My Idea For A Quarantine Tank

[Gvilleguy]

Good morning forum types (or afternoon, in UK):

I have purchased an Aqueon Mini Bow aquarium - 5 US gallons - 19 litres - and have just started a cycle on it with a bit of media from my established tank. It's a nice little acrylic tank with a small power filter built into the hood. Seems to have good flow in spite of being so small.

I was put off by the included 15 watt incandescent bulb, as it would cause the tank water to go up to 81F/27C without a heater! But I bought a 5 watt (25 watt equivalent) fluorescent and it seems to do much better on the heat factor. I have a heater and thermometer on order.

I want to use this tank as a quarantine/hospital for the larger 26 gallon (98 litre) community. However, after I get it cycled, I want to keep some critters in it that will keep it cycled. I don't want to have to "power cycle" it each time for the few times per year it might be needed to help the big tank.

I considered a Betta, but thought I might have trouble should I ever need to put an incompatible fish in there with it. So then I thought I could make this a Cherry Shrimp tank. This seems like a good scenario to me - they apparently have a very low bioload impact - so any fish that I need to house there would have a cycled tank that is not overcrowded. Plus the shrimp would help to keep the tank clean. And if their population gets too big - I can alway sell them, or add them to the larger tank to participate in the whole Circle of Life thing.

Do you see any problems with this plan? My water is very soft (KH=0) with a pH of 6.0.

 

[elisew]

The one main problem I can see if you have shrimps in there, is that a lot of meds which you could use for treating poorly fish contain copper....this will probably kill your shrimps.

It`s not really recommended to keep any other fish etc in a tank that you`ll be using for quarantine or treatments. The whole point is so that there`s no risk to those being treated or quarantined.....make sense?

The easiest and best way is to keep a few extra bits of media in your main filter and use some of the water from your main tank (just like a water change), when you need to get your quarantine/treatment tank up and running, at least that way the tank will cycle much, much quicker and there`s less risk to anything else you`re keeping at the time.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I had the same thoughts about meds, but I did not know about the copper being in meds. I would probably have to get a divider container that could be temporarily placed in the main tank, and transfer the shrimp out while any fish are being treated in quarantine. This would not help any baby shrimp hiding out, but I could certainly transfer the adults. I'll think about this some more. Thanks!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Ideally, you could do with a removeable filter, like the Juwel Compact that came with my Korall60. You could then simply place this filter in your main tank and run it, adding just a little of the media from the main filter for that tank, which will then be ready to move over to the QT whenever you have the need to move a fish for treatment.

 

[waterdrop]

I feel for ya~ I've thought a lot about these same things without a lot of deep satisfaction. As you know I have a nearly identical tank combo as you in my son's room (28g main, 5.5g Qtank) and to me the frustration is that the 28G/106L is really a bit small for housing an extra internal filter for the purpose of having it ready for the Qtank. In fact, for me it would definately ruin the aesthetics since I worked pretty hard at having no heater and low filter visibility in the main tank.

My own, admittedly inadequate, approach has been to do a batch of fish in the Qtank and then keep them there for months sometimes, until I am happy with another bunch and intend to buy them. I then perform the switch in one day, moving the Qtank fish to the main tank and introducing the new fish to the Qtank (thus avoiding the problem so far )

I kind of think I'll take the approach of just grabbing a bunch of biomedia from one of my cannister trays and loading up the little AC and making sure it has cycled itself in a few days. Another more complicated approach I've thought of is buying a 10G as a third tank and sort of having it become the "main" Qtank and demote the 5.5G to being a "secondary" Qtank. I would run two indentical AC20's on the 10G and keep a small shoal of fish equivalent to my usual Q-stocking and have it be a continuously running tank. Then, if I wanted to Q some new fish would move this shoal plus one of the AC20's over to the 5.5 (it might need a few water changes since only half the bacteria would come along with them but it should recover in a day or two)... and its even occurred to me that the 5.5g could be a planted-only tank (lights and ferts, no fish) most of the time, making it even more ready to temporarily take on the shoal plus the single AC20 when the 10G Qtank took on new fish. (how's that for complicated thinking (but I know you'll read it GVG, if I know you.))

WD

 

[Gvilleguy]

Thanks for your thoughts, WD. Yes - to me this is a tough one. I don't really want a third filter on my main tank just for purposes of having it ready for the 5 gallon Q tank. Assuming I get this little tank cycled, and that it settles into the same water parameters as the main tank, then I think the simplest solution is one of:

1. Simply rotate some of my existing fish into the Q tank a few weeks at a time to keep it cycled. A little vacation for the Danios or Neons, a few at a time. But this might cause undue stress in the long run.
2. Buy a couple fish (or shrimp) that live in the Q tank full time, except when it's needed for other fish, and then the Q fish have to move to the main tank for a while (either divided in a container, or in the main population).

 

[waterdrop]

You know, now that you mention that #2 option, it seems not really so bad an idea. I've had a few moments of looking thoughtfully at the 4 harlequins I've got in the Qtank currently and actually it wouldn't be such a big deal to just rotate them in to the main tank when I got some new ones that needed the Qtank and then rotate them (or some of one of the shoals) back into the Qtank. Using a few shoal fish wouldn't really be that big an increase in the main tank for a limited period (actually I can see where 6 of some smaller species might be the best for this) and then they could come back to be Qtank inhabitants for longer periods.

WD

 

[Gvilleguy]

WD - I'm going to try option 2. And my local Petco store started stocking Rummy Nose Tetras - I was very surprised to find them there. I like how they look. I might get a small shoal of those if I go with fish rather than shrimp.

 

[anon02]

Wouldn`t a h.o.b. filter on your main tank be unobtrusive, and it would be permanently cycled

 

[Gvilleguy]

I already have one HOB filter on my main tank, in addition to a canister filter. I run both of them full time, and if I were to remove the HOB one, even for a few days, the tank would go into a cycle period. Since my water pH stays in the low 6.0 range, I am not able to easily recover from cycles - it takes a long time. So I don't mess with my two filters (have learned from experience). I don't really want to add a 3rd filter to the tank at this point.

 

[anon02]

It`s a knotty problem and one that I will be facing soon. I shall keep an eye on this thread

 

[OohFeeshy]

You wouldn't need to fit in a whole extra filter to keep extra media in the larger tank. Either just shove it in (sponge is very compressible), or keep a spare new sponge and when you need the QT tank, lop a bit off the established sponge and replace it with a bit of new sponge. Then rotate the two.

 

[zophie]

If its not to late to say this, I solve the problem with quarinteen tanks, by just having them, then when they are needed, I take water from your original tank, and put it in. I like option 2, but Rummy Noses are very sensitive- you may want to try something more hardy.

Zophie

 

[Sami9999]

I have a 5 gallon bucket...well quite a few actually...that I cycle water in for my pond. I put some ammonia in once a week and forget about it the rest of the time. I also have one to establish filter media in if needed. Works well for me.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I have a 5 gallon bucket...well quite a few actually...that I cycle water in for my pond. I put some ammonia in once a week and forget about it the rest of the time. I also have one to establish filter media in if needed. Works well for me.

Thanks, Sami - another good consideration!