Quarantine tank cycling

[Guppysnail]

For qt put it in the filter or in a mesh media bag in the tank. Bare bottom for qt so you can see what they expel. Plus if there is any issuer it’s best to discard media etc so next batch are unaffected in my opinion

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

The mesh bag is easiest in a QT but you'd want something easier for yourself in a permanent tank, whatever that might be. In order to measure GH/hardness you would need a liquid test kit (API has one for KH and GH) or a water hardness test strip, and you'd want the QT and the permanent tank to be close. 

[BETTA999]

you can use a cycled filter

[DaveO]

Crushed coral is good for raising gh and kh. You can mix it with sand for a substrate if your water is soft. My water is hard, but I use it anyway to keep my low kh stable. All my tanks are set up this way so I can move fish around with no problem.

[Scott Stevenson]

This is great folks, perfect, your info completely cleared up all my concerns about doing a quarantine tank correctly. I knew that quarantine tanks are supposed to be bare so I was wondering how to get the hardness/ph without creating a substrait type situation. thanks for putting up with my ignorance. 

[Jennifer V]

On 1/22/2022 at 11:43 AM, Scott Stevenson said:

 thanks for putting up with my ignorance. 

I feel like ignorance is such a harsh word. No one knows everything and I'm really glad you asked the question. I learned so much about setting up a qt tank (I don't have one yet). Thank you!! 

[Scott Stevenson]

On 1/22/2022 at 2:37 PM, Jennifer V said:

I feel like ignorance is such a harsh word. No one knows everything and I'm really glad you asked the question. I learned so much about setting up a qt tank (I don't have one yet). Thank you!! 

Thanks for the kind words, I am glad it was as helpful for you as it was for me

[Torrey]

On 1/21/2022 at 1:33 PM, Gannon said:

Any hardier livebearer like endlers are a good pick for this role in my opinion. Additionally they are easy to catch if you need to get them out for any reason right before you put a fish in quarantine. 

 

On 1/21/2022 at 1:38 PM, Scott Stevenson said:

For sure and yeah I suppose getting them out easily is a good thing to remember. I was kinda thinking maybe a few dwarf chain loaches, but they're kinda speedy.

There's another benefit to keeping a few of your hardy fish in QT, that a lot of people don't consider.

All fish and aquariums (just like people) have bacteria that live in a type of symbiosis. As long as they are not stressed, they won't show the disease.

It's much better to find out in QT that new fish don't respond well to the bacterial load your established fish consider normal.