What To Do With Quarantine Media

[shrimply]

Hi guys,
 
I have a quarantine tank set up for some loaches, they've been in there about 4 weeks, have been treated for internal parasites and ich and all seem healthy and happy and I'm getting ready to add them to my main tank.  I hope to use the quarantine tank again in the near future for a shoal of torpedo barbs although this may be several weeks down the line.  When I set up the quarantine tank for the loaches, the media I used in the filter didn't have enough bacteria to cope with the ammonia and if at all possible I want to avoid this next time around.
 
I'm having a bit of a debate about what to do with the media out of the quarantine tank, the way I see it is there are several different options.
 
1) I could put the media back into the main tank filter.  This would mean the tank would instantly be able to cope with the new inhabitants ( though it shouldn't struggle anyway).  I could then use the media again when I next need the quarantine tank.  On the face of it this maybe seems crazy but the way I see it the media has been treated for the same things that the fish have.  Any disease that I've missed will be transferred by the fish, regardless if I move the media back across or not.
 
2) I could throw the media away and add new media to replace it in the filter in the main tank.  This seems very wasteful.
 
3) I could sterilise the media and reuse it in the main tank.
 
4) I could leave the quarantine tank running and add ammonia to keep the bacteria going - not sure this is ideal when it may be for several weeks.
 
5) I could sew the media together into a hat and wear it and nothing else while running round the garden.
 
So any thoughts, or other options, or anything I definitely shouldn't do?
 
Thanks Guys
 
 
 

 

[farmerhoggers]

option 3 would be the way i went but thats just me, decent clean under tap water, soak in prime or equivilent then add back into main filter for the next time.

 

[star4]

Option 5 with photographs 

 
 
I usually put my quarantine media back in the main tank, as you say its already been through treatment and is not mature for those fish. I do this also as a just in case something goes wrong when they are in the main tank and they need returning to the quarantine tank, that way the media is still mature enough to cope.
 
If I have had a fish in a hospital tank where it has been treated for bacterial problems, then if the fish has got better or had to be put down I was all the media out before moving it to another tank.

 

[mark4785]

I would go with option 1 as its not wasteful and you will be increasing the filtration capacity of the main tank for the duration in which you have placed the quarantine media into it.
 
You don't want to go down option 4 as thats overkill, possibly expensive and could be very hard work.

 

[malfunction]

Definitely option 5 - just for the entertainment value!

Otherwise I'd probably go for option 3. Although any pathogens have probably been wiped out by the medication, I'd personally be paranoid about using it in the main tank.