please describe your quarantine tank

[doglover_50]

Want to make sure I'm not missing something in terms of QT.

Would a bare bottom 10 gallon with 3-stage filter like a penguin, small powerhead for some current, a heater, and a few curved pvc pipes for hiding suffice?


thanks.

[ckk125]

mine would be a 60 gallon tank..with overhead filter and a powerhead...

Currently using it to house my lil clowns...they are too brave...eating everything and leave nothing for my large one which is still very shy.

[Tinman]

I keep an extra sponge filter going in my tank and a spare 50 watt heater running and set in my tank and my quarentine empty and clean ready to go if neccessary. If illness arrives it can be set up in moments and filled with water from the tank your sick fish is in.This way there is no added stress for the fish due to any difference in water conditions.This lets you clean your QT when you have solved the problem or lost the fish .This also lets me match a tank to a fish. I try to do it in a ten as to concentrate the meds and make measurement exact if the fish is small enough

[palaeodave]

That sounds like a really excellent way of doing it, Tinman. A little while back I was talking to Martin about starting a QT thread - I just never got round to it!

[distrbd]

A QT in my opinion should not be larger than 15-25 Gal.since you will dissolve medications in it,the bigger it is the bigger the the amount of medication.
you should also have a spare filter running in your main tank if possible so it will be well seeded and ready for QT,a decent powerhead can also do the job specially if it has a media attachment.

[Tinman]

Thanks Paleodave.There are a couple other advantages too. Usually if the fish get sick you should do a water change immediately anyway so the water I pull goes in my QT and the BIG advantage is there is not a tank running at home empty when I go to the LFS and see some fish I can't live without

[ckk125]

I chose a 60 gallon as a Q-tank mainly because i have a few very large clowns...

Should any of them fall sick(touch wood)..a larger tank would be better...more space...less stress...

I dont mind forking out extra money for meds than to use a smaller tank which will cause more stress to the fish instead of treating them.

[Tinman]

I agree ckk125 , when I med its usually new arrivals which are small. Thats why I mentioned match the tank to the fish

[NancyD]

I use a 10g also with a whisper filter so I can grab a filter bag off a bigger tank & it's cycled with an adjustable flow. I have a lot of water fern that I can float or anchor down to help the fish feel secure & then throw away. Plus a rock with java fern is often left in.
I tend to quarrantine new fish for 4-6 weeks or even longer so I often use a small amount of sand or small gravel too but not usually for sick fish.
I have a separate syphon, nets etc so everything can be bleached, even the java fern ( no wonder it doesn't grow much)

[cweg71]

My QT consists of a 12 gallon plastic tank that was a cheapo reproduction of an Eclipse 12. I keep sponges and a bag of ceramic rings in the sump on my main tank. When needed, I pull out the QT tank, fill it with 3/4 water from my main and the rest with treated tap. Set up the Aquaclear mini filter, 50watt heater and I'm ready to go. I only set up my QT as needed because of space restraints.

[doglover_50]

this is all helpful to hear. My fish are around 1 year old and still pretty small, reltively speaking, so a 10 or 20 would do, I think. I'll get prepped with an extra small filter/biol. filtration in the big tank just in case.

[MTS]

I had a 10 gal q-tank that became the home of my CAE. Then, I got an old 20 gal tank that was being given away at a garage sale. I put a bio-wheel filter on it and I keep a couple danios in it. If I need to use it, I'll move the danios in with the CAE. I think they are fast enough to keep the CAE at a distance.