Quarentine Tank - Setting up questions? Help!

[salth2o]

Hi!
I have a 30 gallon high, power head, heater, top, etc. Do I need sand or crushed coral on the bottom? I thought about going without anything?? anyone see any harm in this?
What do you guys/gals have in yours?

 

[jbird0824]

Hi i have a 10 gall. with crushed coral. you should make it as much a possible to look like the main tank. make sur you check levels in it to about every couple of weeks put some live rock in it they make thing go faster cycle wise. hope this helps happy fishing..

 

[beth]

There's no problem with the setup you suggest, in fact, it may be the best option as you may want to use your QT for a hospital tank sometime and its better to leave substrate out for the most part in that case.
I setup a QT 2-1/2 mos ago with rock from existing FO [which I since tore down to work on a reef tank], PH and a skimmer. The tank never even went thru a cycle. You do need to include some hiding spots for your fish, however. You can't keep them comfortably in a completely barren tank.

 

[vince]

I read from books that you shouldn't put any substrate (crushed corals or sand) in the bottom because you want to clean up any food that is left over. You don't wany any ammonia spike while nursing your newly arrived fish.

 

[east]

You should not add any substrate. They may trap the parasites or harmful bacteria. You don't need to have a complete nitrogen cycle in the quarantine tank. Medication may affect the cycle anyway. As it is also a "doctor tank" to separate and treat the sick fishes. The setup need to be simple. You may develop some space for hiding but not too much affecting your access to individual fish. The water need to be refresh every now and then depending on what drug is in it or it functions just as a isolation quarantine tank. If you have sick fish on treatment, you need to refresh the water partially so as to optimise the water condition for recovery. There is no need to add any sand or broken coral inside.