Quarintine tank / Hospital tank

[mrmike]

Ok so i'm thinking about setting up a quarintine tank. What is a good size 10 or 20 gal? Would a sponge filter be enough to run in it? I'm assuming i'd need a heater also to keep it the same as my main tank. Question is how do i keep the tank cycled and bacteria up and good. It would be nice to set up and forget ya know?

[AngelMom]

10 gallon with a sponge filter is fine. No point in keeping it cycled ... a lot of the meds used will kill off the beneficial bacteria anyway. I keep a 10 gallon for a QT and only set it up when I need it. I just siphon off some of the water from the main tank when setting it up. ;)

[mrmike]

thanks. So just add some aquarium water to fill it, sounds good. Sponge filter, but then when you feed them in there will the ammonia kill them in there, or the tank water has enough to keep them going?

[AngelMom]

I usually add ammochips or something similar to the filter. It's just not practical to keep a QT running all the time. ;)

[mrmike]

thanks alot ! would that be a good idea for my ram if he needs meds? Or just do it to the main tank?

[AngelMom]

Since we're thinking it's probably parasites, treating the whole tank would be best ... it's likely the others have been infected as well.

[oscarbartoni]

On quarantine tanks for new fish, I will just add a sponge filter that I keep in an established tank (the sponge filter will be running to keep it cycled). This will help keep the quarantine tank cycled when you put the new fish in, but if you have to medicate the tank you might loose the good bacteria . After the fish have been quarantined, I put the sponge filter back in the established tank to get it ready for the quarantine tank when needed.