quarantine tank setup

[vwrock]

Hi all-
So the last few days I have been trying to find a thread about quarantine tank setup. I have found all sorts of threads saying why we quarantine. And I know from reading everyone's posts why we do quarantine. (Great info everyone by the way) but I would like to get a thread going about setup and maintanence for our fish coral and inverts to give them the best quarantine possible. I wanna touch everything in this post. From what u clean the tank with. What filtration u use. Be it a sponge or hang on back. How long u need to run the hob or have the filter in ur sump to seed it. Is there anyway in case of an emergency that u can speed up the seeding process. (I know not recommended but in case of emergency and need to set up a hospital tank now). I have heard anywhere from 4-6 weeks quarantine ...thoughts on that? Decorations/hiding spots. lighting. Layout. And finally the acclimation process into the main tank.

Like I said I've been looking for days and can't find a post with all this info. Lots of em saying why we quarantine / hospital. But none with the whole process. And tank layout/setup.

PICTURES OF UR HOSPITAL / QUARANTINE TANKS WOULD BE AWESOME!!!!!!

THANKS EVERYONE!

 

[myindoorocean]

Watching this one, I need to set one up too pretty soon.

 

[vwrock]

Well I hope we get some responses and this doesn't turn into another one of why we quarantine .....

 

[mfinn]

I use a q-tank for all fish.
I have a 30 gallon bare bottomed tank that I don't keep setup.
I do keep a medium sized sponge filter setup and running in the sump of my 240.
When I know I am going to buy a new fish, I'll mix up new water and put the seeded sponge filter in it.
I usually will add a few different dark colored containers in the tank for hiding places and maybe a fake freshwater plant or two.

 

[DTECH07]

Lee had a great write up on not only the why but the how also. What I know is that they souls be as simple as possible no live rock, macro algae, ect (allows easy and cheap disposal). Using PVC piping or clay pots for shelter and hiding areas, not breaking the tank down after usage but keeping it up and going always and cleaning as you would a normal tank because anything going in will be treated.
The whole idea is to create a environment that will allow the parasites to go through its life cycle and die without providing it area to hide till the next host comes. Also a area to do certain treatments that's cant be done in the main tanks (as you know already).
So canister fillers, filter socks should be avoided because can become house to parasites.
When cleaning a carbon filter can be used but I recommend you use it ONLY for the QT and no other tank, after I use mine I sterealize the canister with bleach then use a deactivation agent to neutralize the bleach thus killing everything.
I do water changes regularly but in harmony with treatments, but the salinity is always lower than main display.
Hope this helps some.

 

[vwrock]

I must not have seen Lee's post.... got a link? As I have said I've tried searching.... how long should u seed the sponge before using it in the qt?

Thanks

 

[DTECH07]

I always have a hard time finding them also but NC2WA always come through with them. Lets see if he's monitoring to help out with this.

 

[DTECH07]

Hey i'm better than i thought haha, i just found this link so have a look.
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f162/lee-birch-36338/#post380203

 

[vwrock]

That's some great posts there.... what does he mean by sponge corner filter instead of a powerhead? So no power head in the qt? And he talks about freshwater dips.... and conducting them on every fish before putting in qt. Everything else I've been reading on here has been saying only fw dip if u find it has a parasite that requires that. And that fw dipping a healthy fish. Will cause more damage than good. Any thoughts? The rest of it was awesome thanks so much for that.

 

[Peppie]

Here is another link
Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT). - Reef Central Online Community

 

[vwrock]

Thank you for that another really good article. I like that there is another opinion of how to do it. Again if any of you have a at setup post some pics. Pics are always great and nothing like seeing with ur eyes how other people do it.

 

[NC2WA]

Dtech, good job in posted correct link...the specific link that one needs to start with is this, http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f1/quarantine-process-27022/ followed with the article about Tank cleanup procedures. Personally I would read articles about Ich, myths, and hypo articles in case fish develops ich while in QT.