How to make a quarantine tank/hospital tank

[mikeclarke]

What I've read and been told is to have no carbon in the filter as it will absorb anything you treat with. I've also been told the same with a sand bed and live rock. If you don't have any sand or live rock, how do you have a biological filter to handle ammonia and nitrites?

I have a 20 gallon that I've tried to use as a hospital/quarantine but haven't had any luck.

Any suggestions? Do I need a uv filter and skimmer like my big tank?

[George]

First of all, if you are quarantine fish, you don't have to worry about nitrate. Fish can tolerate a very high level of nitrate. You only need to worry about ammonia. There are a few ways to deal with ammonia in QT. Some people use a hang on filter, like aquaclear, with sponges. You can prepare the sponges by putting them in DT a few weeks before to "seed" them with bacteria. The second method is using some ammonia binding agents like prime. Don't use prime or any ammonia binding agents if you are using copper. The next method is a lot of water change. Most QT are small so frequent water changes are possible. No need UV or skimmer.
Basic equipments for a QT: small tank, hang on filter (optional), heater, power head, air pump (optional), PVC pipes for fish to hide (optional), seachem ammonia badge.

[kien]

I have actually run QTs with live rock. It's fine so long as you know that you should never put that live rock back into your display tank. It has likely absorbed some of your meds. Also, don't sell it to anyone because that's just bad etiquette. :-)

What I do now a days is use mesh pads (the ones used for washing dishes). You can get them at the dollar store or grocery store. I have a batch of those pads floating in my sump so that they are seeded with nitrifying bacteria. I can use them in a pinch then throw them out when I'm done and get a new set of pads to throw in my sump. I've had these pads floating in my sump for 3 years now and they haven't collected any gunk so I have never had to clean them. It probably helps that they are quite porous and float on the water instead of sitting at the bottom of the sump.

[mikeclarke]

Thanks guys... I have a 20 gallon with a hang on filter (aquaclear with foam and the limestone chunks), a tiny piece of live rock, and like .5cm of sand to make the tank look a bit nicer (it's in our den). I also have an air bubble wall and and a big cheesy pirate ship for the fish to hide (for the kids).

I had been doing a 25-50% water change (5-10 gallons of water from the 100 gallon tank) weekly (I do a 10% water change in the big tank weekly) and I ended up having my yellow tang and flame angel that I just bought, die. I thought I was doing something wrong. I had added prime every couple of days.

The nitrate was always less than 5, so what did I do wrong?

[mikeclarke]

Oh yeah...

I haven't used a powerhead in the QT tank as I have my Koralia nano in my new salt water tank. I kept the temperature at 78.

[kien]

Had the 20g been up and running for a while or did you just set it up for Qt'ing recently? Do you know if the QT tank was cycled already? Or were you reading ammonia and nitrites in the QT tank? If there is any of each (ammonia or nitrites) that could spell trouble for the fish. Aggressive water changes will help dilute it but its still there unless the tank has sufficient bacteria from a cycle.

[kien]

Oh yeah...

I haven't used a powerhead in the QT tank as I have my Koralia nano in my new salt water tank. I kept the temperature at 78.

Water movement is good in any tank. It helps prevent stagnation.