How do I lower the ammonia in my quarantine tank?

[blister]

My QT has ammonia in it. I use the water I use from water changes from my main tank and stick in QT. My main tank has 0 ammonia in it. My QT has a hob filter on it and only using floss from main tank in there... Any suggestions?

[reeftankguy]

50% Water Change

[Michaelangelo]

You still should do regular water changes of fresh RO water in your QT tank. In your DT the bacteria that breaks down Amm is present and abundant. In your QT tank is probably oberwhelmed. Do some WC! And use fresh floss

[blister]

reeftankguy - ok so 50% WC with fresh mixed water or from DT?

 

Michaelangelo - I do WC every time I do it on DT. When you say fresh RO do you mean just RO or freshly mixed? Will use new floss, thanks.

[neanderthalman]

he means "fresh mixed".

 

 

Do you have any kind of filtration on the QT? Unless you have LR, there's nothing in it to break down ammonia to nitrate. In the absense of liverock, you should use either a chemical media, or a biological filtration system (ie: biowheel), whenever you have animals in quarantine.

[blister]

neanderthalman - i guess i don't have filtration besides floss, what kind of chemical media do u recommend?

[kraqus]

I would treat your QT tank the same you treat your main tank. Water changes at the same time for both.

I would not "reuse" the water from your main tank, unless you have a new tank and you want to seed it.

 

 

Benny

[neanderthalman]

neanderthalman - i guess i don't have filtration besides floss, what kind of chemical media do u recommend?

 

I dunno. I don't run a QT. Bad caveman. BAD!

 

 

Basically, you're looking for anything designed to absorb ammonia. Look for techniques from FO saltwater tanks. What do they use to combat ammonia?

 

 

My first thought would be a biowheel HOB filter. I won't go into detail, but the reasons we don't use them for our normal setups is that we want the bacteria to live in the liverock, in close proximity to the anoxic zones they contain - not on some other media. Without the liverock, biowheels become your ally by providing a home for these same denitrifying bacteria. However, you will experience higher nitrate levels due to the lack of anoxic zones.

[Marteen]

You could run a cheap wet/dry filter on it, so you could still dose chemicals during QT. Or you could just toss some LR in there let is cycle and just never use that rock for anything else.

[gregzbobo]

An airpump powered sponge filter in the back corner would be a decent and inexpensive QT bio-filter, I'd not use LR as it could absorb medications or become seeded with some parasites.

 

The sponge in the filter can easily be mildy boiled or soaked in bleach and rinsed thoroughly after a QT period then placed in the display for a couple days to reseed with bacteria.

 

If you ever plan to use copper, keep a bag of Cuprisorb or some Poly-Filters handy to remove it from the QT.

[AZDesertRat]

Never ever reuse a filter sponge from a QT or hospital tank, throw it away and spend $1.50 on a new one. Too much chance of bringing something back to the display to risk it.

 

Theeasiest way to lower ammonia is use a charged sponge from the display or sump so you have nitrosonomas and nitrobacter bacteria converting the ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates. Keeping that sponge in the sump will have it ready to go at a moments notice so you can have a QT up and running in no time. Toss the sponge and get a new one with each use.

[jeirdo]

You could use a little bit of Seachem Prime to detoxify the ammonia. Ammonia will still show up on most tests, however, but the Prime will lock it up and make it nontoxic. Do not use Prime if you are going to be medicating......Prime can make medications like Cupramine more toxic. If you are treating with any medication...frequent water changes are your best bet removing ammonia.

[timdanger]

Do you have any kind of filtration on the QT? Unless you have LR, there's nothing in it to break down ammonia to nitrate. In the absense of liverock, you should use either a chemical media, or a biological filtration system (ie: biowheel), whenever you have animals in quarantine.

 

this is correct.

 

i don't understand where people got the idea that quarantine tanks don't need to have established filtration. without that, you just end up cycling with whatever you put in there.

