Hospital/quarantine Tank

[AshleySpatula]

i read a pinned topic last night saying to keep your hospital tank in storage till needed, but aren't the hospital tank and the quarantine tank the same thing? i have a 20g that i will be adding fish to in a couple weeks and i hear it's a good idea to quarantine fish store fish for at least a month or so before adding to the main tank.
My 20g is on a cast iron stand that can hold a 10g on the bottom, my plan is to set up the 'hospital' tank on the bottom, cycle it and have that all ready for quarantine before buying any new fish.

is it ok to have the hospital tank up and running at all times? i also have a 29g that was given to me that i still need to get all the fixins for before i get it set up and running but eventually i will need it for that too.

i am ready to set up and start cycling my hospital tank this weekend but i really need to know if it's a bad idea to have it up and running constantly before i go throught with it!
thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Tolak]

A hospital tank & a quar tank are basically the same thing; a tank to house fish in for a short time. The problem with having a hospital or quar tank set up all the time is that it is a tempting thing to add fish to, and then it becomes another tank in the collection. This can snowball to having several tanks, a condition more commonly known as MTS. There is no known cure.

What I, as well as others do is keep a spare filter running in your main tank, apprpriatly sized for the quar/hospital tank. When needed, add water, a heater, and the smaller filter. The tank is just a glass box, what is actually cycling is your filter media. I set up tanks like this all the time, then take them down when sales slow, running the spare filters in another tank. This is known as cloning, just a way around having to do an actual cycle.

Actually, once you have one mature tank, you really shouldn't have to cycle a new tank again, unless you are upgrading to something several times larger than a tank you already have running.

 

[gowing238]

I agree. But instead of running an extra filter in my established tank i just keep a piece of my smaller filters media in my large filter and then when the quarantine tank is needed i just pp it in the filter, heat the water and away to go. No need for cycling cos u got all the bacteria from a well established larger tank.

Hope we helped!

 

[AshleySpatula]

thanks for the advice i know it would be tempting to add fish to a constantly running hospital lol i think what i am gonna do is set it up, cycle it, and when i am done stocking my 20g and 29g i will move the filter media to a filter in one of the bigger tanks and drain it till it's needed again, but right now with close to stocking the 20g and by the time i have it stocked and ready i will have the 29g cycling and almost ready to stock so i would need it again shortly.
thanks for the advice guys!