Quarantining Coral: Do you? Should you? How do you?

[Kfactor]

i started qt corals for my new tank no coral with go in with out being qt. i got flat worms in my old tank and dont want the chance of getting any pest in my new setup

 

[KaneMN]

I usually QT them for at least 14 days and then rinse with the DT water before adding to DT tank.

 

[OneSockERock]

Sure do! I QT coral mostly with the DT fish in mind but...

Good thing I do because just this past friday I found this little turd eating one of my new monti frags from a recent live sale on here...

None came out in the CoralRX dip on arrival, took about a week before he appeared and started munching so there must have been a few eggs hiding under the frag. Found two more smaller ones from the same frag when I dipped all of the montis again after the discovery. Admittedly I don't change out the frag plugs on arrival but after this shipment I think I'll start.

Haven't seen any since Saturday and dipped the all of the montis again yesterday sooo hopefully I got them before they laid more eggs. We'll see!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

If I get a coral that looks like it might be a problem child, and by that I mean that it's in rough shape (or maybe it has "something" on it that I think needs some extra observation), I put it on the frag rack in my 10g Innovative Marine AIO. Not sure I'd call it a real quarantine, more a coral rest and recovery tank. For some reason corals that are struggling do really well in there. It has adequate light and filtration for corals, it's well established, and there aren't a lot of things in there to bother struggling corals. Some corals never graduate to the 50g. Some might just stay there a few weeks. The tank is right next to my desk where I spend much of my time so it's great for things that need to be watched.

 

[KK's Reef]

The 1600gph Hygger Mini Wavemaker. Seems to work perfectly at 100% random flow.

I've seen this pump on Amazon, but was worried it might blow the sand everywhere. I suppose I can turn it down a bit. Really need to get some circulation in dead spots and just keep the detritus from accumulating so I might have to give this a try. Thanks!

 

[nick0206]

I do not have a quarantine tank mainly due to the lack of free space for it. Which is why I have a 75 gallon SPS and LPS reef.
It all depends on where I get the corals, mostly frags. I have over 40 SPS corals and over 25 LPS corals.
I received about half of my corals as a gift from friends or exchanged with someone. I know these people and I know that they have no problems in the tank. But I still dip them before entering the DT.
If these are corals from nature (mainly Australia or sometimes Indonesia), then in any case I do a dip, and I examine the LPS corals with a magnifying glass, and if there are suspicions, then with the help of a dremel I cut off suspicious pieces (or clean up with a grindstone). For 15 years in my hobby, I have never had any parasites on corals and only once had white dots on the fish, which disappeared in 3-4 days.
I also believe that corals should not be quarantined for stress reasons.
1, Coral is taken from nature, even if it is a farm. They are often cut into frags.
2, They go to the sorting container awaiting packing and shipment.
3, They are on the road in terrible conditions of darkness and stagnant water and most often come discolored (without zooxanthellae).
4, They get into the seller's tank and it's good if the seller knows what he is doing (I am familiar with others as well).
5, We buy them.
After all these twists and turns, adding another torment to the coral (quarantine tank) seems too much to me.
Each time the coral tries to adapt to new conditions for him (light, water chemistry, current) and if we can make it easier for him, then, I am sure, he will thank us for this with faster acclimatization.

 

[Gup]

Temp acclimate, dip, drop!

Same here

 

[ultraArcite]

What does ‘acclimate to QT/DT’ entail?

You can check out the link in that comment for more detail but I use 1-gallon bucket and drip acclimate it to the tank water it's going into. Usually doubling the amount of water over 15-30 minutes.

 

[Joe462]

Yes sort of.....

i have a small tank set up, its not a true quarantine but its not connected to my display or my frag system. it has coral and a couple fish, but this way if there was a problem, limits the damage

I get a new coral i, float it to temp acclimate
put it in a container and add tank water till i double the water volume (over about 15 mins)
dip it,
put it in the "Quarantine" tank
observe it for a while maybe a month or so, give or take
if i don't see anything concerning, dip it and put it in either my frag system or display

I have too much expensive coral to take much risk but i'm also not going to stick my new expensive coral in a tank that isn't cycled or stable. To me this is the best of both worlds, i get the opportunity to observe the new coral dip it, possibly multiple times, makes me feel comfortable adding it to one of my other systems.

