Quarantine tank

[Lind715]

Hello everyone! I started my very first saltwater tank, a biocube 32, on Sunday. As I've been researching, I've read a lot about setting up a quarantine tank and quarantining your fish while you wait for the tank to cycle. I thought it would be a good idea but I'm not sure on how big a quarantine tank needs to be for the fish to be in it for at least 4 weeks. Is 5 gallons enough or would 10 be better or would it need to be bigger than that? I've seen that they're kept bare bottom, some with some PVC elbows so nothing is porous. Any other quarantine tank tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated! 

[mcarroll]

Quarantining is a nice concept, but it's easy to do wrong and cause stress to your fish when you're trying to do just the opposite and allow them to recover from shipping.

 

10 gallons or less would only be appropriate for the smallest fish out there.   15-20 gallons is a more ideal minimum size for general use.

 

The "nothing porous" look you described is better described as "prison style" for how it stresses the fish. 

 

It's better to use a little live rock and some fake plants or something to make the tank more naturalistic.  PVC caves are fine, but not as the whole decore.  Outfit the QT as a basic, inexpensive fish-only tank.

 

The BEST trick is to come home from a local store with healthy fish and avoid the QT altogether.  Use your judgement as to whether you think this is possible in your location.

 

Regardless, adding the fish and other livestock SLOWLY AND SPACED OUT rather than all at once, and starting from the smallest and working up to the biggest to allow the tank to adapt to a high bio-load.

 

This approach will also limit stress to the animals as well as limiting nutrient spikes to prevent major algae blooms.

[Lind715]

Thank you. That's exactly why I wanted to ask questions about it and get others viewpoints. There are three fish stores in my area (and another in an area I really dont want to drive to lol). The one that's been around the longest I DEFINITELY can't get away with not quarantining. They're not very clean. Another one is brand new and they seem absolutely great but I'd have to go in and observe and ask questions before I could make any determination. The other has been around a while and is very clean, but I've only been in there once since it's not completely in an area I visit frequently. I'm on well water so until I make my mind up about whether or not to invest in a RO/DI and which one, I will have the perfect reason to go hang out at the new one while I pick up some of their water 😄

[Silver City Reef]

Im gunna start off by saying I am still new to the hobby myself, but I have spents multiple hours everyday for the past couple weeks reading, watching, and learning about QT tanks and seeing what others are using. This is just my opinion and I will provide some sources below for more in depth information.

 

Its definitely worth asking questions at your LFS. I asked mine during a visit to grab supplies for my QT and they basically just put fish out for sale as soon as they come in. All tanks are dosed with prazipro but you dont know how long the fish has been there. 

 

As for building a QT tank, I would say size depends on type of fish, size of fish, and quantity you plan to have in there. I went with a 20gal considering my main display is only a 40 and I dont plan on quarantining more than 2-3 fish at a time. As for contents of the QT, it is recommended that you have some form of disposable bio-filtration media like a sponge filter due to the fact that you will be dosing medications to the tank from time to time. These medications will not only be absorbed, but some cannot be mixed with others. Medications such as Cupramine, or copper, are harmful to some fish and I believe all coral, and either shouldn't or cant be mixed with medications like Prazipro. Plastic plants is a great way to create a comfortable environment without the risk of them absorbing medications, weakening doses, or causing issues when other meds are required. The reason live rock is not typically reccomend is the same absorption issues.

 

As for previous comment, I am unsure what your LFS looks like, but even my local Petco has bare tanks with no hiding spots, plants, PVC, etc on fish tanks. My saltwater LFS has sponge filters and that's it so I dont think the fish are going to mind a tank with a couple of sponge filters and some PVC fittings. Plus, all these are easy to clean and cheap to replace.

 

As mentioned above, I am still new but most of this information was collected from and compared to sources such as Bulk Reef Supply (Check Out Their Youtube), FishofHex (Youtube, Great Videos on QT tanks and medications), Reef2Reef forums, FB groups, Etc. I strongly recommend checking these sources out for yourself prior to making any final decisions and try to avoid a single source of information and picking the advice you want to hear. I am guilty of the second myself sometimes so I know how difficult it can be.

[Clown79]

I use my 3.5g for qt but I've only qt'd 1 fish at a time and they have all been small fish.

[mcarroll]

21 hours ago, Silver City Reef said:

Its definitely worth asking questions at your LFS. I asked mine during a visit to grab supplies for my QT and they basically just put fish out for sale as soon as they come in. All tanks are dosed with prazipro but you dont know how long the fish has been there. 

 

21 hours ago, Silver City Reef said:

I am unsure what your LFS looks like, but even my local Petco has bare tanks with no hiding spots, plants, PVC, etc on fish tanks. My saltwater LFS has sponge filters and that's it so I dont think the fish are going to mind a tank with a couple of sponge filters and some PVC fittings.

 

Guessing you're referring to the same store in both of those parts of your post...

 

If they have bare tanks like that, with no naturalistic decor, it's stressful.   

 

They most likely have to use drugs in the water because they see fish die without it.  That's partly due to the stress induced by their systems.

 

But they probably don't know why they're dying and probably don't know that different tank setups would be better.  (If it's a corporate place they probably have no authority or ability to change how they're setup either.)

 

For what it's worth, I wouldn't look to clone much of anything from a store's tanks at home anyway....not for fish or coral.  Your priorities for a system design and theirs don't really overlap much.

 

And IMO I'd recommend reading some books vs going with all online information.  Some of the places you listed can be counted on to trade in highly dubious information, which if you have no other reference might all sound great.  IMO buy information (a book) from someone/someplace that isn't trying to sell you anything but information.   Check around your local new or used bookstores for books by (just to start you off) Martin Moe, John Tullock, Robert Fenner, Dana Riddle...and don't stop there.   (You can find them online too, but support your local businesses.)

[Lula_Mae]

I use whatever small tank I have on hand but I've also never had bigger than a young clown or a tailspot blenny.  Any live rock that is used in a QT tank, if medications are used (particularly copper-based), that rock cannot be used in a reef tank so I choose to use PVC fittings, sponge filter, and maybe a few plastic plants.  Simple and easy to clean.  I'd suggest at least a 6 week QT period as ich can take a while to show itself.  Other than that, setting one up is pretty straightforward.  I use cheap Tetra preset heaters and a sponge filter.