Cali Kid Corals

QT first

OldMustard

OldMustard

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Continuing to get supplies for build. I'm going to set up my QT next week and get it up and running with some rock bb. DT will follow in 4-6 weeks. With the lag I may even QT a couple fish or coral so they'll be ready to go into DT as soon as it's viable.

Any pros/cons? Anything I should watch out for that I might be missing?
 
did you have fish in the DT before? Fallow 10 weeks is best unless it never saw fishes before. I QT all fishes now no questions ask after losing so many battles with Ich.
 
Will your QT also be a hospital tank should you notice any diseases? In which case I would not use the same tank for fish and corals, also I wouldn't put rock in there unless you plan on never using that rock in your DT.

Also with corals you'll still want fairly strong lights to let them grow, where as for fish having lights that aren't as bright can be less stressful. Which is why very often people have two separate tanks for QT
 
New build. Good call on the lighting. I'll make sure to have a couple options available. It's a 25g so it shouldn't be much to swap things out as needed. It'll be a QT tank and future hospital if needed. One thing in there at a time for 6-8 weeks before DT. I want to keep the tank as a permanent set up until my DT is full. Rock is intended to help get tank started and maintain QT. I'll remove them if I need to treat anything.
 
If it's a glass tank, be mindful that any medications you may treat with can get absorbed into the silicone seals. I treated with formaline green once and the edges are all green. It kind of looks cool, but I'm too afraid to put corals in there now :D
 
I almost always have a seperate quarantine tank running for inverts and corals. I never use any meds in that. New invert arrivals go in there for a few weeks to help insure that any ich or other parasites have died. You'll be constantly adding to your clean-up crew, buying new corals, or getting things from frag swaps, so it's good to just have something running all the time, even if it's only a 5 gallon aquarium.

I've quaratined fish for 6 weeks and observed them only to put them in my DT and have an ich outbreak. I'd prefer not to have to medicate, but I seem to have more success if I just proactively medicate all new arrivals with Paraguard or Chloroquine Phosphate for a couple of weeks. Both of those meds appear to be relatively safe for the fish and I've never had a loss from the treatment. The only time I've even bent this rule is when I ordered fish directly from ORA and they stayed in the ORA bags until I picked them up.
 
Hmmm. Good points. I was hoping not to medicate proactively. I'm guessing a longer QT time might help lower the odds. I don't have room for a third tank and if I did I would have to hide it from the wifey.
 
i have never heard of medications leeching into the silicone. I have treated with copper in my QT and after a good wash i could host inverts and others with no issues. I do think treating with medications proactively helps to ensure any none visible signs ich get eradicated. I feel that it's better safe than sorry. I have had great luck with Cholorquine Phosphate for ich/velvet treatment, but i just lost 6 anthias yesterday while treating with CP. I am not sure what killed them as they were doing great the night before swimming and eating. I did a water change the day before and i might of put a bit too much CP from the originally 60mg/g dosage or it could be ammonia which was at 0.15. I was pretty bum as the anthias were suppose to go into my DT today which would of been 6 weeks of Prozi-pro and CP treatment.
 
My opinions: (And I am sure others will vary a lot)

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Try not to use a really tiny tank!

First, it has a big impact on water quality.
You cannot rely on bio-filtration that much in a QT, especially if you medicate.
So you need enough volume to dilute ammonia until you change the water.
Especially if you are the type to occasionally miss a day of water changes. (Like me)

Second, a small tank can further stress a really freaked out fish.
And that seems to matter a lot.

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I have given up on long term medications. For me, I have never seen any real difference.
Some fish with ich get better. Some die. Source pet store, medication, etc, does not seem to matter.
The only thing that really seems to matter is water quality.
If you forget to check/change water enough - bad things happen.
That said, anecdotal observations are hardly scientific experiments.

** I still do dips. Especially when I first get a fish/coral.

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My current QT setup is rather interesting. Big, and it is actually plumbed into the main system.
Return from QT to main tank goes through a 5-micron then a 1-micron filter.
Not without risk, especially viral, but small enough to stop ich.
Key is that water quality is great, since I essentially replace several gallons per hour.
Plus no need to acclimate when transferring at the end.
And it can be disconnected if I really need to.
 
Sounds sweet. 25g is largest I have room for so I have to make it work. I'm ok with daily water changes in a 25 and I plan on keeping a close eye on things.
 
Consider a tank with NO rocks or sand in it. The lifecycle of the ICH bug (whatever) is that it lives on the fish, then as it matures, it jumps off the fish into THE SAND, where it grows a bit, then goes back onto the fish. By keeping a bare bottom, they jump off the fish, die on the bare bottom and ... no more ich.
 
Yes, definitely no rocks or sand.
But some leftover PVC pipe scraps are great.
So the fish has a place to feel more comfortable.

And before/after, I tend to soak the tank with vinegar + tap water.
 
rygh said:
My current QT setup is rather interesting. Big, and it is actually plumbed into the main system.
Return from QT to main tank goes through a 5-micron then a 1-micron filter.
Not without risk, especially viral, but small enough to stop ich.
Key is that water quality is great, since I essentially replace several gallons per hour.
Plus no need to acclimate when transferring at the end.
And it can be disconnected if I really need to.
Click to expand...
Do you have problems with junk building up in the filter canisters and it becoming a nitrate factory?

I remember seeing someone on reef central do something similar with an oversized uv setup.

I've always thought something like these options would be best. I've never had the room for a decent qt setup though.

Another though I've always had is if you had a continuous water change system to just use the changed out water to feed the qt system.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
+1 on Rygh's points. Use a sponge filter (that's been seeded by a trusted tank) driven by a air pump. Keep another sponge filter in your sump so when you get that impulse buy setting up a QT is a snap. A Seachem ammonia badge helps alert you if ammonia becomes a problem.
 
tygunn said:
Do you have problems with junk building up in the filter canisters and it becoming a nitrate factory?

I remember seeing someone on reef central do something similar with an oversized uv setup.

I've always thought something like these options would be best. I've never had the room for a decent qt setup though.

Another though I've always had is if you had a continuous water change system to just use the changed out water to feed the qt system.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Could be a nitrate issue yes. But with an algae scrubber, generally not a problem.
I though of using UV, but parasites are pretty tough. Without enough dwell time and UV power, they
could get through.

Yeah, never enough room.
 
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