Questions on keeping a quarantine tank

[morphy1701]

I only have one tank (a 55) and don't really plan on having another tank (ie I don't have a fish room). But I want to keep a standing quarantine tank (I have a 10 gallon). Not planning to keep any fish in it except when need. Maybe some snails? Is there a general rule for keeping a standing tank with no fish in it? Just do regular water changes or not?

[FrozenFins]

if they are no fish in it you dont need to do waterchanges. You will need to add a source of amonia to keep the benficial bacteria alive so that its cycled when you want new fish. Snails will do this for you or just putting in fish food every few days. If you decide on the snails then yes waterchanges should be done. 

I have my QT tank drained the entrie time and then when its timer for another fish I put in a bag of pre-cycled filter media from one of my established tanks.

Edited January 21, 2021 by James Black

[Schwack]

I've been keeping my little 5 gallon going by dumping fish poo and other detritus from my egg collecting dish into it. Seems to be creating enough ammonia to keep everything alive and and working in there. It's also got a bunch of bladder snails and what not rummaging through the substrate keeping things reasonably clean.

[Kelly S]

I drain mine when it's not in use, and I keep an extra sponge filter going in my 40 breeder. When I need the qt tank, I just fill it and plop that sponge filter in there. So far, so good.

[morphy1701]

38 minutes ago, Kelly S said:

I drain mine when it's not in use, and I keep an extra sponge filter going in my 40 breeder. When I need the qt tank, I just fill it and plop that sponge filter in there. So far, so good.

Hmmm.... that is a good idea. Hadn't thought of that. My biggest issue was getting the tank ready for a new fish or sick fish without waiting the month or so for the water to be healthy. Right now I just siphon the water out of my main tank, but I worry about crap that has settled in the tank while it was dry.

[Kelly S]

Yeah, my qt tank is a 10-gallon, so it's not hard to rinse out if needed! I do leave the lid on when it's dry though to minimize the cat hair accumulation. 😂

[Eric M]

Could always keep a small HOB on standby and keep the media in your main tank filter?

[gardenman]

I keep a ten gallon for quarantine and a few fish in it at all times. When you buy new fish sometimes they're just carriers of something and show no signs of illness, but can make other non-immune fish sick. If you've got a fish that's a carrier in quarantine by itself you'll never know it's sick until you put it in your big tank and everyone gets sick. By keeping a few sacrificial fish in my quarantine tank it keeps the tank cycled and any new fish that are carriers will infect the sacrificial fish instead of a whole tank of more valued fish. I've got the tank, the filter, the water, it's not a big deal to keep a few sacrificial fish in the tank so I can use them to help test and see if new fish are "healthy" but carrying something bad. It also lets me be more spur of the moment when I'm out shopping. If something catches my eye, I can buy it and know there's a tank waiting for it. I don't have to hurriedly set up a quarantine tank. It's there and just waiting for a new fish to come along. I use some of my home-raised neon swordtails as my sacrificial fish simply because I have a gazillion of them and I know they're healthy.  A less hardy fish would probably be a better sacrificial fish, but the swordtails are what I use. They're not overly aggressive to anything else I'm likely to buy and are big enough to hold their own should something I buy try to bully them.

[H.K.Luterman]

I use a tupperware bin for my quarantine that is dried out and stored away when not in use (10 gallons marked on the side for when I need to medicate). I keep it's filter sponges in other tanks to keep the bacteria alive and ready for when I need to use it. 

 

[ChefConfit]

As many others have said there's not really a need for a standing QT tank if you don't have a ton a stuff going in and out of your tanks. 

My recommendation is getting a small sponge filter and usb air pump to run in your main tank so that when you need a QT tank you have a cycled filter ready to go. This has the added benefit of being a backup filter in case of power outages since it can run of a portable charging pack. If you don't want to do that then you can keep a small extra bag of bio media or an extra sponge in the filter on your main tank to use in the QT tank filter when you need it. I've done both options and they both work fine. 

If you still want a QT tank set up full time a nice option is using it to grow out plant trimmings/ extra plants from propagation either to sell/give away or to turn the extra tank into a water garden that can be used as a QT tank when needed. 

Edited January 28, 2021 by ChefConfit
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