How Do I Setup Quarantine Tank For New Fish?

[Gurglar]

I'm ready to add a couple more fish into my tank and wanna setup my 5 gallon as the quarantine tank.

So how do I go about setting it up for the new fish to be put in?

Do I just use some of the water from the already established tank and then what?

Do I need to put the filter media from the 5 gallon into the bigger tank and collect some good bacteria? How do I put it in can you just float it in the water or does it have to actually be in a filter?

If so can I just set this filter up and put it on the side of the bigger tank for a little while or something? How long would it have to be on there?

Really confused so all help is appreciated.

 

[Ficious]

well if your established tank is sure of no disease, up to you to decide, go ahead and add the tank water. if you need the media to be cycled then you need to put it in the filter. maybe you can fit it inside with your other media. if you cant, i dont think floating it will result in much growth because you need a flow or oxygen over it constantly. if anything just let it run in your 5 gallon, and hope your fish dont get ill for a few weeks. remember the water in your other tank has bacteria in it too so adding that will speed up the process a little bit.

 

[Corleone]

I keep my quarantine filter running on my community tank. You can also keep the quarantine filter's media in your main tank's filter if the filter itself doesn't fit or looks bad. Once it's been there a month or so, it's pretty reliable to pull it out at a moment's notice and get the quarantine tank up and running.

New water is fine, rather than established tank water, it doesn't help cycle the quarantine tank in any meaningful way. New water will be cleaner, though if the main tank is in good shape not all that much cleaner, but it'll be that extra bit to help minimize stress after bagging and transport.

Although, since I run my quarantine tank on the shelf below my big tank, it is pretty convenient to siphon water down from the tank above it, as there's not much room to work with buckets.

 

[Gurglar]

Ok well I just chucked the filter media in behind one of the others now will that kill the bacteria on the other one if this one is infront of it and is the first one the water goes through or should bacteria grow on both of them evenly?

 

[tenohfive]

If you're moving mature media from one filter to another, it is as straightforward as that - stuff it in with the new filter media. Job done.

 

[Corleone]

Ok well I just chucked the filter media in behind one of the others now will that kill the bacteria on the other one if this one is infront of it and is the first one the water goes through or should bacteria grow on both of them evenly?

Bacteria will grow on both just fine - not all of the ammonia is removed at once, water has to go through the filter several times to get cleaned up completely, so there'll be some "leftovers" making it to the second piece of media. Some canister filters will have six or eight compartments of media, and bacteria will grow through them all.

 

[Gurglar]

Ok well I just chucked the filter media in behind one of the others now will that kill the bacteria on the other one if this one is infront of it and is the first one the water goes through or should bacteria grow on both of them evenly?

Bacteria will grow on both just fine - not all of the ammonia is removed at once, water has to go through the filter several times to get cleaned up completely, so there'll be some "leftovers" making it to the second piece of media. Some canister filters will have six or eight compartments of media, and bacteria will grow through them all.

Alright cool thanks alot so I just leave it there for a few weeks and it should be fine to use? What would be the minimum amount of time that it would be safe to use?

 

[Corleone]

Alright cool thanks alot so I just leave it there for a few weeks and it should be fine to use? What would be the minimum amount of time that it would be safe to use?

I don't really know the minimum. My personal rule is a month, though it could probably be used sooner depending on the size and number of fish being quarantined.

 

[Gurglar]

Alright cool thanks alot so I just leave it there for a few weeks and it should be fine to use? What would be the minimum amount of time that it would be safe to use?

I don't really know the minimum. My personal rule is a month, though it could probably be used sooner depending on the size and number of fish being quarantined.

Alright cool will do that then there will only be a couple of fish to quarantine a max of 3 most likely only 2.

My water is pretty acidic and what i've read is that acidic water tends to get benificial bacteria growing faster would that be right?

My tank cycled pretty dam quick with the tetras in there only took 2 weeks I changed the water everyday and then left it for 3 days and done another water change and tested and everything was showing cycled results there was 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and about 10 or 20ppm.

So with the water being acidic would it make the bacteria grow faster?

 

[Corleone]

I don't know how pH relates to bacteria growth. However, being slightly acidic does reduce ammonia toxicity.

If you need media for the Q tank soon, it might be better to take it out of the mature media already in your tank, and then use the uncycled media to fill the hole and let it take however long it'll take to be colonized. Then you'll have some nice cycled quarantine media that you can put back into the main filter for future use. A mature tank can generally donate up to a third of it's media without problem.

 

[Gurglar]

oh ok thanks I might just leave the quarantine tanks media in there for a while not in a rush to add more fish thanks for your help.