quarantine tank

sparry67

sparry67

Member
I set up a 30 gallon qt tank like a month ago, I used water from my display tank which is perfect numbers, added small piece of live rock and a cup of live sand from dt but my ammonia is still through the roof! What more do I have to do? I have a small hang on filter which I put foam pad from the dt in this filter. Any advice on what to do? I keep doing numerous water changes on it and nothing is working? Do I need to cycle it with shrimp? I didn't think I had to when using everything from my DT? HELP!!!! Anxious for new fish!! Thanks (another thing I did was add a bunch of copepods to the qt at one time to raise for my mandaran but it died0
 
geridoc

geridoc

Well-Known Member
It sounds like your qt is cycling, so don't do anything to it. I don't have a problem when using filter material that has been stored in the sump of my dt to instantly cycle my qt, but you added live rock and sand, so who knows. I would take out the rock and sand - they just add complications to what should be a simple system. Add 1 or two pieces of PVC pipe for shelter, and wait for the ammonium to come down. Then do a water change, and you're ready to add a fish. Always have a bottle of Amquel+ handy to neutralize any possible ammonium spike due to the new fish, and you should be fine.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Just because you added material from your DT into your QT doesn't mean its a instant go. It depends on the amount of bacteria on the material, along with the decay that can also be in the filter floss, such as food particles and such.
That's why when I do not have a fish in my QT i keep a cheap damsel in it to keep the bacteria alive and he eats 5-10 pellets every other day. I water change 20% once a month and that's it. I now have live rock that I bought from a friend in the tank also, but just as a precaution that it doesn't have anything on it.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xcali1985 http:///t/393056/quarantine-tank#post_3493902
Just because you added material from your DT into your QT doesn't mean its a instant go. It depends on the amount of bacteria on the material, along with the decay that can also be in the filter floss, such as food particles and such.
That's why when I do not have a fish in my QT i keep a cheap damsel in it to keep the bacteria alive and he eats 5-10 pellets every other day. I water change 20% once a month and that's it. I now have live rock that I bought from a friend in the tank also, but just as a precaution that it doesn't have anything on it.
What do you do with the damsel when you want to quarantine a new fish?
 
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