How To Set Up A Quarantine Tank?

[Too Fast]

I am looking at upgrading a few things over about 6 months, adding another 5-6 plants and about 15 fish as well as upgrading my filter.

I have read a little about people quarantining fish and plants for 14+ days before adding them to there tank. What is the best way to go about this? I have a spare 135L tank in the garage (my old one) I was thinking of setting this up in my spare room for a few months whilst I do my upgrades. The alternative is I have a 30L biOrb that isn't in use. This would be alot more practicle as I can accomidate that near my existing tank (It would be in full view and closly monitored) rather than in a spare room that doesn't get used.

Is it worth doing?

If so how best to do it?

Do I do my plants as well as my fish?

I was thinking of adding 25% of my filter media from my old tank and doing a fishless cycle before adding 3-4 of my cherry barbs from my main tank to get it set up then leaving it running for the next few months as I slowly increase my stock. Am I going down the right lines?

Any ideas/advice much appreciated.

 

[Too Fast]

Anyone?

 

[markandhisfish]

ive never heard of quarentining plants before . all ive ever done there is give em a wash and look for any obvious snail eggs thenplant em . as for the fish , treat the quarentine tank exaxctly the same as your main tank . after all the only purpose of quarentine is to make sure a fish is problem free before you add it to your tank. its still just a fish tank at the end of the day ,

 

[Too Fast]

Sounds straight forward then.

Will have a look at doing it over the next few weeks.

 

[markandhisfish]

what fish and how many is it that you want to quarentine ? just asking cos it may be better if you can , to use the 135l tank than the bi-orb.

 

[Too Fast]

It will initially be 2 gouramis but then when I have my new filter in place I'll got for 12 cardinals. I'm prob just going to do the 135L. I was hoping to get away with the biOrb by adding the Cardinals 6 at a time but think it's prob not worth doing that way.

 

[markandhisfish]

yep i agree best to go with the larger of the 2 tanks .

 

[CentrarchidFan]

I quarantine all my new arrivals and treat with an anti-parasite med for a couple of weeks before introducing them to the main tank. Once you get burned (as I have) by placing seemingly healthy but diseased new stock into a thriving tank straightaway, the importance of quarantine becomes clear. A quarantine tank can also double as a treatment tank should one or more of your fish fall ill.

It would certainly be handy to have a dedicated quarantine tank set up as you are contemplating. I use a very small 5 US gallon size quarantine/sick tank that is normally packed away in my fish closet. When needed, I just fill it, place in its filter some media from my main tank, plug in the heater, and it is soon ready for use. Advantages of a small tank for this purpose are: requires less medication, daily water changes during the quarantine or treatment are easily accomplished, the fish are easy to observe, and it can be easily stored when not in use. A larger quarantine tank as you envision has advantages too; it really depends on how you intend to use it.

I have not really heard of quarantining plants, but I understand that they should be treated to eliminate any unwanted hitchhikers.