Coral (sps) qt setup help

[burtonboy182]

Hi
Redoing my tank after a crash and will be setting up a fish qt and a coral QT. I'm looking for a mainly sps dominated tank. Looking for some helpful hints on how to successfully keep and maintain an sps qt tank. I would also love to hear and see some of your setups.
Do you QT all your corals for 76 days?
Thanks a lot

 

[250mixreef]

A Calcium reactor is a great piece of equipment set and forget maintains alk and calcium with no risk of overdosing due to a dosing pump getting stuck in the in the on position

 

[burtonboy182]

Calcium reactor might be a little much for a small QT tank. I do plan to have one on my main tank.

 

[Reef 450]

My QT setup and process.

 

[burtonboy182]

Reef450 thanks. I was asking more for quarentine setups for corals. Mainly sps corals.
Thanks though

 

[VJV]

Hi, I have setup a small QT for SPS. Most of my acros did not make it through the QT and almost all came out brown. Lessons learnt:

1 - do not make it too small. A small tank will be prone to Temperature, Alk and other swings that SPS really do not like. My main problem was keeping the tank cold.

2 - you NEED a good dosing pump as well as ATO. In a small volume if any of these malfunctions you will have problems.

3 - feed your corals. They will be for 76 days in a fishless tank with no food additions. It is a true ULNS. I look at Aquaforest/KZ/Red Sea to provide aminoacids, vitamins, and generally speaking food for the corals.

4 - not sure it is essential for a coral only tank. Maybe good inc case of chemical warfare and if you have one lying around use it.

Hope this helps

 

[m0jjen]

Im starting a qt for acros due to AEFW in my display. My advice even if mine isnt started yet is dont cheap out. The acros will probably die if you do. My QT will be a 14 gallon standard glass tank. Light will consist of a hydra 26 HD along with two tunze 6015. I debated using balling for the QT but i figured id just premix it and manually dose. The corals will be stressed and probably not grow anyway so the consumption will be low. This will also be complemented by weekly wc.

Also as @VJV stated. Some amino/vitamins will be needed in a sterile tank. along with stable saltparameters using an ato. Depending on size you can make your DIY ato and do something like the one in the picture below

 

[250mixreef]

Calcium reactor might be a little much for a small QT tank. I do plan to have one on my main tank.

I missed the the qt part

 

[burtonboy182]

Yeah I was thinking of picking up an all in one tank and using that for coral QT. Which of the coral feeding programs would be the easiest in case I miss a day.
I'll def get a good ato. Like you said dosing should be pretty small and I can manually do it or put it in a pump if needed.
I guess I can leave it setup since I'll only be getting corals every 76+ days. If I wanted could I take it off line and use DT water to fill it up with? Would I need to take out Lr for the tank also?

 

[m0jjen]

Why would you QT for aslong as 76+ days? AEFW usually have to be QT'd for ~30 days. Id use freshly mixed water. The DT water can contain organics and other stuff which if no bacteria present will turn into ammonia. Or atleast i think so, not sure actually.

 

[VJV]

Why would you QT for aslong as 76+ days? AEFW usually have to be QT'd for ~30 days. Id use freshly mixed water. The DT water can contain organics and other stuff which if no bacteria present will turn into ammonia. Or atleast i think so, not sure actually.

76 days is to make shire that any ich or velvet Trophonts that might have come attached to the plug or any part of the coral that is not covered with tissue have time to hatch and die due to the absence of a (fish) host. Coral pests as you mention would not require 76 days.

 

[m0jjen]

76 days is to make shire that any ich or velvet Trophonts that might have come attached to the plug or any part of the coral that is not covered with tissue have time to hatch and die due to the absence of a (fish) host. Coral pests as you mention would not require 76 days.

Ah. Was thinking about coral pests alone ye

 

[burtonboy182]

Yeah was thinking for corals and fish health. I lost all my fish once I think velvet.
I'd be interested to see and hear about everyone else's coral QT protocol and setups. Maybe I will just do a month or maybe the 76 days or maybe it's too much work and I'll loose them because I'm maintaining 2-3 tanks.
Love to get opinions

 

[cFloor]

Here's a pic of my coral QT tank. I usually have acros in there but it's some LPS and zoas at the moment. When I receive a frag, I remove it from the plug and dip using Bayer. I then place it in QT and dip every 5-7 days for 8 weeks. I will also change the plug a couple times during that period. I do water changes and/or dose as needed. I do keep my QT running all the time even when there isn't any coral in it. It consists of a heater, power head, and led light. I upgraded to the Red Sea Reefer that you see in the pic from a PetCo tank just because I'm always QTing new corals so I figured I should have a clean setup that's easy to work on.

