A quick quarintine tank

[pondy]

I need to set up a quick hospital/quarintine tank. Would it be ok to just use the water out of my display and put it into the hospital tank? Could I put the fish in the tank right away? What about if I just put around 5 gallons of water from my display tank into the hospital tank, and the rest new water would I be ok to add the fish to it right after I set it up?? I have to pick some fish up from a pet store tomarrow on an emergency and I need to know asap. So any help would help me a ton. Dustin

 

[m0nk]

Just went through (finally) setting up QT cause I need to treat my fish with hypo. I had similar questions but it makes sense why that's not going to work. You need to have bacteria built up for the biological filtration aspect. Also, you'd still need to cycle the tank. Here's your quickest bet: take some sand and a piece of rock from your DT, as much water as you're safely able to, and cycle. You can use a raw cocktail shrimp if you really want to kick it off, but honestly, there's no way it'll be ready for fish tomorrow. Some of the ready made bacteria in a bottle might help, but you still need to get through the entire nitrogen cycle and get some bacteria buildup in order for it to successfully hold most fish (some fish are hardier and can go in right at the end of a cycle, some can't).
If you plan on doing hypo or treating before putting the fish in your DT, you need to take out any rock you put in the tank for cycling, but you should have something in there for bacteria to grow on. Some use PVC, others use cheap ornaments.
Hope that helps.

 

[pondy]

I was planing on putting a bit of sand in the bottom as well as some of the rock from my fuge, I must have forgotten to put that in my first post. Sorry, I just want to get this strait, If I put sand rock and used some aquarium water from my display it still wouldnt be ready? From your post this is what I understand. Is that right?

 

[deltablack22]

I have set up a quarantine out of my display without it going through a cycle by using 50% old water and 50% new mix. I also used sand/rock out of my display. If you arent treating with chemicals you could do this and once the quarantine process is over just put everything back in the display.

 

[pondy]

oh ok, I think I am going to keep the tank up and running just so that I know it will be ready when I decide to get a tang, a powder brown or blue, or maybe just he regular yellow fella, Im not sure but that helps me a ton. dusitn

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by pondy
I need to set up a quick hospital/quarintine tank. Would it be ok to just use the water out of my display and put it into the hospital tank? Could I put the fish in the tank right away? What about if I just put around 5 gallons of water from my display tank into the hospital tank, and the rest new water would I be ok to add the fish to it right after I set it up?? I have to pick some fish up from a pet store tomarrow on an emergency and I need to know asap. So any help would help me a ton. Dustin
What is the problem going on that you need a qt ASAP? I would use sand, but not LR unless it is bare LR. If you explain your situation then we can help.