 

[samash12]

I buy coral regardless of what's on it within reason. Avoiding pest infection is a losing game past initial dips. However I have added the following to my sump based on diet and efficiency specifically to clean algae or pest covered frags:
10 thin stripe hermits
2 Mexican Turbo Snails
1 Dwarf Decorator crab
200 dwarf cerith
??? Dwarf Planaxis
5 Blue Legs
4 - 5 nerites
4 Astraea

Within 24 hours this crew is sufficient to remove long strand GHA off of a large Bisma Worm rock of porites entirely and with no damage to the worms or coral. Smaller frags of sps were cleaned entirely within 3-4 hours.

This sounds great. Curious on adding CUC to the sump, do you leave a light on a timer for them to see what is going on? Have you created a lid on top so they don't crawl / climb out and end up in a skimmer or return pump?

 

[MaxTremors]

You can check out the link in that comment for more detail but I use 1-gallon bucket and drip acclimate it to the tank water it's going into. Usually doubling the amount of water over 15-30 minutes.

That is what perplexes me. What is the logic in drip acclimating to new saltwater, and then just dropping straight into a harsh chemical dip. I feel like this is a something that people don’t really consider. Besides the fact that drip acclimation completely misunderstands coral physiology/the way corals take in water/respirate, taking the time and care to drip acclimate and then plopping them in a chemical dip is just really confusing.

It has been shown that getting a coral into flowing water so it can respirate helps it to acclimate to new conditions far better than drip acclimation. I recommend to temp acclimate (and really only if the temp is more than a couple degrees off), dip/rinse, and put into flowing water (whether DT or QT). I promise you, you will see corals looking happy and extended far sooner than with drip acclimation.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I only drip inverts and anemones, and only as long as I feel necessary. You can float a bag for 30 minutes and get the temperature to where you need it, but you lose that temperature pretty quickly during the drip process. I don't usually drip for longer than 30 minutes.

 

[rhostam]

I said no because I don't have space (ready) for a QT system. However, I can most definitely appreciate the need. I am slowly filling my new tank with creatures I am quite fond of and I would hate for something that was missed in acclimation and dip (mitigation) phases to be a cause for harm to the larger community or investment depending on how you view the world.

The system @xiaoxiy implemented is what I imagine if I had space in my cabinet because it addresses some of my concerns.

I've also wondered about what I would do with the QT when it isn't in service. Does it remain filled? Do I keep water circulating? Etc. I am curious what people say about their setups.

I have recently started to tear down my old AIO and I've been considered using it for a frag tank. But I have also thought about partitioning it into two halves (since it has two return ports). Then I could use it both as a frag tank and a QT.

My acclimation process is similar to others posted here. I think this process would not change if I had a QT system. Instead of DT as the destination for the acclimation process, I would target the QT.

• Maintain a purpose-specific container with an egg crate lined bottom; there is also a microheater and a small Sicce circulation powerhead installed
• Empty the water from shipping bags one at a time into the container
• As I empty each bag, I place the specimen it was holding into the container
• Turn on the powerhead once water level reaches minimum requirement
• Disable DT ATO
• Run a drip acclimator for 45-60 min until the water volume has doubled
• Then add dip additives
• Occasionally jiggle or pass coral by more turbulent flow
• If the coral has visible signs of stuff like gha or bubble algae I remove what I can by using a plastic brush and then I spray the stony surfaces with an H2O2 solution and return to container
• Set a timer for 15 minutes
• Remove the coral and rinse it in DT tank water (waiting in a separate container)
• Place the specimens in a lower flow lower light section of my tank and observe them for about two weeks (usually considerably longer as I tend to resist fiddling)
• During cleanup, I add new SW to the DT
• Reenable DT ATO
• If the specimens look happy, I move them to a place in the tank similar to where they were acclimated, or I move them incrementally closer to their final destination depending on what I've read on the species and how different the lighting/flow requirements are from their initial placement