 

[burtonboy182]

Cfloor thank you very much. Great setup. I too was thinking about a Red Sea reefer. Is that the 170 or nano. Do you run a skimmer? Or have any marine pure blocks or anything in the tank or do you really keep it simple? Do you dose your setup with any coral foods?

 

[cFloor]

Cfloor thank you very much. Great setup. I too was thinking about a Red Sea reefer. Is that the 170 or nano. Do you run a skimmer? Or have any marine pure blocks or anything in the tank or do you really keep it simple? Do you dose your setup with any coral foods?

Mine is a 170. I love it. I do have a little live rock in the sump. I'll feed a little oyster feast once in a while, but I mainly rely on water changes and dosing 2 part.

 

[flsalty]

Yeah I was thinking of picking up an all in one tank and using that for coral QT. Which of the coral feeding programs would be the easiest in case I miss a day.
I'll def get a good ato. Like you said dosing should be pretty small and I can manually do it or put it in a pump if needed.
I guess I can leave it setup since I'll only be getting corals every 76+ days. If I wanted could I take it off line and use DT water to fill it up with? Would I need to take out Lr for the tank also?

You don't have to wait the 76 days to add new coral to the QT. You just need to keep track of when you put each piece in. The QT process doesn't start over like it does for fish.

 

[coweyes298]

I have a 11 gallon all in one shallow frag tank for coral qt with heater and sicce voyager nano. It has seeded filter media and one Kessil A160. By coupling kalkwasser with ATO I can keep LPS with no problem. But when I move to Acro it is hard to figure the exact amount kalk need. I then switch to GHL doser 2.1 3 head. One head for ATO, other two for auto water change. I am changing 4 gallon of water in a 7 days span. Feed them once a week with reef roid plus arctic pods. Parameter is fixed at dKH 8, NO3 1 to 3 ppm, PO4 0.03 ppm, calcium 1300 ppm. Coralline algae is growing on rack now and some acro stick are doing good in there.

I don't expect wild growth for acro in this 76 days QT span. SPS seems hanging there well by this setup.

 

[Susan Edwards]

If you add new coral to a coral qt tank already in progress, aren't you risking transfering ick or MV to you MT--could it not come in one a new coral and be floating around and attach to a coral nearly done with QT? I am now just starting to do QT'ing after losing 9 out of 13 fish to MV. My fallow period ends in 2 weeks (Yeah!). I just started my coral qt tank. It's still cycling and yes, I had gotten some corals--was planning to have tank up and ready first but it didn't work that way. I put some rubble in a plastic food storage container under one level of egg crate, and some larger pcs in there as well. I also have rubble in the media chamber of the hob filter. I started with biospira and stability and prime to keep am and nitrites neutralized. I started with half tank water--I figure even if I have 2 weeks to go, the coral qt is fishless so nothing will survive as any bad stuff hasn't had any fish in almost the 76 days. I'm changing some water every day, and using some of the water change water from the MT.

I haven't decided how long. Seems some people do 10 days, some 8 weeks, some 76 days. I dipped them when they went in. Not sure if they need dipping every week, or before they go into main tank. i'm eager to see what others say. I've got a mix of corals in there now. I have a hob filter with a small media basket area that has room for bags instead of the stupid cartridges, a wave maker and an led light. Not sure if the light is enough or the flow enough. Might need another power head or wave maker.

.

 

[coweyes298]

If you add new coral to a coral qt tank already in progress, aren't you risking transfering ick or MV to you MT--could it not come in one a new coral and be floating around and attach to a coral nearly done with QT? I am now just starting to do QT'ing after losing 9 out of 13 fish to MV. My fallow period ends in 2 weeks (Yeah!). I just started my coral qt tank. It's still cycling and yes, I had gotten some corals--was planning to have tank up and ready first but it didn't work that way. I put some rubble in a plastic food storage container under one level of egg crate, and some larger pcs in there as well. I also have rubble in the media chamber of the hob filter. I started with biospira and stability and prime to keep am and nitrites neutralized. I started with half tank water--I figure even if I have 2 weeks to go, the coral qt is fishless so nothing will survive as any bad stuff hasn't had any fish in almost the 76 days. I'm changing some water every day, and using some of the water change water from the MT.

I haven't decided how long. Seems some people do 10 days, some 8 weeks, some 76 days. I dipped them when they went in. Not sure if they need dipping every week, or before they go into main tank. i'm eager to see what others say. I've got a mix of corals in there now. I have a hob filter with a small media basket area that has room for bags instead of the stupid cartridges, a wave maker and an led light. Not sure if the light is enough or the flow enough. Might need another power head or wave maker.

.

I think you need to let coral stay in there for 76 days (count it individually). E.X. introducing new coral won't reset the 76 days clock for the existing one.