled. So i thought i could run my tank for a long time and get rid of the nitrates and ammonia. I nver expected levels to rise, several months down the road. thanks everyone for the input,
your advice is greatly appreciated.