 

[ultraArcite]

That is what perplexes me. What is the logic in drip acclimating to new saltwater, and then just dropping straight into a harsh chemical dip. I feel like this is a something that people don’t really consider. Besides the fact that drip acclimation completely misunderstands coral physiology/the way corals take in water/respirate, taking the time and care to drip acclimate and then plopping them in a chemical dip is just really confusing.

It has been shown that getting a coral into flowing water so it can respirate helps it to acclimate to new conditions far better than drip acclimation. I recommend to temp acclimate (and really only if the temp is more than a couple degrees off), dip/rinse, and put into flowing water (whether DT or QT). I promise you, you will see corals looking happy and extended far sooner than with drip acclimation.

In the post I ask for advice, so it's nice to see some here. My thought process was that they have the chance to acclimate before the dip so they go into water they're "comfortable" with afterwards. I do use air stones to get some water movement; maybe I'll use a cheap powerhead in the future instead. (I answered your question, "what is the logic" because I assumed you were being polite and not rude )

 

[OlafsReef]

Yup! We have a 20 gallon Cube Invert Only tank for incoming frags and inverts. Frags are removed from plugs, dipped, then left in invert tank for ~60 days before they go into the main display.

The goal is to reduce coral and fish pests entering the main display. We also try to make it so the livestock in the cube is unlikely to be threatened by pests from frags. IE SPS in main display, none in invert tank except for when QTing new frags. Considering adding some freshwater mollies to the tank for awareness, algae control and delicious fish poop food for the inverts, but have concerns about ich.

It also gives us a nice place to keep things we can't / wont' safely keep with some of our fish in the main display. ie smaller shrimp and fleshy LPS. And lets the frags acclimate at lower par levels to the spectrum of our lighting (same lights though less intense than main display)

 

[dadarara]

Have a question :
in the process of setting up the main system and also 2 QT for corals and fish.
I want to have the auto water change to flow through both QTs from the main display and then overflow to drain.
What would be the optimum option ?
1 - from DT -> QT1 and QT2 in parallel
2 - from DT -> fish QT -> coral QT -> drain
(the option of DT -> Coral QT -> fish QT -> drain , is not a good idea I believe)

 

[Nano Chris]

Temp acclimate, dip, drop!

This is what I do. I research & make sure I’m using the right stuff & if what it is should be dipped or not.

 

[Pistol Peet]

Have a question :
in the process of setting up the main system and also 2 QT for corals and fish.
I want to have the auto water change to flow through both QTs from the main display and then overflow to drain.
What would be the optimum option ?
1 - from DT -> QT1 and QT2 in parallel
2 - from DT -> fish QT -> coral QT -> drain
(the option of DT -> Coral QT -> fish QT -> drain , is not a good idea I believe)

I would go display to fish then coral assuming the display is ick and velvet pest free.

 

[DiefsReef]

I QT coral because I dont want pest. I spent a lot of time qting fish and dont want to introduce something with the corals. I'm fairly new to the hobby and I've got enough problems trying to get tanks to mature without introducing pest to the equation.

I temp acclimate, dip, replace plug, dip and rinse in qt water before putting in coral qt.

Recently moved everything to display tanks so only a few in here now. I pulled the rack and rebuilding so not shown. This is a 40 breeder with ato, ghl doser, hob filter, hob skimmer, redundant heaters ran by inkbird, wavemaker and hydra32. Way more then what's required but I look at it like its my frag tank so why not.

 

[Haberdasher]

I QT everything. E V E R Y T H I N G. After having a plague-level infestation of vermetid worms everything gets dipped in fire and brimstone followed by bleach and acid.