 

Theeasiest way to lower ammonia is use a charged sponge from the display or sump so you have nitrosonomas and nitrobacter bacteria converting the ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates. Keeping that sponge in the sump will have it ready to go at a moments notice so you can have a QT up and running in no time. Toss the sponge and get a new one with each use.

 

this is smart.

[rhunter513]

Yep and that's why QT tanks are really more of a PITA and risk than they are worth. Why do you need a QT tank? IMO - QT tanks if not done right and very very carfully maintained will cause more stress than it worth

 

Any fish tank that you keep fish in will have to be fully cycled....just like your main display tank. If you use any sort of media to absorb or bind ammonia you are delaying the cycle. The ammonia needs to be there so that the bateria can grow that convert it to nitrites then nitrates. The only real way to set up a QT or hospital tank is to use filter media that as been in a fully established tank for a number of weeks.

 

Yep and that's why QT tanks are really more of a PITA and risk than they are worth. Why do you need a QT tank? IMO - QT tanks if not done right and very very carfully maintained will cause more stress than it worth

 

Any fish tank that you keep fish in will have to be fully cycled....just like your main display tank. If you use any sort of media to absorb or bind ammonia you are delaying the cycle. The ammonia needs to be there so that the bateria can grow that convert it to nitrites then nitrates. The only real way to set up a QT or hospital tank is to use filter media that as been in a fully established tank for a number of weeks.

[ajmckay]

Yep and that's why QT tanks are really more of a PITA and risk than they are worth. Why do you need a QT tank? IMO - QT tanks if not done right and very very carfully maintained will cause more stress than it worth

 

Any fish tank that you keep fish in will have to be fully cycled....just like your main display tank. If you use any sort of media to absorb or bind ammonia you are delaying the cycle. The ammonia needs to be there so that the bateria can grow that convert it to nitrites then nitrates. The only real way to set up a QT or hospital tank is to use filter media that as been in a fully established tank for a number of weeks.

 

What are you talking about? Please explain why any tank for fish needs to be fully cycled?

 

Saying that a QT is a PITA or difficult to maintain is false.

 

The answer to this question is very very simple. Water changes (with quality water).

 

To keep a simple principle well... simple, no waste = no cycle (at least enough to matter). The simplest, easiest QT tank is set up with nothing but a powerhead and saltwater. If there is no waste, there is no need for biological filtration. The key is to keep the bio-load as small as possible and perform frequent water changes to keep the waste down (25% 2x per week works for me in a 10g w/1 fish for consistently undetectable ammonia). I would recommend not adding water from your display tank to your QT tank (Remember that SW does not contain much bacteria at all, but instead carries a lot of waste). When the amount of waste starts to build up in the tank, do a water change (though you technically want to perform water changes before you are reading any measurable amount of ammonia). Honestly, how hard is that? You don't need filter floss, you can use carbon if you want (but shouldn't have to). No sand, no rock, only some PVC pipe or clay pots for hiding spots. Use a turkey baster to suck up the crap on the bottom daily.

 

Now on the other hand if you want to establish a permanent QT tank, then you will likely want to use some sort of filtration. But you should be able to plan for this and wait until any cycle is finished.

 

A QT tank is definitely not hard, and WILL save you time, money, and hassle at some point. Ask any experienced reefer here and they will surely agree that a proper QT procedure is a very good thing, if not essential.

[hyeclass]

On 2/8/2010 at 6:19 AM, AZDesertRat said:

Never ever reuse a filter sponge from a QT or hospital tank, throw it away and spend $1.50 on a new one. Too much chance of bringing something back to the display to risk it.

 

Theeasiest way to lower ammonia is use a charged sponge from the display or sump so you have nitrosonomas and nitrobacter bacteria converting the ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates. Keeping that sponge in the sump will have it ready to go at a moments notice so you can have a QT up and running in no time. Toss the sponge and get a new one with each use.

Tank is empty has no water setting up the qt  putting the sump filter how long till you add a fish in the qt tank, would you happen to know