First quarantine setup questions

[bdejong1112o]

Ok, so I have read the how to article on QT, excellent information! I do have a few questions for my situation.

My main tank is new and is being cycled right now. My QT tank is a 20 gallon with the basic hob filter, heater, lights and hood setup from topfin.

I do not have an established system to soak my filter media in to get a bacteria bed going as mentioned in the article. I will do that going forward ince the main tank is established.

Can I start with fresh saltwater, seed the filter sponge with bacteria in a bottle and then start QT'ing my first few fish while the main tank is doing it thing?

I do have a seachem badge and a full 150g RODI setup in the house so making fresh saltwater is not an issue. I can easily keep fresh good water in the QT tank. From what I read if treating fish the water in the QT is changed out frequently anyways so I don't see a need to cycle the QT tank or am I completely missing it here?

 

[Diesel]

Congrats on the new build my friend.
And hats of for starting out right with a QT.

Yes you can quarantine the fish already.
Just make sure you acclimate them for Temp, salt and Ph
Don't seed the QT from your main tank, always keep it separate.
Use different buckets and cups as well nets for your QT.

Let us know what kind of fish you going to quarantine

 

[bdejong1112o]

Ben, excellent suggestion about nets, cups and other tools and keeping a second set. Didn't take that into consideration. I have the QT across the room on its own stand. Figure I am going to be running it quite a bit over the next year so it may as well have it's own table. I will get extras for all the common stuff.

QT is a must for everything. I have spent to much time and money setting all this up and I am a pretty risk adverse type of person so it makes good sense to do this. Plus I have read far to many stories of lessons learned here.

After suggestions here and from my LFS I am going to go with 3 pajama cardinals for my first additions. It was suggested to start with three and then observe for pairing off if that happens. If they do pair off the lfs will take the third so they don't beat it up. If not then I will have three!

Taking it slow and will start here. I have a full stocking list and will use that if the first ones go in and aclimate well and I perform the QT process correctly.

Sound like a plan?

 

[Brew12]

Can I start with fresh saltwater, seed the filter sponge with bacteria in a bottle and then start QT'ing my first few fish while the main tank is doing it thing?

This is how I always start up my QT system.

Looks like you have things very well thought out. Sounds like an excellent plan.

 

[bdejong1112o]

Ok, thanks!

 

[bdejong1112o]

So how about our cleanup crews? Do they need a different process? I see people just add them to third tanks all the time. I assume they don't share the same QT as the fish do.

 

[Maritimer]

CUC wouldn't share the fish QT - copper would wipe them out. They can share a coral QT, though...

Corals, snails, crabs can all have tomonts encysted on them. (Echinoderms, not so much, it seems...) Drop them into a coral / inverts-only QT for 76 days, and you've "fallowed" your cleanup crew. Importantly, with no fish in the tank, the 76 day clock starts with introduction for _each_ creature, so that adding a few snails to the tank which already holds corals doesn't set the corals back. If you added an emerald crab two months down the line, the snails can still be moved to your display 76 days after they were added to QT - they don't have to wait additional time for the crab.

Another option would be to add CUC to your display once it becomes habitable, but then treat the display as fallow - no fish for 76 days. (Especially if your CUC came from Petco or anywhere that fish and inverts are sold from the same tanks.)

~Bruce

 

[bdejong1112o]

Thanks for the reply Bruce. So there is no treatments for the cleanup crews other than time. Looks like either a very long serial process or I setup another small QT tank for the crew..

I have zero plans to ever purchase any living creature from the chain pet stores in my area. I have spent some time over the past few months visiting all the local shops that carry marine fish and several of them are on my no way, no how list. I am down to one that I would use and one that I would go to in a pinch only due to the owners over zealous opinions on how to run a tank.

For the CUC I have been looking at Reefcleaners, I think I saw them mentioned here somewhere. They appear to specialize in these types of creatures and have a lot of good information on types and when to add which ones. Any thoughts there?

If I were to setup a quick QT, say 10g for just the CUC what would I feed them since it would be an empty tank devoid of any alge or substrate? Or is it best for the animal to introduce them to the DT and just wait out the 78 days before adding fish?

 

[Brew12]

Thanks for the reply Bruce. So there is no treatments for the cleanup crews other than time. Looks like either a very long serial process or I setup another small QT tank for the crew..

I have zero plans to ever purchase any living creature from the chain pet stores in my area. I have spent some time over the past few months visiting all the local shops that carry marine fish and several of them are on my no way, no how list. I am down to one that I would use and one that I would go to in a pinch only due to the owners over zealous opinions on how to run a tank.

For the CUC I have been looking at Reefcleaners, I think I saw them mentioned here somewhere. They appear to specialize in these types of creatures and have a lot of good information on types and when to add which ones. Any thoughts there?

If I were to setup a quick QT, say 10g for just the CUC what would I feed them since it would be an empty tank devoid of any alge or substrate? Or is it best for the animal to introduce them to the DT and just wait out the 78 days before adding fish?

I'm 90% sure Reefcleaners uses fishless systems which makes them very safe to not put though a QT process. Maybe @melypr1985 can confirm?

 

[Maritimer]

what would I feed them since it would be an empty tank devoid of any alge or substrate?

A bit of nori for algae eaters, the same foods that you offer to your fish for everyone else, should get them through.

~Bruce, who has heard similar good things about ReefCleaners, but never purchased from them