Do you need to cycle a QT tank?

[leilanastasia]

Can you setup a qt tank with new salt water, new filter, new everything, then add bacteria to it and call it good? I’m new to setting up quarantine tanks. I’ve had mine running for a month straight and been dosing live bacteria. Anything I’m missing? I’m a newbie

 

[threebuoys]

Can you setup a qt tank with new salt water, new filter, new everything, then add bacteria to it and call it good? I’m new to setting up quarantine tanks. I’ve had mine running for a month straight and been dosing live bacteria. Anything I’m missing? I’m a newbie

You can certainly start with everything new. However, at some point the QT should be confirmed as cycled.

If you add bacteria, you need to be sure you have some type of media for it to adhere to, and you must confirm it is working. Some bacteria in a bottle products work faster than others, so I would not assume the QT is cycled until you are confident ammonia is being processed into nitrate. QT plus copper plus ammonia will put a lot of stress on a fish, as you might imagine.

You may want to consider keeping some foam in your sump or DT filtration system that can be moved to the QT if it is needed. If it has been in the DT system for a month or so, it should be adequately populated to be moved to the QT to quick start the cycle there.

David

 

[346700984]

Can you setup a qt tank with new salt water, new filter, new everything, then add bacteria to it and call it good? I’m new to setting up quarantine tanks. I’ve had mine running for a month straight and been dosing live bacteria. Anything I’m missing? I’m a newbie

Yes you can. We once had an emergency in our reef tank so we bought a new tank, mixed saltwater, added Fritz bottled bacteria, tested salinity/ph/temp to make sure those were good, freshwater dipped the fish, drip acclimated and then put them in the quarantine tank to start treatment all in the one day and we never had any parameter spikes.

 

[leilanastasia]

Yes you can. We once had an emergency in our reef tank so we bought a new tank, mixed saltwater, added Fritz bottled bacteria, tested salinity/ph/temp to make sure those were good, freshwater dipped the fish, drip acclimated and then put them in the quarantine tank to start treatment all in the one day and we never had any parameter spikes.

Thank you so much! Very helpful. So far I've been dosing paraguard, and microbacter7 from brightwell aquatics and my fish are doing well. At first I was super scared since the tank wasn't cycled but I saw your reply at the right time the other day.

 

[pecan2phat]

I've found it to not work so easily in all my experiences. Tanks have always tended to go through an ammonia spike no mater how much bottled bacteria is used. This usually happens anywhere from 3 days to a week after fish have been introduced.
My advice is to go ahead and try it since others have had success but keep RO water on hand and Seachem Prime.

 

[User]

I've found it to not work so easily in all my experiences. Tanks have always tended to go through an ammonia spike no mater how much bottled bacteria is used. This usually happens anywhere from 3 days to a week after fish have been introduced.
My advice is to go ahead and try it since others have had success but keep RO water on hand and Seachem Prime.

In 10 years running maybe 40 tanks (12 currently if you count all the qt tanks I have standing by) I’ve always used biospira and microbacter7 and have never once seen an ammonia spike that I didn’t induce intentionally during an initial cycle phase using janitorial ammonia as food for the bacteria

It really depends on the QT- 3 days for a TTM cycle? No. I’ve never cycled. Match new salt water to parameters of the old tank, transfer the fish, add a little prime at the end of day 2 if needed. Always have an ammonia badge in the tank, have never seen it register more than yellow.

for observation tank that I use after my 4 rounds of TTM - a 40b with hob filter, and sand, I just set that up the day I set up the 3rd TTM round, add a half bottle of biospira, and 6 days later, after round 4 of TTM, in fo the fish. They stay there for 2-4 weeks or longer if issues crop up.

the secret is a proper water volume to fish ratio- in 20longs and 40b’s im
Never putting more than 6-12” of total fish in them each QT round. Less if they are messy eaters like tangs.

 

[346700984]

I've found it to not work so easily in all my experiences. Tanks have always tended to go through an ammonia spike no mater how much bottled bacteria is used. This usually happens anywhere from 3 days to a week after fish have been introduced.
My advice is to go ahead and try it since others have had success but keep RO water on hand and Seachem Prime.

We had AmQuel Ammonia Detoxifier on hand in case which also detoxifies nitrites, nitrates and chlorine but never had to use it. It’s been months since we started that quarantine tank and we never had an ammonia spike or any other parameter spike.

 

[Hot2na]

a little known product called aquagold from NFP can cycle a QT tank in 24 hrs...it works !

 

[User]

So can biospira and microbacter 7 starter.

a little known product called aquagold from NFP can cycle a QT tank in 24 hrs...it works