Quarantine Tank Filtration/Questions

[Blastonator]

I have a 3 month old 120gal with 50 gallon sump on its way to being a mixed reef. My current stock list is two b&w clowns and a bicolor blenny. I've been wanting to set up a quarantine tank since I lost all the fish out of my last FOWLR tank 10 years ago. At the time, I had purchased my last fish to complete the stock list, a nice porcupine puffer and all my fish died in about 48 hours due to the velvet.

As of now, I plan to lose as little fish as possible to disease. For that reason I have a 15gal set up with two bio wheels - penguin 150's, rated for 30 gallons and they have been running on this tank for about three weeks. I plan to move one of the biowheels to a 20gal long and have two quarantine tanks.

My ammonia in the quarantine tank is at .25 ppm and my nitrates at 30-40 ppm. Salinity 1.025. I haven't tested for anything else in the quarantine. My ammonia is down from its initial spike of 1 ppm.

My question being could I dump all the water from my quarantine tank, add display tank water and go with the the biological filtration that's accumulated in the biowheel to quarantine a new fish? If I did this it wouldn't be for another week or so.

I plan on adding sponges to my sump to allow for additional biological filtration in future quarantines. On that same subject, I don't plan on reusing my old biowheels (just the spinning part - or sponges) for multiple quarantines. But then again I don't want to cycle a tank again each time I have to quarantine. Every guide I read tells me it's the 'bare minimum' of what they'd do but I have yet to see anyone say they have a permanent quarantine set up. Could I reuse the biowheels if there was no disease observed on the fish? I can't imagine a large aquarium replacing all biological filtration on their tank every time they get a new batch of fish. I feel like I'm making this more difficult than it needs to be.

Would a new biowheel and a block sponge that's been in my sump be sufficient filtration each time I want to add a new fish to my qt? Along with a powerhead, heater, etc.

Can I float new biowheels in my sump along with the sponge? Or does that not allow for proper bacterial growth on the biowheel?

Does everyone dose copper/medications on all their fish? Or just the ones prone to disease?

 

[DeniseAndy]

Hi, and good questions. Nice to see you getting the qt all set up and managed. I am one of those people that do not have a qt running unless I need it. However, I volunteered for years at our public aquarium and can tell you how they manage the qt change overs.

The water in your display can be used in your qt as doing a water change (saves money on salt this way). I sometimes do this for new qt set ups. It will not add much in the way of biologicals though. The sponge soaked in the sump or a fully cycled tank with the biowheels will do that. Yes you could place biowheels in your sump to seed them (do not move biowheels between qt and sump, but I think you know that).

I do not per say cycle the tank when I qt. As fish do not need this. You just need to keep an eye on ammonia via an ammonia badge (seachem). A sponge in the sump moved to qt each time will help with biological filtration. Just need to replace this sponge after each qt. Throw used one away.

I never use copper and never have. Just my method. I watch fish and treat as necessary. Although I have still heard many that will treat before they see issues due to the fish issues around right now like velvet. I have been luck with my fish sourcing and have not had these issues. I would always keep on hand: gram negative antibiotics (kanamycin, metronidazole, similar) and prazipro, choroquine (if you can), I use formalin or acriflavin.

Method to changeover qt tank:
Cycle with sponge or similar and qt the fish. When done, run freshwater through the system for 24hours, then re-add saltwater and cycle. you can also run trace amounts of bleach/vinegar through system with freshwater, but not really necessary. Bleach dissipates fast, but if you use it, I would let the tank also dry for 3 days to make sure before adding saltwater back in.

 

[ca1ore]

I keep a canister/reactor full of biomedia in my main system sump so that whenever I need a cycled QT tank it's as simple as putting a cup or two of it into the HoB filter on the QT. I'm not a fan of running the QT continuously, particularly if you have had a disease problem in there. I always clean them out and bleach them before the next fish arrives. I also always use existing tank water to fill my QT. Requires some dilution initially as incoming fish are typically at less than full salinity.

 

[Legal Reefer]

This is what I'll be trying myself, minus the copper unless absolutely necessary to save a fish.

 

[Blastonator]

Thanks for all the great responses.

@DeniseAndy I found prazipro and kanaplex which should check mark most of the disease remedies I should need based on your post. I also found an ammonia alert, I like that suggestion because that is my main concern.

As for future quarantines, I'm going to go with the filter @Legal Reefer had in his video. For $9 you can't beat it since a block sponge is $12 at my LFS.

It sounds like I am over complicating it and I am just gonna throw a couple of those dense foam filters in my sump for my next quarantine. The bad news is I wasted money on a couple biowheels but that's not so bad. At least I'm not out killing fish.