Help me create an acropora QT tank

[Miami Reef]

My tank is running T5’s, so the QT needs to match for coral acclimation.

Main reason for QT corals is for fish parasites. 6 week QT for the acros and inverts

I would either buy a table to use as a stand, or have the tank come with a stand.

What size tank that will be able to have T5’s?

Is petsmart a good place to buy tanks from? They come with stands but I think it’s really expensive.

LFS selling 20 gallon tank with stand for 200+ dollars. The tank itself is 50.

 

[BlennyTime]

Your best bet for a cheap setup would be checking out Facebook marketplace. Especially somewhere big like Miami, there should be lots of options of people looking to get out of the hobby for one reason or another.

 

[Miami Reef]

Your best bet for a cheap setup would be checking out Facebook marketplace. Especially somewhere big like Miami, there should be lots of options of people looking to get out of the hobby for one reason or another.

I took your advice. Look what I got!

 

[Miami Reef]

Cost me only $100. LFS sells the same thing for +/-250

 

[Acros]

Add a six line wrasse and a couple of peppermint shrimp. That will take care of any AEF and eggs during the quarantine.

 

[Jekyl]

Forgive me because I don't know.. wouldn't it be easier to dip the coral and buy quarantined inverts?

 

[Miami Reef]

I can’t add any fish to this QT tank.

@Jekyl The only reason I’m QT is because of fish parasites. All the coral sellers keep their corals with fish, which brings to chance of ich tomonts that fall from the fish and land on the coral where the egg encrusts on hard surfaces (frag plug, calcium base etc)

Dipping works for the ich free swimming stage. But dipping (and copper) does nothing to the tomont (egg) stage. That’s why I need to keep the corals in my fishless QT system for 6 weeks for all the tomonts to hatch and die from the lack of food (fish).

Why can’t I buy corals from QT/ fishless vendors? Because most vendors keep their corals with fish. And the ones that do have separate coral/invert systems e.g. Live Aquaria. They only keep the corals away from the fish for 2 weeks before they are up for sale. There’s no way I can know where LA aquaria gets their livestock from, but I’d bet the whole sale industry is not going to focus their time and effort on preventing fish/coral cross contamination.

Long story short: I’m spending a lot of time, money, and effort to make my fish system ich/parasite free. If I’m going to go this far I’d better go all the way so I can sleep good at night.

In the extreme unlikely event that I fail, I can say that I tried my best. Literally. But I’m so positive I’m going to succeed. I spend the past months researching. One thing that was good about my ich management says was that I learned a lot about the fish parasite life cycle.