"Proper" quarantine tank set up?

[JSeward]

So far I have a 15 gallon setup...HOB filter, heater, PVC hiding, light and bare bottom. I mixed salt yesterday. Salinity is about 1.018. I added some live bacteria and some fish food.

It's great that you have a QT tank up and running. Nice first step.

I see a few problems you might run into. If you're trying to QT fish for a large tank, it's going to be slow going. Having every fish go through QT, you're looking at adding a fish or two every 2 to 3 months. The next problem is the size of fish. Unless you plan on stocking it with 2" fish, a 15 gallon might not work out too well for you. Just some stuff to consider as you're moving forward.

Also, please do not QT anything with copper for 6 weeks. Treat fish with copper only if you see signs of Ich, Velvet, etc. and they need to be treated. The quarantine period is to observe your new pet and to make sure it's eating and healthy. If you observe disease or parasites, treat and medicate accordingly.

Just to give you some more ideas on QT setups, I moved out of an apartment and into a house within the last year and I'm working on a large tank build just like you. To make sure every fish that goes into the display is healthy and parasite free, I built a conditioning system. I have 8 individually heated and filtered tanks totaling 130 gallons. The 30 gallon gets filtered by an old canister filter and the 10s and 20s have Deep Blue ProSponge 50's paired with a Maxi-jet or air pump depending on the tank. Very simple and scalable.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I am mostly a wrasse guy. I plan on mostly stocking with Fairy/Flasher wrasses and some Hawaiian anthias. I do plan on getting one tang....possibly an Achilles. When it comes time for him, I will be purchasing him from my local store, where they will QT him for me.

 

[JSeward]

I am mostly a wrasse guy. I plan on mostly stocking with Fairy/Flasher wrasses and some Hawaiian anthias. I do plan on getting one tang....possibly an Achilles. When it comes time for him, I will be purchasing him from my local store, where they will QT him for me.

I wouldn't trust a LFS to QT fish. The amount of livestock cycling through a store and the fact that most systems are large and connected makes it very difficult to ensure all fish are disease and parasite free. They'll certainly do their best, but it's very common for a "quarantined" fish to still have ich and other parasites. I've seen it a lot at stores I frequent and even Divers Den recommends QTing their fish after they've gone through extensive monitoring, treating and conditioning.

Here's a little write up on how Tony Vargas, the Wrasse man, quarantines his Wrasses. Australian Leopard-wrasse Quarantine Technique

 

[Kworker]

I would recommend having 2-3 different sized tanks around for possible QT needs. Plus even if you are not using the three of them you possibly could stack them inside each other to save storage space if need be. Or if you have a basement as I do you just leave them wherever lol.

I would recommend only doing so many fish at once to start with. I've done anything from 1 small fish or 1 large fish to 12 small fish in a 20 gallon or 3 larger fish in a 50 gallon. I would honestly say the fewer the fish the better at once, it minimizes competitiveness and allows you to focus more on an individual basis rather than just treating it as a regiment to treat a group.

Having water always made is going to be the IMO the best thing for QTing fish successfully. Things could easily go wrong if you decide to medicate, the fish may react negatively and you may need to address that in a instant. Also if you implement a treatment as I do for Ich such as the Tank Transfer method, you will use LOTS of water and salt if you are using multiple 40+ gallon tanks. This can also be beneficial for the display, just draw the water from the display and put it in to the QT and use the freshly mixed water for your Display.

Quarantine is simple and people over complicate it. All you really need (not including med's) is the tank(s), HOB filters/Airstones/Sponge filters (I recommend having all three on hand), PVC fittings of various sizes and heaters. A light is not all too necessary if you are keeping it in a well lit room. However, a light would be nice to have to do daily visual inspections of the fish. I also found keeping the room dark and only light on over the tank greatly reduces the fishes stress level since it won't be able to see much outside of its aquarium.