Quarantine/hospital Tanks

[2excitedkids]

Many members mention hospital tanks/quarantine tanks. Are these tanks that are always ready to take your fish

if ill,with water and filters running all the time?

If this is the case how can they remain cycled if they usually don't have fish in to provide the ammonia to feed the

bacteria.Would the bacteria not die off? How can you make sure it remains cycled because if it isn't, wouldn't it

make the fish more stressed/sicker?

 

[aaronnorth]

Some people place a small filter in the main tank and run it in there therfore you can just transfer the filter with the bacteria in it to the quarintine tank to make it instantly cycled, other wise, you will have to dose ammonia.

 

[murphyk32]

thats a good question, but Im a noob when it comes to filtering so ill be waiting to see what the answer is with you

Murph

 

[LolaLouie]

I keep frogs in my QT and then if I am using it as a hospital tank i put the frogs in the main tank, if i'm just using it as a quarentine i leave the frogs in, that way i never have to worry about cycling as the tank is constantly in use.

 

[murphyk32]

I get the feeling theres gunna be some interesting replies to this one, good ones so far,, i dont have a qt so idk what to do for it.

 

[Osian]

I bought an air pump and a cheap air powerd sponge filter and places it out of sight with some rock in the main tank. I'm going to use it for both stating a cycle on a 3 foot tank but also will keep it in one of the tanks as a spare filter just incase somthing happens and i need one for a hospital tank. I used the sponge one as it didnt require an extra socket as my air pump was already in feeding an air stone, so i just split the line with two valves to controle the flow. The sponge filter cost me around £2 i think and the value for 2 was about a £1 so all in all only £3.

 

[2excitedkids]

I bought an air pump and a cheap air powerd sponge filter and places it out of sight with some rock in the main tank. I'm going to use it for both stating a cycle on a 3 foot tank but also will keep it in one of the tanks as a spare filter just incase somthing happens and i need one for a hospital tank. I used the sponge one as it didnt require an extra socket as my air pump was already in feeding an air stone, so i just split the line with two valves to controle the flow. The sponge filter cost me around £2 i think and the value for 2 was about a £1 so all in all only £3.

That sounds like a good idea.

 

[OldMan47]

I had a tank go empty for a few weeks because I was going to change the stocking. What i did was a supplemental feeding using ammonia to keep it going until I put some fish back in it. Everything has worked out well with that tank so it should be easy to maintain a QT the same way. My QT is almost never empty, it just limits how fast I can buy new fish. Its good to have something to limit it besides costs.