Adding some tanks for QT and medicating...

[Empress]

Don't forget to stock up on different types of medications and definitely have an Ammonia Badge for each QT. Power heads, thermometers, HOB filters, a variety of fresh/healthy foods, a sharp crispy white light, lots of small buckets, bleach/vinegar, towels, and maybe some garlic to entice them to eat. And the list goes on and on.

I'd make two lists; one for supplies/equipment and another for the fish you want. If you put the fish in order by aggressiveness/territorial and full grown size that might help you decide which fish to get first and how to keep them separated in QT so they don't fight.

Take it slow and if you see a problem fix it before moving on to the next step to avoid deadly mistakes down the road.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Good luck and keep us posted. Take lots of pictures and write everything down. Even if it's written on toilet tissue. [emoji225]
P.S. I didn't intend to write all this since you probably know it all already. But I couldn't help myself. [emoji228]

 

[gtbarsi]

I would go with 20 Long(s) and 40 Breeders(s) for tanks for fish QT / treatment, totes for alternate transfers, so you can put the toes away when not in use
As to limiting the amount of salt water wasted, you do not have to fill the tanks, if you have smaller fish or a smaller qty of them, then you can consider filling them 1/2 way.

I have been planning a QT system for the large tank I want to get for my new house once I have the cash. I plan on putting them on heavy duty shelving, so I can have a couple per rack, with additional storage above or below. While I was not planning on doing TTM for my QT, it should work.

1 or more tanks for frag QT as well, this is more limited by the ability to provide reasonable lighting IMO.

Question to the group and the esteemed@Humblefish regarding this earlier comment.

QT tanks 10ft+ away from each other and your DT to prevent aerosol transfer

Is this really a thing, what can be transferred with the tanks much closer? This is a serious consideration and a major killer to my idea to us racks for QT/hospital tanks.

Thanks!

 

[DLHDesign]

Is this really a thing, what can be transferred with the tanks much closer? This is a serious consideration and a major killer to my idea to us racks for QT/hospital tanks.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/

 

[gtbarsi]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/

Thank you for the reference, I would have never believed it otherwise. It sounds like I am going to have to shelve my QT on racks plan.
So all QT 10' away from each other and my basement sump, which will be racked with my fuge above my sump.

 

[DLHDesign]

It sounds like I am going to have to shelve my QT on racks plan.

There are people that do this, I'm sure. It may just be as "simple" as putting a solid cover on the tops of the tanks (eg; piece of acrylic)? I don't know the solution (if there is one), but it's on my list of things to research more one of these days...

 

[ksfulk]

There are people that do this, I'm sure. It may just be as "simple" as putting a solid cover on the tops of the tanks (eg; piece of acrylic)? I don't know the solution (if there is one), but it's on my list of things to research more one of these days...

Problem with the solid cover on the tanks is that you limit your gas exchange. Numerous medications we often use deplete the oxygen in the water, and by restricting the gases available at the water level, you really handicap something that is typically in abundance.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/oxygen-while-using-meds.258949/

If I was planning a TTM system, I would grab a pair of black plastic totes (~30 gallons) and use those. Something I never really could get the hang of was trying to see the fishes body when looking for parasites, roughed up scales and other signs of injury with a clear glass or white background. The black contrast makes it SO much easier. Granted, you could always just paint your tanks

 

[DLHDesign]

Problem with the solid cover on the tanks is that you limit your gas exchange.

This was my primary concern with covered tanks - absolutely. You could make sure that there's a good flow of incoming air with an air pump and stone, but I'm not sure how important off-gassing the chamber is. Plus, you won't get a totally sealed container, so the possibility of aerosol still seems to remain...

The black contrast makes it SO much easier. Granted, you could always just paint your tanks

This is exactly what I did - painted the backs black. I'm thinking of doing the sides as well in order to help "quite" the tank some more (the fish seem to stress out more when they run into glass walls).

 

[gtbarsi]

I wonder if the hydroponic tents I have seen for indoor growing would help contain the aerosol issue w/o limiting air exchange too much. Of course yout would have to consider washing them as well. What a pain!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

NO NO NO cant have each of these with out the YTD.
Is tike a Pastor without a Church.............. can't have that either

FYI, in each of my tanks I always had a YTD, it was my first salt water fish in the early 80's and from there on I always had one as my first fish.
Never had a problem with them, yes they have their own place in the tank but a 400 would be a problem, you wouldn't even notice him/her

HA! This is true!

 

[Cary]

HA! This is true!

Rev,
You might want to try a Orchid (fridmani) dottyback. I have a male and he is an absolutely beautiful fish. You might even try a mated pair.

 

[Ocelaris]

I'll fourth the recommendation for 30 gallon totes. They make doing ttm much easier, and I think the fish like the security of all black sides. I have a 40 breeder above the 30 gallon tote and I use an 1/4 line with a ball valve to wash them down after siphoning the bleach water out. I would strongly recommend placing the qt tanks near your sink/drain if possible for ease of transferring water. Here's my set up.

The aquaclear hang on back filter doesn't fit on the black totes due to the lip, so I use a sponge filter with airline in the totes which I throw away after their use. I start all the filters in my display sump for a week and transfer them to the qt tank and run for a day before introducing fish. It's a lot of salt doing the ttm, so having enough fresh salt water to fill the qt tanks is helpful. My water change barrels are smaller than my qt tanks, so I have to fill in 2 steps, which is a pain.

 

[MasterBacon]

Craigslist in NC has Petco setups for sale. Change the plumbing and poof awesome QT layout.

 

[saltyhog]

I use 10 gallon tanks for TTM. I really want to be able to observe the fish. Not so much to try to assess parasite infestation but to view behavior and assess how their eating...as well as trying to get them to associate me...with food. For less skittish species this is often accomplished before TTM is completed. Then in to my larger cycled QT for 4-5 weeks of fattening up and observation. This is where I most often treat with Prazi (unless something prompts me to do it during TTM).

With your set up I'd have a second set of 20gal long tanks for TTM for larger fish. I will say I've not had trouble with some fairly good sized fish in the 10's though. These 3 pyramid butterflies thrived during TTM.

 

[maroun.c]

I'm running the following:
Intro / quarantine tabkbfor corals. A dip in arrival and a dip a week later before they go into DT. If I spot anybody's during that time then the corals stay in Q tank with weekly dips for 5 weeks.
1 fish introduction tank with added UV for fish I don't want to proactively treat. It has a sand bed and Live rock and some caulerpa. Use it to fatten some new fish and observe them before placing in tank. Can run Prazi as well. I also use it to slowly adjust jet lag of sand dwelling wrasse. If there is sign of disease fish is moved to Q tank. This one is 25 G and it's been fine for many fish together.
I also have 3 Q tanks 20-30 and 80 G
20 and 30 are more convenient for the added water changes and medication cost... 80 I use when I want to quarantine more fish or if I have fish I need to get used to each other like my couple of Tomini tangs, and also had multiple yellow eyes there. It's also useful for larger fish or fish that stress in small tanks like Achilles...
Reason for multiple tanks is to be able to add fish without resetting the quarantine time of older fish. It also allows toleave the Q tank empty for few weeks between fish to starve off disease. I tend to avoid total restarts of a Q tank as cycling it is a pain and cause more fish losses than disease in my experience.