What the "best practices" for coral quarantine systems

[Catfish2]

I have a 20 gallon QT system that all corals go into before making it to the frag tank. I just moved all the coral from my last batch in QT to the frag tank.

My questions are:

Should I wait a certain amount of time before adding more coral to the QT? Should I remove the frag rack and let anything that might be on it die? Should I do some % of a water change? Basically, is there some protocol I should follow now that the QT is empty (except for the 6 line and CUC) again?

I've never waited in the past and I haven't had any issues, but I'm not sure if that's really "best practice."

Thanks!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I think as long as you are dipping coral before placing them in the QT system, you should have a pretty sound system for preventing any outbreaks in your frag tank. To be on the extra safe side, you can dip them again before they go in the frag tank but I would be careful with more sensitive corals. If anything starts to grow on the rack, you can take it out, soak it in vinegar for a few hours and brush off the residue before rinsing with clean water.

 

[Catfish2]

I think as long as you are dipping coral before placing them in the QT system, you should have a pretty sound system for preventing any outbreaks in your frag tank. To be on the extra safe side, you can dip them again before they go in the frag tank but I would be careful with more sensitive corals. If anything starts to grow on the rack, you can take it out, soak it in vinegar for a few hours and brush off the residue before rinsing with clean water.

Yeah, everything gets dipped before, during, and after being in QT. I'm just not sure how long coral pests can live without coral. I'm sure it's different for different pests, I was just looking for some guildelines.

It looks like your vote is no need to wait any additional time as long as there haven't been any identified pests in the system. That's been my default, but wanted to get other's input. Thanks!