I'm looking to build a quarantine tank and I'm wondering what the process would be. I have an extra 10 gallon but no light for it does it require light for a holding tank? And what is the cycle time for a quarantine tank?
Quarantine tank.
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You've got a few options here. I run a 10g QT with a light. For a "cycle" I threw some Matrix in a bag in my display sump, let that chill for a month, and threw it in my QT. No ammonia since, and I've had a fish in there for 2 months. No light is needed, per se, if you've got it in a room that gets a little day light. You don't want to subject a fish to 100% darkness for that long tho.
If you don't have time to wait, daily water changes would work to keep ammonia down, or Prime, but I've had bad luck with Prime and medications in a QT tank. Just my two cents!
If you don't have time to wait, daily water changes would work to keep ammonia down, or Prime, but I've had bad luck with Prime and medications in a QT tank. Just my two cents!
But I could assume if I quarantined corals I would need a light.
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Oh, if you quarantine corals, you'll need a cycled tank with a good light. You can't rush that process. And you can't medicate it with standard fish medicines either.
Do you quarantine your corals?
Yes, but generally people don't QT coral in the same tank as fish. Copper that may be used for fish treatment will kill the corals. Other fish treatments will kill coral too.
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Honestly, I don't. I do fish, especially after my recent issues with ich, but I don't corals. I dip, and I am super observant of my corals. MOST of my corals come from people I know have great tanks, but we're all capable of mistakes. My main reason for not quarantining corals is lack of room to do so. So there's no right or wrong way - this is just the way that works for me.
I qt both in separate tanks. When setup I keep the coral qt running at all times. The fish qt gets shut down when not needed. Even for the fish qt I recommend a light. They have a circadian rhythm just like we do. It's also very helpful to inspect the fish.
An option for qt'ing coral may be another member local to you. If they could do if for you it would cut the expense & space of another tank setup.
An option for qt'ing coral may be another member local to you. If they could do if for you it would cut the expense & space of another tank setup.
It doesn't help now but when I get everything back up and running I'm going to offer coral qt'ing for paid members. Fish qt'ing at a cost, but for locals under 18 I'd probably do it for free.
