Learned the Hard Way. Want QT

[frink]

Okay, so I've decided to set up a hospital/QT tank. Beth, I talked to you earlier about my clown with the brown discoloration. He is still plugging away and feeding a bit so maybe he will make it. I'll cross my fingers. Anyways, I've already read the sticky and still have more questions. I want to have a QT running all the time, not just when I have a sick fish. I have a 10g tank, a fluval 404, heater, lights.
1. So will the fluval be good enough for filtration? (I currently am running it empty for water flow in my main tank.)
2. What media should go in it? (i am thinking foam, filter floss, those bio circles).
3. Should I use carbon or would that just "absorb" any medication?
4. If I want to keep it up and running all the time, do I need to keep an animal in there? What kind? (it's only 10g)
Thanks, Rick

 

[beth]

Great! Glad to hear you're going to setup a QT. You can use a fluval and put whatever filter/media you want in there. Just so you know, though, if you have to medicate, then the carbon will have to come out. But actually, using a carbon filter is a good idea. You can keep things clean, and use it also to extract meds following a treatment.
If you use filter media, or a sponge type filter, you can put a new filter somewhere in your main tank for a wk, then place it in the QT. This will jumpstart a cycle for QT or keep your QT maintained after changing filters. Also, every few days, you can throw in a bit of fish food or some finely chopped fresh shrimp to keep the tank going while fish are not in there. Its always a good idea to do plan for new fish acquisitions, thus you can do a bit of maintenance on the QT just prior to adding a fish.