Setting up my first QT tanks

[Ken10364]

Ok, here I go. I am in the process of setting up a fish qt/ hospital tank and a invertebrate and coral qt tank, 1) should I put dry rock in either tank, fish qt will be a bare bottom (it's an innovative marine concept pro)? 2) should I put sand in the coral tank for inverts to use while they are in qt. 3) should I use ceramic balls, media or a brick trimmed to fit in the sump? 4) how many fish can be in qt at once, I was thinking only 1 at a time?
Any and all help would be appreciated.

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R! Good on you for setting up QTs for all of your incoming fish, corals & inverts.

Dry rock is unnecessary but I do put a thin layer of sand in both QTs. The fish do better (especially wrasses) and the coral tank often has rock flower nems so it works great for them.

I use ceramic media in the HOBs. Seachem Matrix or Fluval Biomax in a mesh bag. I usually have a bag soaking in my DT's sump 24/7 to use in the QTs or any hospital tanks I might have to setup ASAP. Also run foam bubble filters in the QTs. The foam from the bubble filter gets soaked too. And extra foam filter pads for the HOBs.

Number of fish depends on the size of your QT. Tanks that are 20 gallon are easier to maintain water quality. 10 gallons work better for some hospital tanks and if you are doing TTM.
40 gal breeders are best if you are QTing bigger fish with increased bio load, like Tangs, etc.

 

[Cbones1979]

Welcome to R2R! Good on you for setting up QTs for all of your incoming fish, corals & inverts.

Dry rock is unnecessary but I do put a thin layer of sand in both QTs. The fish do better (especially wrasses) and the coral tank often has rock flower nems so it works great for them.

I use ceramic media in the HOBs. Seachem Matrix or Fluval Biomax in a mesh bag. I usually have a bag soaking in my DT's sump 24/7 to use in the QTs or any hospital tanks I might have to setup ASAP. Also run foam bubble filters in the QTs. The foam from the bubble filter gets soaked too. And extra foam filter pads for the HOBs.

Number of fish depends on the size of your QT. Tanks that are 20 gallon are easier to maintain water quality. 10 gallons work better for some hospital tanks and if you are doing TTM.
40 gal breeders are best if you are QTing bigger fish with increased bio load, like Tangs, etc.

Couple followups

I’m looking to establish a qt for future fish (not near future) or treatment tank.
I have a 20 gallon long with heater, wavemaker, hob filter with bubble foam. A few cuts of pvc pipe.

can I set it up and leave it fallow?
How do I prepare for ammonia if I need to house fish in there?

for new incoming fish do you treat with anything specific?

do I need a light?

thanks in advance!

 

[Ken10364]

Couple followups

I’m looking to establish a qt for future fish (not near future) or treatment tank.
I have a 20 gallon long with heater, wavemaker, hob filter with bubble foam. A few cuts of pvc pipe.

can I set it up and leave it fallow?
How do I prepare for ammonia if I need to house fish in there?

for new incoming fish do you treat with anything specific?

do I need a light?

thanks in advance!

We use a 16 gal bio cube for our fish treatment tank, with ceramic media and filter pad. Dip in safety stop before we treat with copper and prazipro keeping them in the tank for at least 28 days. We have an innovative marine NUVO for frag qt and delicate fish qt. Both fish tanks can be easily torn down and cleaned to start over if we see something we don't like the frag tank we will leave fallow for 90 days if we see something. We are still learning and have had few set backs after the incident that caused total loss due to lack of quarantine. You can also check out Humble.fish for plenty of information. I would also suggest a temp monitor I like the ink bird controller and or a Smart Temp Security - AutoAqua.