Qurantine Tank

[Rubyuk]

Hi

Done loads of planning for my first tropical fish tank but hadn't thought about a quarantine tank.

How much of a necessity is this for housing new fish?

Is it less needed if you buy all your fish from the same supplier?

Would/could you cope without one as a beginner or is it a vital a piece of equipment?

THank You

 

[pippoodle]

i think it is definately a vital bit of kit
quarentining for 4 weeks seems a lot of hassle but if you are having rarer more expensive fish in your taks you dont want one dose of ich or a bad case of internal infections wiping out your whole tank

i just use a littke 30 ltr tank for my quarentine tank , bare bottom is easiet to clean out

good luck

 

[Rubyuk]

i think it is definately a vital bit of kit
quarentining for 4 weeks seems a lot of hassle but if you are having rarer more expensive fish in your taks you dont want one dose of ich or a bad case of internal infections wiping out your whole tank

i just use a littke 30 ltr tank for my quarentine tank , bare bottom is easiet to clean out

good luck

Thanks pippoodle

How do I set up a quarantine tank and what has to go in it?

What filter/heater etc

Do you have to keep that tank running all the time with the filter on as well and do you have to fishless cycle that one or do you add media from your cycled main tank afterwards to achieve this or is it as simple as just waiting until you need to use it then pouring some water from your main tank into the quarantine tank and then turning the heater and some form of basic filter on??

When adding second/third/fourth batch of fish into a quarantine tank how long do you leave them there for and how/when do you know its safe to transfer them to the main tank or any sooner??

Sorry for silly questions

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Ruby,

The Q-tank question is definately a sticky one for beginners. If you've barely found the room for your first tank, barely talked the other family members into accepting all the new hobby stuff in the house, it can be a stretch to have a full-blown Q-tank in addition. For raw beginners, especially ones with inexpensive community tank stocking, you may want to just risk it on the first few additions, always re-asking the question: "Is my tank so good now? Have I become so attached to the current fish now? ..is it time to prepare, have and use the Q-tank equipment?"

Once you decide to do it I completely agree that pip's example of a small bare-bottom as being the way to go. I've read a quite a number of Q-tank threads on the forum and to me, the best recommendations seem to be that you don't keep one running, you just have the tank, little heater and small filter equipment. Depending on your main tank situation, you either just keep an extra flter running on the main tank that you would move over (you would not move it back of course if the newbies turned out to be sick!) or, better yet, you just plan out a chunk of media that's going to come from your main filter and will be enough of a filter to run the Q-tank. My favorite of these are the people who say you can have a square chunk of sponge, say, in one of the trays of your cannister filter. You tank that out, jam a bubble tube through it and it becomes a simple sponge filter.

[If you've not seen one, they simply have an airtube (yes, you have to have an airpump) that fits to the "bubble tube" which is just a wider tube and the thin flex airtube runs down inside the bigger one, which has some side holes in it. When air bubbles up and out the bigger tube, it pulls water along with it and that sucks water through the little side holes. You jam the mature media sponge over top of the whole double tube with holes thing and then water has to be sucked through the sponge (the bio/mech filter!) in order to get through the little holes of the bubble tube. You could probably google a picture.] [Of course, likewise you could picture just using some ceramic media in a little bubble box internal filter type thing.]

Anyway, the important thing is that you plan it out thoroughly and have all the parts to put it together. Then you can just set it up quickly and only run it when you need to. Because its small, its also easy to water change it if the makeshift filter mini-cycles on you, no big deal.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Rubyuk]

Hi Ruby,

The Q-tank question is definately a sticky one for beginners. If you've barely found the room for your first tank, barely talked the other family members into accepting all the new hobby stuff in the house, it can be a stretch to have a full-blown Q-tank in addition. For raw beginners, especially ones with inexpensive community tank stocking, you may want to just risk it on the first few additions, always re-asking the question: "Is my tank so good now? Have I become so attached to the current fish now? ..is it time to prepare, have and use the Q-tank equipment?"

Once you decide to do it I completely agree that pip's example of a small bare-bottom as being the way to go. I've read a quite a number of Q-tank threads on the forum and to me, the best recommendations seem to be that you don't keep one running, you just have the tank, little heater and small filter equipment. Depending on your main tank situation, you either just keep an extra flter running on the main tank that you would move over (you would not move it back of course if the newbies turned out to be sick!) or, better yet, you just plan out a chunk of media that's going to come from your main filter and will be enough of a filter to run the Q-tank. My favorite of these are the people who say you can have a square chunk of sponge, say, in one of the trays of your cannister filter. You tank that out, jam a bubble tube through it and it becomes a simple sponge filter.

[If you've not seen one, they simply have an airtube (yes, you have to have an airpump) that fits to the "bubble tube" which is just a wider tube and the thin flex airtube runs down inside the bigger one, which has some side holes in it. When air bubbles up and out the bigger tube, it pulls water along with it and that sucks water through the little side holes. You jam the mature media sponge over top of the whole double tube with holes thing and then water has to be sucked through the sponge (the bio/mech filter!) in order to get through the little holes of the bubble tube. You could probably google a picture.] [Of course, likewise you could picture just using some ceramic media in a little bubble box internal filter type thing.]

Anyway, the important thing is that you plan it out thoroughly and have all the parts to put it together. Then you can just set it up quickly and only run it when you need to. Because its small, its also easy to water change it if the makeshift filter mini-cycles on you, no big deal.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks again waterdrop.

I'll try and hunt down some suitable equipment and a small Q tank to use when needed.Could the Q tank then double up as a hospital tank if ever I had to move some fish out of the main tank (cleaning it of course before adding any new fish in quarantine)

 

[waterdrop]

Oh, absolutely, most everybody has Q-tank/H-tank as the same thing. (except for those that are "certifiable" and have dozens of tanks in their basement, lol)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

totally agree with WD

it's a hospital/quarantine tank and you just run the filter or keep spare media in the main tank and use it as needed, then discard the media or sterilise it when the quarantine is done to mitigate the risk of cross contamination.