Newbie question about cycling and q/t

[AK_Dude]

I've got a really newbie question for the more experienced ppl out there:

I've done a lot of reading about setting up a new aquarium, and I'm a little confused about something...when setting up your new display tank, you need to wait some period of time for the living rock/sand to cycle the tank before adding your first fish. I've seen posts/articles that suggest that it might be a good idea to start your initial fish in a q/t while your display tank is cycling since quarantine and cycling should complete at approx. the same time (pls. correct me if I misunderstood).

It seems to me that your q/t will need to be cycled as well before you add your first fish, no? Especially since your q/t is usually *much* smaller than your display tank (like an order of magnitude smaller). Why would the fish be okay in a 10-20 gallon q/t for a month if the ammonia/nitrite in a 50-150 gallon display tank would be too much? It seems to me that the concentration of NH3/4 and NO2 in the display tank would necessarily be less than that in the q/t. Am I missing something?

Thanks!

--Mike

 

[Anonymous]

Well, people often do frequent (daily) water changes on their Q tank when it is being used. Using water from their "main" tank, which is already aged and everything. Also, these tanks are often bare except for a bit of pvc for the fish to hide in, and this makes removing waste much easier. That is one way to get around the cycle problem.

Another is to keep a small tank with live rock up and cycled, with a few critters in there to keep it up to speed with processing waste and such. This is more trouble and then you can't treat the Q tank if need be, withough ruining all the rock and sand, but I have known folks who do it this way

 

[Anonymous]

Part of the wait time on new set-up's is for the lr and sand to build up their populations. You'd be amazed at what starts showing up inside the tank in that six weeks wait. All the little tiny things that you want to show up do, plus it will also allow you to pull out hitchhikers that you don't want. Also in that time period, diatoms and cyano's come and go. Also gives you a longer time to do your aquascaping.
QT is to make sure your new arrivals don't bring in any undesirable parasites or diseases. As Laura mentioned QT is bare bottom, and maybe a terra cotta pot or piece of pvc for the fish to hide in.

 

[ChrisRD]

Mike,

You can cycle your Q-tank with a piece of raw table shrimp or something similar before adding the first fish. Some leave their Q-tank running as Laura mentioned, so they don't have to deal with this each time they need to quaratine, however some like to shut it down and clean the whole system between each quaratine event.

If you go with the latter system (and once you have an established system running) you can get a sponge (from a simple sponge filter) seeded with bacteria by leaving it in your sump for a few weeks. Then, when you setup the Q-tank for a new arrival you can just put the sponge in the filter and you're ready to go. This will help control ammonia levels between water changes. Most people who use this method discard the sponge after each use and start with a new one so they don't contaminate the main system. This method could work in a similar fashion for a filter cartridge from a hang-on filter, etc...

HTH

 

[AK_Dude]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I was thinking about doing the sponge filter, but I'm a little concerned about the possibilities of chemicals from processing that could harm/kill the live rock, etc. in my display tank, though. I killed a trio of white clouds in a freshwater tank by putting a stick that had...resins? something...in the tank, and don't want to make that mistake again. Any suggestions here?

Thx again!

--Mike