Quarentine Tanks?

[JustKia]

I've read about most people (well, quite a lot anyway) on here having QT tanks.
I have to ask, how do you keep it cycled? Or even do you keep it cycled?
I mean is this a case of an ongoing fishless cycle until you decided to buy some fish and then do a mass water change for the new arrivals?
Or do you plan ahead on buying fish? Or do you just keep a spare filter running in your main tank ready to swap over should you need a QT tank?

 

[Truck]

what you do to keep the filters cycled is either put the media in you main filter in the main tank , or move the hold filter unit to the main tank if its removable, and then just keep a powerhead in Qtank if your going to keep it filled so it doesnt go stagnent

 

[saz326]

what you do to keep the filters cycled is either put the media in you main filter in the main tank , or move the hold filter unit to the main tank if its removable, and then just keep a powerhead in Qtank if your going to keep it filled so it doesnt go stagnent

allong these lines - I keep filter medium for my quaranteen tank filter in with my mail filter medium for the main tank. This keeps the bacteria alive and instantly ready for setting up my quaranteen tank when I need it.

When I set up my quaranteen/fry tank, I take the spare filter medium out of the main filter, and put it in the quaranteen/fry tank filter. I then put water from the main tank into my quaranteen tank so that the fish that are being transferred have the exact same conditions as in the main tank. This reduces extra stress.

Can then add fresh water to the main tank as if doing a water change, and next day check water parameters of quaranteen tank and do a small water change.

 

[drobbyb]

...or you could just run the spare filter for the Q-tank in your main tank and move the whole thing when needed.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi JustKia

I use box filters in all my tanks so it's easy to take a little floss from several of them and quickly set up another to put in a 10 gallon quarantine tank.

Unless you are likely to buy a lot of fish (or a very big fish) at any given time, you might be able to stuff a bit of filter floss into your regular filter to use for those occasions where you need to set up a quarantine quickly. I use about 1/3 tank water and the rest fresh, dechlorinated water at the same temperature. Sand or gravel is an option and can be added later. Depending on the requirements of the fish, and the temperature of your home, you might need a heater too.

I must warn you about something though. Once you have it nicely set up, it's a great temptation to just keep it and buy some more fish to fill it. This can be the start of MTS. It's happened to me more than once!


*Multiple Tank Syndrome

 

[pippoodle]

i run a small stingray filter in one of my other tanks to keep it matured and also add some extra mature floss to it when i'm going to quarentine some fish - at the moment though my quarentine tank is being used as a spawning tank

 

[OldMan47]

I always have an extra large and a small filter running on at least 2 of my tanks. That way I have a mature filter of whatever size I might need to start a new tank or set up a QT. The extra filter also means that I have some protection from a filter that fails on any tank. So far they have only been needed for QT and new tanks but it's comforting to know that a filter failure won't become a disaster. It will just become a case of moving the right filter to the tank where it's needed.

 

[JustKia]

Thanks, lots of really useful info there.
I was discussing with hubby that maybe we should think about a QT so that we don't accidentally infect present fish when we add our new fish eventually. Just didn't fancy the idea of trying to keep an empty tank cycled indefinitely.