What is your "good enough" quarantine procedure?

[QuinnLee512]

Simple. I never check them.

If it is just a small QT tank for corals, just do a water change now and again. SPS grow great and I never check them. We are talking about a QT tank which is probably a nano. People run nano's on just water changes... should be easy for inverts and frags. If it is a full blown SPS tank with colonies, that is one thing... but it's just a frag QT tank. You don't need to dose 2 part for it.

I don't even check Mg and Ca on my big tank. Just alk since 2 part is dosed off that anyways and the 2 part also adds some Mg so between that and water changes it never changes. I realized I was testing Mg and Ca for years and they never were out of range so I stopped that BS.

Fish don't care about your alk/ca/mg so don't bother to check the fish one at all. Nothing should be using it up anyways.

So for the fish only QT, alk/ca/mg is irrelevant? I was reading where it was stated that alk needed to be maintained in order to not have PH issues?

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

My quarantine procedure: hope everything but my fish and coral die in the mail!!

 

[Tamberav]

So for the fish only QT, alk/ca/mg is irrelevant? I was reading where it was stated that alk needed to be maintained in order to not have PH issues?

What going to bring down alk in your QT tank?

No coral or coralline is growing.

You do not need to manage it. At all.

Even when I ran my CORAL TANK of ALK of 5... I never had pH issues. I know of a great SPS tank that runs alk as low as 4.8... let me find the link for you...

YOu are doing wayyy to much work right now chasing ghosts.

 

[Arthacker87]

I have a pretty good standing with my lfs, they hold onto it for 2 weeks in a separate qt tank. Make sure it's eating and no signs of weakness or diseases. I place in a tank separate from my dt (one ofy frag tanks with no fish) to let it fatten up then put it in what ever tank after a couple weeks. Frags are dipped and placed in a frag tank for new frags, let them adjust, keep eyes for critters and the like, place in my grow out frag tank or dt.

 

[QuinnLee512]

What going to bring down alk in your QT tank?

No coral or coralline is growing.

You do not need to manage it. At all.

Even when I ran my CORAL TANK of pH of 5... I never had pH issues. I know of a great SPS tank that runs alk as low as 4.8... let me find the link for you...

All I can tell you is that my alk was 2.2 from my Hanna checker when I stopped doing water changes for 3 weeks.

 

[Tamberav]

All I can tell you is that my alk was 2.2 from my Hanna checker when I stopped doing water changes for 3 weeks.

On a fish only QT tank? Not believable. I would not believe hannah for a second.

Are you using hypo salinity?

 

[QuinnLee512]

On a fish only QT tank? Not believable. I would not believe hannah for a second.

Are you using hypo salinity?

I have no idea what hypo salinity is. I checked the alk in my DT that has no livestock and it was down to 6.6.

 

[Tamberav]

alk of 4.8-5.4 on SPS tank cuz seeing is believing sometimes

65 Gallon Reef Savvy Build aka *GemSavvy*

Beautiful colors!!

lareefclub.com

 

[Tamberav]

I have no idea what hypo salinity is. I checked the alk in my DT that has no livestock and it was down to 6.6.

6.6 is fine - don't sweat it. I am telling you, you are chasing ghosts. May be the salt mix or precipitation somewhere. Nitrate production also lowers alk.

Hyposalinity is low salt. like running a tank lower salt then normal to ward of parasites or save on salt.

Seriously you are wearing yourself down testing and just wasting time. Just do water changes per usual and it will replenish some things.

 

[Miami Reef]

On a fish only QT tank? Not believable. I would not believe hannah for a second.

Are you using hypo salinity?

I agree. The lower the alk, the longer it takes for the corals to use it. That means below 6dkh the corals will be stunted and alk will drop VERY SLOWLY.

Definitely not something that can happen without water changes after 3 weeks.

 

[arking_mark]

Great question. I'm not a fan of current copper-based QT and prefer TTM.

Current QT Protocol vs TTM Protocol

With @Jay Hemdal recent updated QT protocol and @Humblefish Hybrid TTM protocol, we have two tools to increase our success for keeping healthy fish and disease out of our display tanks. As a Reefer, I'm always looking to use the right tool for job and preferably the easiest that ensures...

www.reef2reef.com

For me personally, at this point I only buy QT'd fish or fish from a local reefer who QT's his fish and has a clean tank.

QT'd fish usually go into observation tank (OT) for a week or two. If I find issues I come up with a treatment plan. If it's an expert-level fish with special needs, it probably goes directly into DT.

If I can't get a QT'd fish, I use a slightly modified version of the TTM.
Transfer 1 - get eating and observe; if I see issues then come up with treatment plan.
Transfer 2 - prazipro last 24hrs
Transfer 3 - observe
Transfer 4 - prazipro last 24hrs

I'll also dip and feed medicated foods depending on the fish's observed issues and eating habits.

