QT for a fishroom for SPS

[duke62]

Been doing some thinking of QT tanks for acropora and the biggest concern is parameters to keep new SPS frags happy while in a seperate system QT. Well if you have the room and want to make a QT attached to your main system I had a idea and want to run it by some MR members. I recently set up my sump and fuge in the basement along with a frag tank and i have the room to add a 10 gallon and a 20 gallon for a QT. What i was thinking was having the 10 gallon for new acro frags with a wrasse and a peppermint shrimp. the drain for the 10 gallon will drain on the right side of the 20 gallon and in that tank i will keep a couple more wrasses some PVC for hiding spots for the fish and maybe a tubber ware with sand for sleeping area for them as well. The QT tank will have a regular lighting cycle and the wrasse tank i would leave the lights on for 24 hour period. Just a cheap light like the ones we use on our fuges The left side will be a return pump into the sump. My thinking is wrasses will eat free floating AEFW and without rocks and a sand bed it leaves very little chance a worm wil be able to get to the DT before a wrasse would spot it and eat it. Also thinking of adding some type of micron filter pad to the drain pipe in the 10 gal QT tank for extra protection on the adult worms. And this will be a easy way to get the frags out for weekly dipping. What are your thoughts? Oh and if there is no frags to be aquired for awhile i would have a shut off valve to shut the system down and just transfer the livestock into my fuge area

 

[bertyboy69]

That may work , but the true idea of a qt is for it to be completely seperated, just incase some algae or parasite comes in on the frag. Its a good idea though its sorta like a half way qt

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Reefs

 

[piranhapat]

I think it's a disaster to happen. It only takes one egg to get by and if your willing to take that chance good luck. Your ideal of Qt is more of rehab. If you think you can do that to a virus we may all turn into zombies.....contain the parasites not let them in main tank......

 

[duke62]

OK well 95% of us dont QT. They dip inspect and in it goes. This has got to dramatically drop the chances of AEFW in a system. Also drop the chances of QTing in a small unstable system and having the frag die no? Im nervous on starting my acro collection and thinking of every possible way to add a coral QT not a fish QT right to the system even if it cuts the chances to 50% of getting them

 

[piranhapat]

Are you planning on buying your SPS from store or from people selling frags. Or are you buying small colonys. If you buy from someone that for sure has no pest than you can do it your way. But I rather set up small tank. Run hang on filter do weekly water changes and in 2 to 3 months your pest free. I keep my in Qt for 6 months. I'm pretty much done buying SPS so I will tap into my system to run frag tank.

 

[duke62]

Honestly it doesnt matter who you buy from anymore. A store and person or a reliable dealer. People have them and they will not give up their profit dont care who it is. Im not taking any chances this time

 

[lnevo]

How about a frag tank that can be isolated...this way when holding your own frags it can be tied in and when doing a qt can be isolated. The cool thing is it would start out seeded from your main system. You could set it up too that for WC new water comes in from the man system and drains separately so no mixing,it would require some thought out plumbing but doable...

 

[Arati]

That's a great Idea, it could even be plumbed so that once isolated you could drain all water and refill with either system water or new water.

would be a cool way to be able to do water changes while keeping the two systems very similar and make acclimation a breeze

 

[duke62]

How about a frag tank that can be isolated...this way when holding your own frags it can be tied in and when doing a qt can be isolated. The cool thing is it would start out seeded from your main system. You could set it up too that for WC new water comes in from the man system and drains separately so no mixing,it would require some thought out plumbing but doable...

Only problem with that is what if you have frags from your corals and then you get new ones? Im trying to think of something that will destroy the AEFW in case it gets through the pipes that what the wrasse tank with 24hour photo period is for. If they do get through they will have to face a assault from the wrasses that never sleep And if they do with the 24 hour light they shouldnt be all sleeping at the same time

 

[lnevo]

If you have both it gets untied from your system and operates independently. Have the wrasses in the tank and go nuts with dipping and monitoring...i think like you said about people and vendors...why take the chance?

 

[homegrowncichlid]

I don't think any fish would be able to stay sane in 24/7 continuous light. I had damsels in my sump when I was first starting up and that was on a reverse light cycle, and it was a sunny, well lit room. None of the fish lived past 3 weeks, As far as I cold tell, they died of exposure, couldn't swim properly, stopped feeding...

I think the idea of having a quarantine tank connected to your main tank is fundamentally flawed, due to possible cross contamination. ie water splashes, reusing nets or other contaminated equipment. Even just turning the ball valve from connect to isolate, is cross contamination.

Sure you're thinking about micro filters, but then how are you going to change it out? In a laboratory setting, you'll need to install one before and behind it, before you remove the main filter. Then in theory, you'll need to install one before and after each of those. Finally you're using biological controls, which can be up to 99% effective, but not quite 100%. Prey are controled by their predators all the time, (rabbits : foxes, deer : wolves) but to be eradicated or made extincted?

 

[samksy]

Does UV kill flatworm?

is it possible to run a slow flow return pump thru a huge UV and return the water back to DT? Can UV kill everything that goes through UV, like eggs, flatworms, whatever that goes thru?

 

[MIKE NY]

possibly, but any free floating flatworms are more than likely will be eaten by fish long before they reach a UV..the whole point of a QT is to have it seperate and isolated from the main system or it defeats the point.