How to keep a QT tank up and running?

[sparry67]

K I am doing everything by the book to do this right! I have just spent 2 hours looking for my answer, so I will count on you guys to give me a straght up answer! ALOT OF MUMBO JUMBO out there that just makes you want to GIVE up!! Simple question HOW DO I KEEP MY QT TANK CYCLED AS I'M STOCKING MY DT???? am trying to ONLY add a few evry 2 months but n between adding fish to DT how do I keep the QT tank ready at all times? and how do I maintan it? QT is a 30 gal wth hang on back filter, DT is 75 gallon ESTABLISHED!! 1 more question is last week I added a sally lightfoot crab and an BT anemone, hermits, coral banded shrimp and a feather duster and WEIRD lost 2 chromes and a yellow watchman goby just GONE DISSAPEARED? what is responsible for this? THANKS in advance for ANY experience I can gain from you guys! THANKS!!! Sherry

 

[geoj]

Well first, I did not write the book, and many will not agree with me. None the less, I too have pondered this problem. What I do is set up a QT cheaply with LR and sand or CC and feed the little shrimps, snails and algae each time I feed the DT. Testing it for nitrate so as not to over feed. Now heres the thing, this is a QT not a HT. If say a fish comes down with a disease I treat it in an HT, this sometimes means taking out the LS and LR of the QT and turning it into an HT.

 

[geridoc]

I store filter material in the sump of my DT. When I need the qt I just put this filter material into a hob filter on the qt and it is instantly in a state of "cycled".

 

[flower]

Everyone has a method. Which is why you have read so many opinons you are about to give up...the point is, they all work...so choose what suites you best.
My method:
I don't add fish very often, so keeping a QT going would be like running an empty tank for 3 years. So what I do a few days before I order a new critter that requires quarantine, I do a water change and the used water goes into my 10g QT. then I take the filter material from the DT and use that bacteria by placing it in the Whisper HOB filter that I use only for the QT.
I place a little of my macroalgae in so it will feed on nitrates and phosphates to help keep the QT water stable. I also add a decoration (because I don't like to look at a piece of PVC pipe). Then I add an overdose of Cycle or biozyme (just in case). Last I connect an air line (no stone) this moves the water surface without a power head. With the Whisper HOB it has plenty of water current.
No sand, no rock. 2 days later I add the new critter to quarantine. To date, I have never lost a critter in the QT, dosing medicine if need be is easy, I remove the macroalgae and toss it out, then dose the tank. 10g of water is easy to measure. After I am finished with the QT...if I had to dose it, I toss out the decoration too.
I don't like GeoJs method because removing sand is a pain in the backside. Not to mention the now infected CUC of snails and shrimp that can't go back into the DT. JMO

 

[bang guy]

I always kept Mollies in my Q-tank. I moved the Mollies to the display tank when quaranteening a fish.
Ghost feeding the Q-tank would be just as effective.

 

[novahobbies]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/392834/how-to-keep-a-qt-tank-up-and-running#post_3490850
Everyone has a method. Which is why you have read so many opinons you are about to give up...the point is, they all work...so choose what suites you best.
My method:
I don't add fish very often, so keeping a QT going would be like running an empty tank for 3 years. So what I do a few days before I order a new critter that requires quarantine, I do a water change and the used water goes into my 10g QT. then I take the filter material from the DT and use that bacteria by placing it in the Whisper HOB filter that I use only for the QT.
I place a little of my macroalgae in so it will feed on nitrates and phosphates to help keep the QT water stable. I also add a decoration (because I don't like to look at a piece of PVC pipe). Then I add an overdose of Cycle or biozyme (just in case). Last I connect an air line (no stone) this moves the water surface without a power head. With the Whisper HOB it has plenty of water current.
No sand, no rock. 2 days later I add the new critter to quarantine. To date, I have never lost a critter in the QT, dosing medicine if need be is easy, I remove the macroalgae and toss it out, then dose the tank. 10g of water is easy to measure. After I am finished with the QT...if I had to dose it, I toss out the decoration too.
I don't like GeoJs method because removing sand is a pain in the backside. Not to mention the now infected CUC of snails and shrimp that can't go back into the DT. JMO
This is essentially exactly the same as my method. I don't do the macroalgae routine that you mention, but I see how it might be very helpful.

 

[xcali1985]

I simply keep a damsel fish in my QT, when I purchase new fish he goes into my sump. Once the other fish come out of QT I then re insert him into the QT. Cheap easy and you know for sure that it's cycled.