QT question....how to keep cycled??

whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
I am adding new fish to my tank roughly once a month and I want to make sure that the QT stays cycled for the new comers......I have heard some people put damsels in the tank....but what do you do when you are QTing your new fish to avoid ick?? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose by having 2 fish in the QT???
I have a small piece of live rock, HOB filter, powerhead, and heater in there....
THANKS!!
 
chickadee

chickadee

Member
keeping fish in a qt constantly is not a good idea, IMO. Say you introduce a new fish to your qt that has a disease. He could spread it to your damsels without you knowing it, then when you add a new fish, the damsels could spread it to them, including, like you said, ich. Also, having aggressive fish in a tank with your newly added fish would cause major problems with territories, and your damsels (Being the little brats that they are) would pick on the new fish, and stress them out even more, which completely defeats part of the purpose for having a QT...
You should just feed the tank when you feed your fish, that way it'll stay cycled.
 
anonome

anonome

Active Member
I keep my 20g qt up pretty much all the time. Never know when the perfect fish or coral will come in. :joy: When I do weekly water changes on the 125 I syphon out about 10 gallons of the qt and add the 125 water, unless fish are in there then only 5 gallons so as not to shock the fish. Thus always having the right bacteria load. Do maintenence on the pump filter the same as if fish are in there, and like they said ghost feed the tank twice weekly to give the bacteria something to eat. (if no fish are in the tank) I have been doing this for awhile and it has worked for me.
 
chickadee

chickadee

Member
don't take this the wrong way, but i don't understand what adding water from your main tank to your qt tank is accomplishing... :notsure: the bacteria grows on surfaces like the rock or the filter... so adding water from your main tank doesn't add more bacteria to your QT. Ghost feeding the tank should do the trick.
 
fgcu14

fgcu14

Member
i would go with Anonome on this. or even if you didnt want to keep your qt up and running the entire time you could just do a water change and fill up as needed.
 
chickadee

chickadee

Member
... adding water from your main tank won't cycle your qt, or keep it cycled, unless your main tank has ammonia in it... like i said, the beneficial bacteria grows on surfaces, not free-floating in the water...
 
chickadee

chickadee

Member
i don't know how else to say this, but the water is not what is "cycled" it's the rock, sand, filter, anything with a hard surface that is cycled. the water doesn't have a colony of bacteria floating around in it (although, there is going to be some bacteria in the water, it's certainly not enough to keep your qt from spiking ammonia)
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Chickadee is absolutely correct. Bacteria feed. If you don't feed them they die.
Feed a QT tank a bit of food every couple of days.
For the love of all that is good don't put damsels in your QT. They will get aggressive and beat the heck out of anything you put in there.
 
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