QT Disaster
- Thread starter rich nyc
- Start date
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Oh dang. Well say you have fish shipped to you. If you open the bag the fish will die as oxygen rushes in, so you add Prime to the bag to kill the ammonia right? Are you just trusting that water has no copper?
The QT guide on this forum has tricks for that, but if you can match the salinity in your QT to the salinity the shipper is using and just quickly check once you get it to make sure, you can avoid that process once the temperature in the bag matches the tank. Otherwise I think you have fewer than 30 minutes from opening the bag to get the fish in the tank. Below is the guide I used, in addition to Humblefish's great guide, also below:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/beginners-guide-to-acclimation-and-quarantine.299
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/beginners-guide-to-acclimation-and-quarantine.299
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/
melypr1985
totally addicted
Dr. Tims or other bacteria in a bottle products work well, though they can take a week or so to really get going. The ammonia alert badge and frequent water changes will be your friend in the beginning of every QT.
The best way to fight this is to match the QT's salinity to that of the bag the fish are in. Float for temperature, then net the fish out of the bag and straight into the QT. As long as temp and salinity match you're golden and then you have no need to fear the ammonia spike.
You can poke a small hole in the bag to draw out enough water to test in your refractometer. Put a piece of tape over it and adjust the QT to match that salinity. By the time you are done, the temp should match the QT since it's been floating in there the whole time. Cut the bag open, net the fish and set it free without releasing any of the bag water into the tank. Make sense? I think I rambled some there. lol
Big G
captain dunsel
My own experience, and it can vary due to a multitude of parameters, is that it takes 3-7 days for the initial ammonia cycle to work through after adding Bio-Spira. Measure the ammonia until you see it finally drop to zero and then test it. Add ammonia, pure ammonia, up to 1ppm which is usually 1 drop per gallon of tank size. And then see if within 24 hours it drops to zero.
Makes sense. A couple of details to clear up...for bacteria in a bottle seeding the foam, do you only add it once to the foam and it's good to go after sitting in the QT for a week? Or do you need to take it out, pour some more on, every so often?
And for water changes, is there a rule of thumb on how much should be done per change at the beginning of QT?
Big G
captain dunsel
Add fish s-l-o-w-l-y. Think bio-load: small/thin/narrow fish = small bio-load; bigger/thick/fat fish = bigger bio-load. You want to slowly ramp-up the bio-load.
melypr1985
totally addicted
Typically what I have done is to put the sponge in a bowl with a little saltwater. Pour the entire bottle over the sponge and let it sit for a couple hours to allow the bacteria to settle on a surface. Put the sponge in the filter along with all the water from the bowl and turn on the filter.
Keep an eye on the ammonia alert badge. Change the water any time you see it register anything but 0. I've been known to do 50% water changes almost daily at first to keep the ammonia down.
Big G
captain dunsel
+ 1 It works. But can be lots of work.
Big G
captain dunsel
They need their own QT. You will be dipping them more than once and you do not want any of the dip liquid, like Bayer, in your DT.
melypr1985
totally addicted
Dips are not able to kill the parasites in their cyst form, so they need to run through their own QT. I have a 20 gallon frag tank that I keep up as a kind of fishless "mini reef" that all my corals and inverts reside in for 76 days. I use a paint pen on the glass to keep track of what went in the tank and when.
Crashjack
Well-Known Member
I've been using an oversized power head connected to an oversized sponge filter with good results. I use a Cobalt 900 with a sponge filter rated for 40 gallons in my QT with 10 gallons of water. I also have an air tube connected to the power head which pulls in air from outside the tank and creates a ton of tiny air bubbles. I point the outlfow toward the surface and toward the wall the power head rests against. This creates a lot of surface agitation, while keeping the current in the tank manageable. I have to lay the whole thing sideways, but it provides good cover for the fish. I've had more fish orient and hide around the horizontal sponge filter than in and around all four PVC elbows combined.
OP
OP
rich nyc
Well-Known Member
What if you dipped your corals like weekly or daily in dt. I also dont have room for both. Live in a small apartment in nyc. as is my new qt is on my kitchen counter top. thankfully I am not a chef.
