QT Question

fretfreak13

Active Member
I'm planning on making a 10 gallon QT. What's the best way to do it? It's going to be out in the open, so I don't want it to look like a total eye sore. I was thinking a little bit of LS, about three lbs of LR (yay biofilter!), a few hermits and snails, and possibly some type of sandsifting star. I'd have a HOB filter with Chemipure running as well. Is this an ok idea, or would a bare, boring Qt be better?
 

scsinet

Active Member
A bare, boring QT would be better. Sorry, but a QT is function over form.
Most parasite, fungal, and bacterial medications will kill your live sand and live rock, and hyposalinity treatments will kill your inverts.
A QT should be bare, with the exception of some hiding places made of nonporous material. I use sections of 3 and 4" PVC pipe in mine.
If you don't have an out of the way place to put your QT, there are ways to set up a QT on the fly without conventional cycling, which I can detail if you are interested in hearing about.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Fretfreak13
http:///forum/post/3135873
I'm planning on making a 10 gallon QT. What's the best way to do it? It's going to be out in the open, so I don't want it to look like a total eye sore. I was thinking a little bit of LS, about three lbs of LR (yay biofilter!), a few hermits and snails, and possibly some type of sandsifting star. I'd have a HOB filter with Chemipure running as well. Is this an ok idea, or would a bare, boring Qt be better?

I am with you...I want a QT I can sand to look at...a hospital tank and a QT are two different things...so go ahead and set up a tank the way you like it...but if your new addition should show sickness, you will need to be prepared with a hospital tank that you can set up in a hurry using the existing tank water from the QT. You won't want to poison your QT wih meds like copper if you have live rock and sand.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Darkslide820
http:///forum/post/3135938
When you say it should be bare, you mean just glass and water, not even gravel?

YEP, thats what he means...that way if you need to medicate a new critter your all set...thats why I said a hospital tank and QT can be two different things. He is saying use the QT for your hospital if need be...that way you need only 1 small tank.
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
SCSI: I'm not THAT worried about the LR and LS. If I do end up killing it, I an reseed it afterwards, right? I'm slow at adding fish, so there's plenty of time for another cycle in there. I'd move my litter inverts to my sump or DT, if I had to medicate in that tank.
Flower: I can do that too, actually. xP I only have a billion and a half ten gallons sitting around.
Darkslide: Yup.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Fretfreak13
http:///forum/post/3135948
SCSI: I'm not THAT worried about the LR and LS. If I do end up killing it, I an reseed it afterwards, right? I'm slow at adding fish, so there's plenty of time for another cycle in there. I'd move my litter inverts to my sump or DT, if I had to medicate in that tank.
Flower: I can do that too, actually. xP I only have a billion and a half ten gallons sitting around.
Darkslide: Yup.
NO...anything copper treated, or that a sick fish that has been in contact with should be put in your sump or DT...that is why you use a QT so it isn't in your display tank. You defeat the wole purpose if you place anything from the QT to your sump or DT, and certainly not if the fish is sick and needs treatment.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by Fretfreak13
http:///forum/post/3135948
SCSI: I'm not THAT worried about the LR and LS. If I do end up killing it, I an reseed it afterwards, right? I'm slow at adding fish, so there's plenty of time for another cycle in there. I'd move my litter inverts to my sump or DT, if I had to medicate in that tank.
Flower: I can do that too, actually. xP I only have a billion and a half ten gallons sitting around.
Breaking down an sanitizing a QT is par for the course after each time you use it.
I disagree with the notion that QT and HT are two separate things. I suppose they CAN be, but in most cases, they are one in the same. Having two separate tanks is ultimately harder on the fish, on your wallet, and on your time and energy.
What I'm saying is... the whole point of a QT is a place where you can identify issues that require treatment... so if you find that a fish requires treatment, are you going to want to subject him to the stresses of removing him and re-acclimating him to an HT, just to do a treatment on him?
The whole point of a QT is a location to place fish for observation, where you are prepared to do treatment if it becomes necessary. You're flirting with disaster if you routinely expect a fish to survive the stresses of being transferred to another tank once it becomes clear that he's sick.
Standard operating procedures call for quarantine tanks to be completely torn down and sanitized after each use, to prevent anything that was on the fish from being transferred to the tank's "next customer." You can't do that with an aquascaped QT. Ultimately, an aquascaped QT is only useful up until a fish you QT turns out to be sick. Then it becomes a nightmare.
So I'm going to stick by my original position, that a QT and HT are best being the same functional setup. A QT set up as a display tank is just another display tank, not a QT.
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
you will need to be prepared with a hospital tank that you can set up in a hurry using the existing tank water from the QT.
Why would you want to do this? The water from you QT will do nothing for your HT as far as bio-filtration it in fact can be detrimental if you are now adding a parasite into your HT that is in the free swimming stage of its life cycle
 

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Fretfreak13 http:///forum/post/3135873
I'm planning on making a 10 gallon QT. What's the best way to do it? It's going to be out in the open, so I don't want it to look like a total eye sore. I was thinking a little bit of LS, about three lbs of LR (yay biofilter!), a few hermits and snails, and possibly some type of sandsifting star. I'd have a HOB filter with Chemipure running as well. Is this an ok idea, or would a bare, boring Qt be better?
Read this
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/365581/qt-question
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3136285
Why would you want to do this? The water from you QT will do nothing for your HT as far as bio-filtration it in fact can be detrimental if you are now adding a parasite into your HT that is in the free swimming stage of its life cycle

I was thinking...If it is the middle of the night and no fresh saltwater is available...you want a tank with just water and sponge filter and a piece of PVC pipe so fishy can hide for the HT...Take water from your QT in a pinch. Thats all. I didn't think of ich in the water. I suppose to have a jug or two of made up saltwater would do...how long can you keep saltwater in a 5g jug?
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
how long can you keep saltwater in a 5g jug?
Long enough for you to see signs of illness in you QT and using it in a separate HT. IMO having a separate HT/QT is just not practical
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3136414

I was thinking...If it is the middle of the night and no fresh saltwater is available...you want a tank with just water and sponge filter and a piece of PVC pipe so fishy can hide for the HT...Take water from your QT in a pinch. Thats all. I didn't think of ich in the water. I suppose to have a jug or two of made up saltwater would do...how long can you keep saltwater in a 5g jug?
I could use my DT water and do a water change......per Beths instructions
Beth is so good to have such detailed info available for us to learn...she could write a book.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3136418
Long enough for you to see signs of illness in you QT and using it in a separate HT. IMO having a separate HT/QT is just not practical
I am a woman Florida Joe.....I want a pretty QT tank.. LOL. I do see your point...we are just tossing out ideas on how it could be done. Any QT is better than no QT.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3136463
And what, I don’t have a feminine side

I saw your tank...very pretty...I don't think that means you are feminine...But you seem to be willing to live with ugly elsewhere when necessary (QT Tank) I personally don't want ugly anywhere..LOL
I have been thinking on the same lines as the OP...is there a way to have a good looking QT without endangering the new critter? Pros and cons.....
I remember asking the same question once before, and in the end it was decided that I could. I have yet to do it, I'm still debating
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
But you seem to be willing to live with ugly elsewhere
Oh how I love to debate. But one must remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Now unless you are going to add corals to your QT you surly can not deny the beauty of a marine fish set in stark contrast to a spartan tank
 

fretfreak13

Active Member
Cool, first thread I've ever had that actually started a heated debate. xD
So here's where I'm at. 10 gallon tank. HOB filter with chemipure. PVC tubing for hiding places (could I maybe use base rock instead?), small heater. Bare bottom, no LR, no inverts.
 
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