Qt

[frankthetank]

Teach me about QT's. Pretend I'm completely dumb about them.
1) Do you use them to introduce a fish or coral or invert to your tank?
2) What do you put in them - PVC fittings?
3) How long do you QT a fish, coral, invert before adding it to you tank?
4) Do you run a filter on your QT? How do you set up biological filtration while QT'ing a fish, coral, invert?
5) Anything else to help me understand this process and why we do it?

 

[nereef]

1. techniquely, anything wet can introduce disease into your tank. i tend to qt fish only, since i don't have a good place to qt corals. i also attempt to buy inverts only from tanks that don't contain fish.
2. pvc fittings work well for hiding spots in qt. if you would need to medicate, live rock tends to absorb meds.
3. the life cycle of ich (this is why most of us qt) is about 3-6 weeks. a month with no signs of disease should be sufficient, but 6 weeks would be full-proof.
4. some people do. i just run a powerhead. carbon will take out any medications, and a skimmer won't work if you need to do hypo. biological filtration is set up in either of a couple ways. you can cycle a qt just like a normal tank, or you can add some filter media from an existing tank and watch ammonia carefully.
5. we qt to keep disease out of the display. another big reason is to make sure your new fish is eating well before it is put in the display. no competition for food exists here, so your new fish can get special care. most importantly, imo, peace of mind is priceless.

 

[rcreations]

Here's a picture of mine. What I have inside: 1 heater, thermometer, biowheel filter, aquaclear filter that I only use when I want to run carbon, powerhead, lights, 2 pvc pipes and one plastic decoration.

 

[frankthetank]

Thanks for the replies. A couple more -
1) This is something that I could set up only when making a new purchase for the fish tank, right? Basically buy a 10g tank and use some existing DT water with a sponge that's been in the sump for biological filtratino in a power filter. Once QT is over - empty and clean the QT tank until next time.
2) It does not need light? Just ambient light from the room/DT?

 

[novahobbies]

Maybe this is the wrong way to do things, but here's what I do with my QT: I keep the tank empty and disassembled unless I need it, but I keep the biowheel part of the filter floating in my sump. When I need to start the QT, I use half established tank water and half new saltwater, then plug in the biofilter. You still have to monitor the QT tank closely for nitrate, but I've never had a problem with ammonia or nitrites....

 

[rcreations]

Originally Posted by FranktheTank
http:///forum/post/2784040
Thanks for the replies. A couple more -
1) This is something that I could set up only when making a new purchase for the fish tank, right? Basically buy a 10g tank and use some existing DT water with a sponge that's been in the sump for biological filtratino in a power filter. Once QT is over - empty and clean the QT tank until next time.
2) It does not need light? Just ambient light from the room/DT?
1) You'd have to cycle the tank every time if you do it this way. Even if you keep a biowheel or sponge in your main DT sump, there'll still be a mini cycle. But you can set it up a week before making your new fish purchase and make sure the water is stable before putting the fish in.
2) You don't need a light. I have one though because it helps me check the fish out for ich or any other problems. With just room lights, it's easy to miss these problems.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by FranktheTank
http:///forum/post/2784040
Thanks for the replies. A couple more -
1) This is something that I could set up only when making a new purchase for the fish tank, right? Basically buy a 10g tank and use some existing DT water with a sponge that's been in the sump for biological filtratino in a power filter. Once QT is over - empty and clean the QT tank until next time.Yes this is how I do it, except I use a sponge filter (the kind with a bubbler in it thats rated for 5x the volume of the tank) instead of a powerfilter sponge. powerfilter sponges may lack the capacity needed for a larger fish.
2) It does not need light? Just ambient light from the room/DT? ambient room light is more than sufficient unless your QTing corals, soft light like that is actually less stressful on your new creatures (fish) reducing stress can reduce the occurance of ich even if they come in carrying the parasite. allowing the QT period to eliminate the chances of infection. 6 weeks should be considered minimum in my opinion to ensure no disease is transferred into your display.
I answered in red.

 

[frankthetank]

Thank you for the replies - though I would disagree on there being a mini cycle if I break the tank down each time. A cycle is a period of establishing a biological bacteria foundation to handle a bio load. If I used a sponge media from my existing sump area - it would have an established biological bacteria population and thus would not create a cycle. I would only be QT'ing 1 fish at a time.

 

[rcreations]

I agree, except a sponge might not have enough surface area of biological filter. When you have a QT running everything becomes a biological filter: the glass walls, the PVC pipes, decorations and whatever else you put inside. When you empty the tank, you loose all that. But if you just keep small fish, a sponge might be enough and not start a mini cycle.