qt/refugium setup

[gallyjh]

Hi-
I was wondering is this possible. Have a QT tank set up alongside your main display tank, hooked together via an overflow - much like an refugium. So when I purchase a new fish, I disconnect the connection between the main tank and the QT. Now if the fish passes the QT after a month or so, would it be ok to reconnect the two tanks? And if the fish does not pass, and you end up using all sorts medication and so forth, dump the water, clean the tank thoroughly, and then reconnect? Is this possible? This seems to be the most efficient way to handle a QT.
Thanks!
~gally

 

[ericholcek]

actually i think it is a very very very bad idea. Say you use copper to trat ich. Copper never comes out of oyur tank and there always be trace amounts of it. When you reconnect your tanks copper goes into your main tank and all inverts and coral die.

 

[beth]

QT must be stand alone, not sharing water, filters, etc. Quarantine mean isolation the tank from other tanks so that other tanks do not get contaminated.

 

[gallyjh]

Originally posted by EricHolcek
actually i think it is a very very very bad idea. Say you use copper to trat ich. Copper never comes out of oyur tank and there always be trace amounts of it. When you reconnect your tanks copper goes into your main tank and all inverts and coral die.
Well, obviously I wouldn't have used copper, but I mean other treatments such as hyposalinity, or meds that don't use copper. Plus if copper was used, couldn't you just dump the water, clean it low amounts of bleach, then reconnect?
Originally posted by Beth
QT must be stand alone, not sharing water, filters, etc. Quarantine mean isolation the tank from other tanks so that other tanks do not get contaminated.
I understand that a quarantine must be isolated that is why, when there is a fish in there, it would no longer be connected to the main tank. Thus it would be isolated. You may have misread my post. So no connection whatsoever. There is no way for the fish to contaminate the main tank if it is connected in any way. Therefore, theoretically, if the fish showed that it was healthy due to the quarantine, the QT could be reconnected because the fish poses no threat.

 

[dskidmore]

Originally posted by gallyjh
Well, obviously I wouldn't have used copper, but I mean other treatments such as hyposalinity, or meds that don't use copper. Plus if copper was used, couldn't you just dump the water, clean it low amounts of bleach, then reconnect?
Most people seem to think that the copper gets into the silicone and leaches out slowly over time. Most people won't even buy used tanks for this reason. I don't have any personal experience with the matter.