My First Quarantine Tank

[cracker]

Well said Goldenmean ! Thanks for posting parameters.

[BarbMazz]

Originally Posted by goldenmean

Chemistry was never this interesting in school plus the carrot is not the threat of failing at a test but rather the well being (and life) of your livestock.
I am glad this thread is helping you Barb. That makes it worth while! I .was hoping it would be useful to others setting up and using a quarantine tank.
There are some great threads here about QT and hospital tanks but I found the more research I did the more simple questions I had (like what the heck is a corner filter?)

WE CAN DO THIS!!!

Exactly, Jeff. I always enjoyed chem lab but lectures left me high and dry. This research and learning is enjoyable.

I asked about a corner box filter at my local LFS, and their answer was
?HUH?. Great!

I'm stopping at Petsmart today (ugh) to buy crickets for the toads and I'm going to look there. They seem to have some very basic stuff so I'm hoping to find one there. If I don't find one there I'll order online I guess

This thread really is helping me! Your step-by-step pictures take the guessing out of it. The one question I have though... where'd you get your cheesy plants? j/k!! My husband insists on one of those diver guy aerator thingees for the display tank. He saw a great neon orange one he likes... I guess it'll be a great centerpiece!! LOL

[goldenmean]

I could not find a corner box filter at my local Petco or Petsmart.
I found mine at Big Als online Penn Plax Quick Draw Corner Filter at Big Al's Online for $3.99. It comes with an airhose but not the sponge/filter material That is also where i go the cheezy plastic plants and the reef tank background. I have covered the back and both sides. The plants were a lot cheaper than at the big pet superstores.

I cant say that I have ever seen an air stone running in a reef tank.
Tell your hubby it is bad for SW reef tanks. lol

Thanks Barb and Cracker.
I really hate testing but knowing that you guys are getting something out of it too give me some more motivation to keep at it.

[panmanmatt]

Try looking for these. Foster & Smith sells them in different sizes.

Foam Aquarium Filters: Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter 6 & 7

[lcstorc]

Is that what you would recommend for my seahorse qt?
I am assuming you put the sponges from the filter in the sump of your DT for a time to populate with bacteria.

[goldenmean]

Lynn - I put the sponges in my sump in early December so they were there for about 32-34 days. to let the bacteria grow on the sponges. Now they are in the qt and I am letting that tank cycle.

[panmanmatt]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Is that what you would recommend for my seahorse qt?
I am assuming you put the sponges from the filter in the sump of your DT for a time to populate with bacteria.

Those are all the sponges that I use for QT. Once done, I bleach them, dechlor them and reseed them. I keep a barrel full of them and base rock cycled in the basement for emergency situations. I feed it ammonia weekly and add a pinch of flake food every other week to keep it alive.

[goldenmean]

Tonights results - 2 days after ammonia added.
Seachem Marine Basic Multi Test
NH3 = .1
NH4 = 2. ammonia has gone down
NO2 = .1 Nitrites have dropped
NO3 = 30 We have nitrates!

I am going to add 1 ml of ammonia after I have din din.

. . . and I did.

[ReefGuy69]

quick question. Wouldnt it be easier this way. When you do a water change on your display tank you add that to the QT tank??? or is that what you are doing. As long as your QT water never gets in your Display water then you should be ok. You wouldnt however want to take your QT water and add it to the display. Basically you could reuse your display water for your QT... sorry i have a headache and im at work, and im tired. now im rambling. bye.

[goldenmean]

ReefGuy I did fill the qt with display tank water when I did a WC on Monday.
The reused water will be fine while I am cycling the QT but when I am ready to add the first fish I will have to get nitrates down and for that I will use freshly made SW.

I hope you head feels better!

[goldenmean]

Good morning!

Last night I did add the 1ml of ammonia
10 hours later this is the test results:
Seachem Marine Basic Multi Test
NH3 = .5
NH4 = 3
NO2 = 2.5 up from .1
NO3 = 35 up a bit

[goldenmean]

This evening test results
NH3 = .8
NH4 = 3
NO2 = 2
NO3 = 20

[kathywithbirds]

Originally Posted by ReefGuy69

quick question. Wouldnt it be easier this way. When you do a water change on your display tank you add that to the QT tank??? or is that what you are doing. As long as your QT water never gets in your Display water then you should be ok. You wouldnt however want to take your QT water and add it to the display. Basically you could reuse your display water for your QT... sorry i have a headache and im at work, and im tired. now im rambling. bye.

Ah! I thought about that too...

So if you do a water change in the DT and save the water to put it in an existing and running QT, you're keeping the bacteria population up, right?

BUT... if you have a situation like me or Doni, sick fish being taken out of the DT into the QT... you could possibly be taking disease/parasites, etc. from the DT (say ick) and replenishing it in the QT, which defeats the purpose... right?????

[cracker]

Goldenmean I have a question if Ya don't mind. There was a drop in your No3(nitrate) levels your last tests. I'm missing something here, If We don't have any anaerobi area's ( in liverock) in a bare qt's how does the nitrates drop. I assumed(in a Qt) that only water changes could reduce the NO3 levels. Are You doing water changes? I'm a little behind you with my cycle. I didn't test for 6 days. Ammonia is 0 now No2 is >1 .No3 was over 30. Thanks.

[goldenmean]

Kathy- I am not sure how much bacteria is in the water column.
I used display water to start the tank out but once the tank has cycled and I have a fish in the QT I would not want to use display tank's water in the QT anymore. I think you are right about cross contamination besides I would want the QT's water to be of the highest quality.

Cracker I was a little surprised by the seeming drop in nitrates too.
I have done no WC and i have added more ammonia. I expected the NO3 to go higher not drop. I am chalking it up to either Test - or more likely tester error!. I too am under the impression that the only way to remove NO3 from a QT tank like this is with WC.
I choose not to retest NO3 at that time as at this point in the cycle it didnt seem overly important if NO3 was 35 or 20. I will just see what happens when i test this eve.
I appreciate your observation.