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I want to set up a dedicated quarantine system for new coral acquisitions. I am looking for advice on the best way to accomplish this and would love to see how others are doing it. I want a system that is completely separate from my current system so that I can safely place new corals there for monitoring and dipping. It needs to be capable of stable parameters and conditions ideal for SPS because that is my primary focus. The tank will have nothing but frag racks and a few pieces of live rock for filtration reasons (but no coral will be mounted to this rock). I'm thinking I'll also keep live rock in the sump. This will allow me to pull and dip all corals easily.
What I'd like to do is place all new frags in quarantine for a period of 8 weeks after first being dipped, cut from base, and mounted to new plugs. 4 weeks of pulling each piece and dipping once per week, then 4 weeks of just observation before moving to display. It seems that it would then be impossible for any unwanted critters to make it to my display.
My feeling is that in order to accomplish this I need to have a complete system with at least some live rock present at all times and keep it running (even when I don't have new frags) in order to stabilize its parameters? Basically it will function like a second display system with skimmer, auto top off, lighting, flow, dosers, etc. But, wondering if others are do anything more simple (like bare bones set up with just water changes for maintaining parameters?). If you have pics and description of how you quarantine, please share!
What I'd like to do is place all new frags in quarantine for a period of 8 weeks after first being dipped, cut from base, and mounted to new plugs. 4 weeks of pulling each piece and dipping once per week, then 4 weeks of just observation before moving to display. It seems that it would then be impossible for any unwanted critters to make it to my display.
My feeling is that in order to accomplish this I need to have a complete system with at least some live rock present at all times and keep it running (even when I don't have new frags) in order to stabilize its parameters? Basically it will function like a second display system with skimmer, auto top off, lighting, flow, dosers, etc. But, wondering if others are do anything more simple (like bare bones set up with just water changes for maintaining parameters?). If you have pics and description of how you quarantine, please share!