For coral, I'm less concerned. Again, I only buy from reputable sources. However, each coral is inspected, cleaned, re-mounted, and dipped in Beyer Complete before going into DT. Anything suspect goes into OT.

That's pretty much it. So 12 day TTM or OT for fish. Clean and dip for coral.

 

[Tamberav]

I took this pic a few days ago. They are just hitchhiker frags… were tiny…that have grown a lot in my 25g invert QT that has been set up maybe two years and has never been dosed or tested. I do a monthly water change

I can’t take a pic from the front because I haven scrapped the algae in forever

It is just a fallow tank so I don't need to see into it hah!!!

 

[QuinnLee512]

6.6 is fine - don't sweat it. I am telling you, you are chasing ghosts. May be the salt mix or precipitation somewhere. Nitrate production also lowers alk.

Hyposalinity is low salt. like running a tank lower salt then normal to ward of parasites or save on salt.

Seriously you are wearing yourself down testing and just wasting time. Just do water changes per usual and it will replenish some things.

I keep my salinity at 1.026. When I checked my salinity yesterday in my DT, it was 1.024. It's fine I won't chase ghosts but I'm having a hard time believing that alk or other water parameters just stay as is forever ( ie alk will never drop in a fish only tank ).

 

[Tamberav]

I keep my salinity at 1.026. When I checked my salinity yesterday in my DT, it was 1.024. It's fine I won't chase ghosts but I'm having a hard time believing that alk or other water parameters just stay as is forever.

2.2 in 3 weeks... I can't even imagine that is possible in any scenario in a QT tank.

It may vary a bit because of nitrate being produced. But if you do water changes then it is nothing to worry about. Certainly nothing to test and dose for.

And if you WANT to dose for it... then don't test Ca and Mg. Just test Alk... you dose Ca based off Alk anyway with a 2 part and Alk is a very quick test anyways. You should not dose Ca separately from alk... you use equal parts... so testing Ca is kind of irrelevant, especially in a QT scenario.

If you are dosing Ca separate from Alk then that's probably part of the problem.

 

[QuinnLee512]

2.2 in 3 weeks... I can't even imagine that is possible in any scenario in a QT tank.

It may vary a bit because of nitrate being produced. But if you do water changes then it is nothing to worry about. Certainly nothing to test and dose for.

And if you WANT to dose for it... then don't test Ca and Mg. Just test alk... you dose Ca based off Alk anyway with a 2 part and alk is a very quick test anyways. You should not dose Ca separately from alk... you use equal parts... so testing Ca is kind of irrelevant, especially in a QT scenario.

If you are dosing Ca separate from Alk then that's probably part of the problem.

Well I'm not saying that it was 8 or 9 prior to the 3 weeks. I'm not even sure what it was. My point is that alk dropped to a very low level in a fish only tank which you're saying isn't possible since there's nothing to consume it.

 

[QuinnLee512]

BTW I think we've gone on a tangent. lol

 

[Tamberav]

Well I'm not saying that it was 8 or 9 prior to the 3 weeks. I'm not even sure what it was. My point is that alk dropped to a very low level in a fish only tank which you're saying isn't possible since there's nothing to consume it.

I wouldn't personally believe a checker that said 2.2.

It is possible for it to drop since alk will follow nitrate (and be released again when nitrate is consumed). If nitrate isn't being consumed then when you do a water change and take the nitrate out... you are taking that alk it used with it. HOWEVER, when you do a water change you also are using a fresh salt mix and replenishing alk.

Since QT tanks and frag tanks are smaller. Generally you do a larger percentage of water change so a large amount is replenished and testing is not worth the time.

 

[Tamberav]

BTW I think we've gone on a tangent. lol

Yes, kind of. I just see you doing all this work and if I did all that... I would be frustrated keeping that many tanks too.

There is a clownfish breeder on another forum who said he had 11 tanks but I am certain he isn't testing them all. Its seems most the tanks he just tops off and doesn't do much else with.

I just can't imagine testing the big 3 on a fish QT and coral QT. I would probably not run them if I had to do that.

I don't believe the files on how to QT fish mention anything about testing the big 3. It mentions salinity and temp.

 

[ninjamyst]

Good enough = asking LFS to feed the fish and make sure it is eating.

Kudos to you on quarantining fish and corals. I rather enjoy my new fish and corals in the DT. 70 days of qt? You got mad patience and willpower.

 

[sergifed91]

My qt process is a week of feeding. If not eating I then try different foods. And garlic with it. Like my last fish I got. It ate at the lfs. But when I got it home. I tried frozen mysis,small price of shrimp, dried pellets, makes, frozen clams, brine shrimp, peas no luck. At all. It was a Valentino puffer. I noticed it was having trouble swimming. I treated it as swim bladder. Cooked some peas and then threw one in the qt. Waited but it wouldn't eat. This was 3 days ago. Got home today and it was gone. It's a poor loss.