Spar's Tank Transfer Method

HKfshkpr1 · Aug 20, 2018

So is it 10% bleach to water ratio or 60ppm sodium hypochlorite to water ratio?

I worry because one of my friend's wife cleaned his tank's rocks and decorations with bleach and "almost all" of his fish died.............
She could have used a high concentration and did not let things dry though.

Humblefish · Aug 20, 2018

HKfshkpr1 said:
So is it 10% bleach to water ratio or 60ppm sodium hypochlorite to water ratio?

I worry because one of my friend's wife cleaned his tank's rocks and decorations with bleach and "almost all" of his fish died.............
She could have used a high concentration and did not let things dry though.

60ppm total chlorine which can be achieved by dosing 8.25% sodium hypochlorite as per that chart. For example, for my 40 gal QTs I dump in about a cup of Clorox which achieves 100ppm for 50 gallons of water. I overdose just to be on the safe side, let the water circulate for 48-72 hours, and then dose Prime to remove the chlorine. But I test with a chlorine test kit (available at any pool supply store) before adding nitrifying bacteria, fish, etc.

HKfshkpr1 · Aug 20, 2018

Humblefish said:
60ppm total chlorine which can be achieved by dosing 8.25% sodium hypochlorite as per that chart. For example, for my 40 gal QTs I dump in about a cup of Clorox which achieves 100ppm for 50 gallons of water. I overdose just to be on the safe side, let the water circulate for 48-72 hours, and then dose Prime to remove the chlorine. But I test with a chlorine test kit (available at any pool supply store) before adding nitrifying bacteria, fish, etc.

Thank you for your quick reply! Hate to keep bugging you but may be we're not on the same page.

We're talking about QT's here. So if we need to circulate the water for 48 hrs, how do we have enough time to let the tank dry for the minimum 48 "total hours"?

I just want to disinfect the QT's after each use and dump the water after treating with bleach. Will it work with 24 hrs of soaking/circulating then 48 hrs of drying? And will it work better if I dump the water right away, add "freshwater"( not saltwater) and bleach and soak for 24 hrs, then let dry?

Humblefish · Aug 20, 2018

HKfshkpr1 said:
I just want to disinfect the QT's after each use and dump the water after treating with bleach. Will it work with 24 hrs of soaking/circulating then 48 hrs of drying? And will it work better if I dump the water right away, add "freshwater"( not saltwater) and bleach and soak for 24 hrs, then let dry?

Ah OK, so you just want to use bleach to sterilize the tank & equipment? Why not just use a 10:1 (water:bleach) ratio, wipe everything down using bleach soaked paper towels, rinse thoroughly and then allow to air dry? I would probably blow a fan on everything to ensure no bleach residue is left behind.

HKfshkpr1 · Aug 21, 2018

Humblefish said:
Ah OK, so you just want to use bleach to sterilize the tank & equipment? Why not just use a 10:1 (water:bleach) ratio, wipe everything down using bleach soaked paper towels, rinse thoroughly and then allow to air dry? I would probably blow a fan on everything to ensure no bleach residue is left behind.

Got it! Thank you very much!

LovesDogs_CatsRokay · Sep 19, 2018

I did my 4th transfer on Monday about 6pm. Can I do my final transfer into the observation tank around 8am on Thursday or should I wait until closer to 6pm if possible?

Humblefish · Sep 20, 2018

LovesDogs_CatsRokay said:
I did my 4th transfer on Monday about 6pm. Can I do my final transfer into the observation tank around 8am on Thursday or should I wait until closer to 6pm if possible?

8am on Thursday is fine.

Millimylilly · Feb 13, 2019

About to start this Friday. [emoji1696] thanks so much for making this post Humblefish

Millimylilly · Feb 13, 2019

I do have a question that I don’t think was covered, forgive me if it was, but I do not have much space for a QT so the 10’ of separation for aerosol transfer may be a problem. My question is can I QT in a covered 5gal bucket with a heater and air stone or would that be too traumatizing?

NeverlosT · Aug 7, 2020

One question, I am starting a new DT. I am going to TTM the fish as they go from old DT (known to have ich, never been a problem really) to new DT. But will I just put ich in the new DT anyway when I transfer the shrimp or corals?

Any clever ways to not infect the new tank when things like coral frags or shrimp are moved from old DT to new? (short of putting them in another QT tank for 72 days which is more than I am willing to do).

I will be transferring just frags of the corals, no substrate. and minimal water (if any) when I move the shrimp.

Jgoal55 · Oct 15, 2021

I’ve set up a QT system to use TTM.

However, is this method recommended for captive bred fish (specifically Biota yellow tangs)?

DavidJTawil · Mar 12, 2022

Humblefish said:
Many thanks to Spar for being the primary author of this article. His personal website for TTM can be found here: http://www.tanktransfermethod.com/

Also, many thanks to the following who made edits/contributions to this article: snorvich, dmorty, Humblefish, newsmyrna80, Deinonych

My (Humblefish) brief overview of TTM can be found here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/

Also, I did my best to transpose this information from a Word doc. My apologies for some of the screwy formatting.

Can you use TTM on more than one fish at a time?