Coral QT Tank Nutrients?

[MarsReefer]

I got my first coral today (GSP, wanted something I hopefully can't kill) and I just got it set up in its quarantine tank after dipping. I have a decent light setup for it, but I realized I have no nutrients at all in my QT tank since there is nothing else in there. Do I need to dose something or feed it while its in QT since there is no nitrates or phosphates in the tank? Right now I really only have a powerhead and heater. For fish it isn't a big deal because they get fed and the water gets 100% changes every few days, but I am not sure what I am supposed to do for nutrients for coral QT.

 

[Bucs20fan]

QT for coral is a highly debated topic. I personally dont qt corals. I dip, and visually inspect and it hasnt steered me wrong yet. But your GSP will probably live, they are hard to kill but they do require some nitrates in order to feed. Just light alone will only keep them alive for so long.

 

[kinetic]

When you do a water change from your display tank (DT), change your QT tank's water with that DT water. Should have the right amount of Nitrate/Phosphate. GSP or not, that's a good way to go.

I would definitely continue to QT. Dip every week until nothing falls off of it anymore. If you want, you can even hold it in the QT for 76 days to ensure no ich makes it into your DT.

 

[MarsReefer]

When you do a water change from your display tank (DT), change your QT tank's water with that DT water. Should have the right amount of Nitrate/Phosphate. GSP or not, that's a good way to go.

I would definitely continue to QT. Dip every week until nothing falls off of it anymore. If you want, you can even hold it in the QT for 76 days to ensure no ich makes it into your DT.

Yeah my primary reason is to ensure no ich. I’ll use some tank water for nitrates that should be easy enough.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

As someone that QT my coral for multiple reasons its a great thing to do to prevent both fish and coral pests. I keep a couple inverts in the QT to clean algae and they can add nutrients. Sprinkle a few pellets in once a week or so and you should be fine.

I keep it super simple powerhead light live rock. If your not exporting all the nutrients they will remain at low levels. As long as its stable conditions they will be fine for that period. I think the danger comes from prolong periods if your using it as a grow out frag tank vs QT. I also dip everything prior to going in with coral RX then inspect and dip with Bayer (only because I have some sps kills red bugs) prior to going into main tank. Weekly water change and watch your salinity I just lost a frag from my salinity dropping. Test your bucket I accidently mixed a batch at 1.023 and topped off with water lost 1 of 7 frag.

IF you find a pest pull frags and dip weekly and scrap with tweezers to kill eggs. If you keep temps around 80-81 in QT you only need to qt for 30 days to prevent ich 99% of the time. A lot of people will say 45 to 72 but do some research and find out what risk your willing to take. 72-76 days is on a study that was done in a flawed environment really low temperatures no flow. 3 years since I went fallow and still don't have ICH QT 31 to 49 days depending on how frag/invert is doing. Yes you have to qt inverts to if you want to be sure.

The fact you are QT even if done for a few weeks is better then probably 80% of reefers. If doing it this way I recommend dosing all new fish in copper for 15 to 30 days as preventive make sure its not the same tank as coral I have a different one I setup as a temporary holding tank for 30 days when buying fish. Nothing wet in the qt can touch the display. QT should have its own separate items and wash hands.

 

[kinetic]

As someone that QT my coral for multiple reasons its a great thing to do to prevent both fish and coral pests. I keep a couple inverts in the QT to clean algae and they can add nutrients. Sprinkle a few pellets in once a week or so and you should be fine.

I keep it super simple powerhead light live rock. If your not exporting all the nutrients they will remain at low levels. As long as its stable conditions they will be fine for that period. I think the danger comes from prolong periods if your using it as a grow out frag tank vs QT. I also dip everything prior to going in with coral RX then inspect and dip with Bayer (only because I have some sps kills red bugs) prior to going into main tank. Weekly water change and watch your salinity I just lost a frag from my salinity dropping. Test your bucket I accidently mixed a batch at 1.023 and topped off with water lost 1 of 7 frag.

IF you find a pest pull frags and dip weekly and scrap with tweezers to kill eggs. If you keep temps around 80-81 in QT you only need to qt for 30 days to prevent ich 99% of the time. A lot of people will say 45 to 72 but do some research and find out what risk your willing to take. 72-76 days is on a study that was done in a flawed environment really low temperatures no flow. 3 years since I went fallow and still don't have ICH QT 31 to 49 days depending on how frag/invert is doing. Yes you have to qt inverts to if you want to be sure.

The fact you are QT even if done for a few weeks is better then probably 80% of reefers. If doing it this way I recommend dosing all new fish in copper for 15 to 30 days as preventive make sure its not the same tank as coral I have a different one I setup as a temporary holding tank for 30 days when buying fish. Nothing wet in the qt can touch the display. QT should have its own separate items and wash hands.

I've heard about the higher temps QT and fewer days, but people have always said to do 76 days to be sure. Though now I'm thinking of doing more research and setting temps to 80-81.

My 10G QT tank I just setup is maturing now with Tim's One and Only + Ammonium Chloride and MarinePure gems. I don't have a DT at the moment (well, I have a temporary DT, but it has fish and definitely has ich). I'm going to put corals and inverts through the QT before it goes into my final DT for 76 days, but might be nice to reduce that to half.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Most people will say that because it was the norm for last 20 or so years but recently there have been some studies that are scientifically Peer reviewed.

I believe randy who's a mod on this form suggests 45 days but here's an article about the new findings. I was the 72 day person but after reading this the other year I have brought several corals into my tank through this method. I think 36 days is the sweet spot as long as you keep it around 80 degrees and have good oxygen levels. You can also use flow to stir up tank so no dead spots. It's not about being wrong or right but risk management.

The chance you bring in ich after 5 weeks and it finds a host might be 1 in 10,000 after 45 days might be 1 in a million these are not real numbers but an example. The frag itself having encrusted ich on it is probably low to begin with. If coral is happy in qt I do 45 days if I get impatient or its dying I do it around 30ish days if before I let it die.

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames IMPORTANT UPDATE: Raising aquarium temperature to 27C/80.6F can shorten the coral/invert isolation period to 6 weeks: New Ich Fallow Period Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals &...

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