[brooke]

I'm thinking about setting up a qtank, and was wondering what all that involves. Does this need to be a cycled system? Should it be bear bottom? What kind of filtration do you need on a qtank? What about live rock?

[scubadude]

Originally Posted by brooke

I'm thinking about setting up a qtank, and was wondering what all that involves. Does this need to be a cycled system? Should it be bear bottom? What kind of filtration do you need on a qtank? What about live rock?

Very good question indeed! You may very well get alot of answers from this too with different opinions. Remember it does depend on what you are quarantining from. The ultimate QT tank IMO is a barebottom, no LR whatsoever, agressive skimming, maybe some PVC pieces of pipe for hiding of fishes, UV Sterilization, Ozone, minimal size (10-20g) for quick easy cleaning and breakdown/setup effeciency. Good flow, but not obnoxious, lighting would probably be something simple like PC's or Flourescents, but easily adaptable to higher lighting if I had to QT an acro or clam. I also would like to add that If you want to be really anal w/your husbandry skills this tank would be for only ONE specimen I mean isnt that the whole purpose of quarantine? HTH

[brooke]

Thanks for the info, but I guess my main question is that I'm assuming this will need to be a cycled tank. What's the quickest way to cycle, without having to buy damsels only for the purpose of cycling?

[Ninong]

There are two different approaches when it comes to setting up what is commonly called a quarantine tank.

(1) Set up a tank that can be used to house new arrivals for a period of three to six weeks prior to adding them to the main display tank so that they can be observed for any diseases or parasites.

(2) Set up a tank the same as above but also use it as a hospital tank to actually treat the new arrivals or any fish from the main display tank with medications.

When most people think of a quarantine tank, they think of option #2 -- which is what scubadude is talking about above. There are a few hobbyists (Wayne Shang is one) who set up quarantine tanks with live rock and sand beds but most people prefer to set them up with bare bottoms and no live rock so that they can use any of the various medications, if necessary. Wayne Shang's 60-gal quarantine tank is a permanently running quarantine tank. It is separate from his other tanks but it runs full-time. Most folks set up quarantine tanks from time to time as needed and then de-activate them until they are needed again.

Here's the deal: If you want to use any medication containing copper, you can't have live rock or any sort of sand bed in your quarantine tank. If on the other hand, you are one of many hobbyists lately who are convinced that you will never use copper medications, you might set up the Q-tank with live rock and a sand bed.

It might be easier if you start out with the bare bottom, no live rock, no sand bed version. That way you can use hyposalinity treatments for ich (Cryptocaryon irritans). You can't do hyposalinity in a tank with live rock without killing off the microcrustaceans and wormy critters in the live rock and/or sand bed.

You don't need lighting for a fish-only Q-tank. If it makes you feel better, use the cheapy standard fluorescent fixture that usually comes free with cheapy glass tanks. That way you won't have to use a flashlight to look at the fish. Any cheapy filter will do. It should be cycled first. You can accomplish that by running in on your display tank for a week or two before sticking it on the quarantine tank. Or you can just set up the Q-tank and cycle it for a couple of weeks before adding any fish. You need to be careful that you don't stick a bunch of fish all at once into a small Q-tank and have them overload it with ammonia.

A minimum size, IMO, would be 20-gallons but 30 or 40 gallons would be much better. Obviously this depends on what you intent to quarantine and I guess to a certain extent it depends on the size of your main display tank. Doesn't make much sense to have a 40-gal quarantine tank if your display tank is only 29 gallons. Tanks smaller than 20 gallons will freak out most marine fish unless they are very small. I would hate to see someone stick a 3" or 4" tang in a 10-gal tank for any period of time.

The bottom of the tank should be bare but you should include PVC elbows of various sizes as hiding places for the fish.

If you intend to quarantine corals, which would be great but something most people can't deal with, you will need adequate lighting. A couple of PC fluorescents over a 20-gal tank will suffice for the quarantine period.

P.S. -- You can cycle any tank with a dead shrimp (supermarket variety) or you can even dose it with ammonia on a daily basis for several days. Don't ask me how many drops of ammonia per gallon because I don't feel like doing the math right now but that's the way researchers add nitrogen to experimental tanks.

[Steven Pro]

Here is my take on quarantine, http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

[brooke]

Very informative. That was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks

But I'm still a little confused on one issue. If you keep a sponge for the qtank filter in your main tank so it's "ready" when you need it, does that mean the qtank is cycled when you add the sponge to it? Or do you need to go through cycling. I want to be able to set this up quickly if I find something I want, but don't want to have to wait for the tank to cycle. Make sense?

[Steven Pro]

If you run the sponge filter in your display long enough (usually one month will do) and you have a decent population of fish in the display, the sponge filter will cycle there. There will be no need for additional cycling.

If you need to set something up quicker, I really like Marineland's Bio-Spira. I have used it a few times to quick cycle a tank and have been very pleased. It can be a little hard to find. And, make sure your local fish store keeps it refridgerated.