Noob Question on Quarantine Setup

[Darins]

Hi all,

I purchased a rs nano and i intend it to be a quarantine tank before livestock goes into my DT (pending build). I'm setting the nano up now and my general question is:

- Is it bad to have rock/sand in the quarantine tank?

I was planning on adding some extra carribsea liferock or marco rock to the nano with arag-alive sand and cycle the tank. Then i started looking into quarantine systems which are minimal. Most threads simply state that their QT's are set up with the bare necessities, but i havent seen anything that says its bad to run a QT in a cycled tank with rock/sand.

Any input would be helpful!

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Most quarantines do not have rock or sand as it will absorb medication. The tanks are generally kept pretty sterile, with pieces of PVC for fish to hide in.

 

[Redfoxtang]

You can use rock and sand. But keep in mind that both may absorb some medication so make sure your keeping on eye on those. Also the rock and sand should never go in a DT tank as is could release medication back into the water column.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

IMO rock/sand should never be in a QT setup as they will absorb medications which makes it extremely hard to treat with things like copper, etc. that require you to maintain a certain level for a specific period of time.

also rock and sand are much more difficult to disinfect between uses. I prefer the PVC pipe method, after your done with them you can just drop them in some bleach for a day, rinse and dry really well and then they are ready for the next QT. When I finish a round of QT everything in the tank, including the lid and HOB filter go straight into a bleach solution, the sponge from the filter gets sealed into a ziploc and goes into the trash, and the tank itself gets a bleach solution soak inside of a larger plastic tub.