QT HT setup

[Mikeltee]

So I recently had velvet wipe out all my fish within 24hr. My last addition was well over a month ago so I am still scratching my head trying to figure out why the velvet just hit. After a decade in the hobby with no known diseases or issues and no quarantine protocol, I just decided to buy a 20gal QT tank and am going to let the 130gal DT tank go fallow for the mandatory 76 days as well as add a 57watt UV.

I got a simple $40 20gal acrylic tank. I also did a bunch of research but I have some questions so I hope I can get answers here instead of starting a thread for each new question that pops up every few hours.

What I have so far is:
20gal tank
2x powerheads
75w heater
Ammonia sticker
Temp gauge
Hanna CU checker
A big list of chemicals for treatment such as copper power and all the seachems mentioned in the appropriate thread...

1st question-
I got the Aquaclear HOB after researching it as the best option. I only got the 20 because I have powerheads for flow. Did I make my first mistake already? If so what size should I have gotten?

2nd question-
The filter it comes with and all the replacements on the shelf have carbon in them. I obviously dont want carbon while running copper power. What do I do about filtration? Do I just stuff a bunch of filter floss in it? Are one of these included filters enough carbon to get rid of copper? I have a carbon reactor and rox 0.8 I could temporarily hook up if I need a massive amount of carbon to remove the copper post treatment. I dont plan to use the new meta of a 2 tank qt protocol. I'll have a hard enough time hiding this tank from my wife let alone two of them! Lol

3rd question-
In my dt sump, I have a filter sponge in a baffle right before the return. Can I just drop this in the bottom of my qt tank and consider it cycled or should I go with the bacteria in a bottle method, or both?

4th question-
I don't plan to dose any ammonia if I need to go the seed route so I will "ghost feed". What amount do I use and how often? I have pellets, flake and frozen on hand. Will just a pinch do me?

I appreciate it everyone!

 

[Big G]

Bump

 

[Mikeltee]

Since I never got any feedback here, this is what I did. I realized that I did not get the Aquaclear filter, I got the Aqueon. Whoops... I returned it and got the Tidal 50gal. Its sweet! Dead silent and perfect size for a 20gal tank. I dont have any filters in it yet so I cant comment on the aspect zi see everywhere about the filters being bypassed. That is the reason I went with the 50gal. If half of the water gets filtered I am good with the outcome.

I have its sponge and Matrix(rocks) in my filter socks right now in the DT. In a week I plan to squirt them with Stability and put them in the QT tank 5 days before I get the fish.

I also plan to run Purigen during the copper phase. Once I am done with the copper, I plan to pull the Purigen sock and replace it with a sock with rox.08 in it. If it's too slow to soak up the copper, I will buy a cheap reactor, but I am pretty sure a sock of rox.8 will be fine.

I decided to get a $2 bottle of Dr Tim's ammonia at BRS instead of ghost feeding. I like science and accuracy so it's right up my alley.

I will post my results in here as to have an up to date QT tank setup thread on here. If anyone has any questions just ask. Those 2 cheap $8 powerheads from amazon are just that... cheap. They point up to exchange O2 which is all I need them for. I wouldnt want to rely on them to support any coral that's for sure. Maybe in a 1gal nano they would be sufficient, but for my purposes of a fish at, they are more than sufficient.

 

[cboylan1606]

Since I never got any feedback here, this is what I did. I realized that I did not get the Aquaclear filter, I got the Aqueon. Whoops... I returned it and got the Tidal 50gal. Its sweet! Dead silent and perfect size for a 20gal tank. I dont have any filters in it yet so I cant comment on the aspect zi see everywhere about the filters being bypassed. That is the reason I went with the 50gal. If half of the water gets filtered I am good with the outcome.

I have its sponge and Matrix(rocks) in my filter socks right now in the DT. In a week I plan to squirt them with Stability and put them in the QT tank 5 days before I get the fish.

I also plan to run Purigen during the copper phase. Once I am done with the copper, I plan to pull the Purigen sock and replace it with a sock with rox.08 in it. If it's too slow to soak up the copper, I will buy a cheap reactor, but I am pretty sure a sock of rox.8 will be fine.

I decided to get a $2 bottle of Dr Tim's ammonia at BRS instead of ghost feeding. I like science and accuracy so it's right up my alley.

I will post my results in here as to have an up to date QT tank setup thread on here. If anyone has any questions just ask. Those 2 cheap $8 powerheads from amazon are just that... cheap. They point up to exchange O2 which is all I need them for. I wouldnt want to rely on them to support any coral that's for sure. Maybe in a 1gal nano they would be sufficient, but for my purposes of a fish at, they are more than sufficient.

How has your qt tank process gone?