Changing Display Tanks - How to Quarantine Entire 200 Gallon Tank?

mstgkillr

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Long story, but it appears that I will be changing display tanks, and plan to use this as an opportunity to begin quarantining everything that goes into the new tank.

The current tank will need to be moved, as the new tank is taking its place. I will be using completely new dry rock and sand on the new tank, so it will need time to fully cycle.

I was thinking the best approach to fully quarantine everything from the current tank, would be the following;
  1. Move the current 200-gallon tank at least 10 ft. away from where the new tank will be setup
  2. Setup the new 200-gallon tank and begin cycling it
  3. Setup a small 40-gallon coral only quarantine tank
  4. Move all coral that I want to keep to the 40-gallon quarantine tank
  5. Quarantine and treat all livestock in the relocated current tank. I understand this will ruin all of the sand and rock in the current tank, which I am fine with.
  6. After the new tank is cycled appropriately, move the fish and coral to the new tank
Any suggestions, comments, etc?
 

MnFish1

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Long story, but it appears that I will be changing display tanks, and plan to use this as an opportunity to begin quarantining everything that goes into the new tank.

The current tank will need to be moved, as the new tank is taking its place. I will be using completely new dry rock and sand on the new tank, so it will need time to fully cycle.

I was thinking the best approach to fully quarantine everything from the current tank, would be the following;
  1. Move the current 200-gallon tank at least 10 ft. away from where the new tank will be setup
  2. Setup the new 200-gallon tank and begin cycling it
  3. Setup a small 40-gallon coral only quarantine tank
  4. Move all coral that I want to keep to the 40-gallon quarantine tank
  5. Quarantine and treat all livestock in the relocated current tank. I understand this will ruin all of the sand and rock in the current tank, which I am fine with.
  6. After the new tank is cycled appropriately, move the fish and coral to the new tank
Any suggestions, comments, etc?
Sounds 'correct' to me. Are you saying that you're going to medicate all of your fish? I'm not sure I would go through your process for a variety of reasons - but what you're planning sounds correct. Good luck with the project!!
 
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mstgkillr

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Sounds 'correct' to me. Are you saying that you're going to medicate all of your fish? I'm not sure I would go through your process for a variety of reasons - but what you're planning sounds correct. Good luck with the project!!

Why wouldn't you go through this process? Is there an easier way?

After doing a little more research, it appears that I already have some holes in my plan. It looks like the sand and rock need to be removed from the current tank, so that the copper is not absorbed. I assume this is going to be an issue with the biology and keeping the ammonia in check as well.
 

MnFish1

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Why wouldn't you go through this process? Is there an easier way?

After doing a little more research, it appears that I already have some holes in my plan. It looks like the sand and rock need to be removed from the current tank, so that the copper is not absorbed. I assume this is going to be an issue with the biology and keeping the ammonia in check as well.

Again - others may disagree - my personal philosophy would be the stress of doing medication, setting up (as you said - a completely new tank), etc MAY cause many more difficulties for your fish and yourself than just putting them in the new tank.

The thing that would sway that opinion would be if you had known repeated disease outbreaks, some of your fish are not doing well or if you're planning lots of new additions going forward. Otherwise I think treating what may be perfectly healthy fish with potentially harmful medications is not the way to go.

And yes - if you do want to use your old tank as a QT tank - you will need to clean it, remove everything (including the filter) and somehow cycle it. etc etc. Uronema - for example - may live in a tank undetected - and is not going to be well treated with copper, etc. Again - I'm not trying to disagree with you per se - but since you asked for suggestions, comments, those would be mine.
 

vetteguy53081

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A large Rubbermaid tub would be most cost effective approach for containing livestock safely while accommodating a light -heater- filter
 

Jay Hemdal

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Long story, but it appears that I will be changing display tanks, and plan to use this as an opportunity to begin quarantining everything that goes into the new tank.

The current tank will need to be moved, as the new tank is taking its place. I will be using completely new dry rock and sand on the new tank, so it will need time to fully cycle.

I was thinking the best approach to fully quarantine everything from the current tank, would be the following;
  1. Move the current 200-gallon tank at least 10 ft. away from where the new tank will be setup
  2. Setup the new 200-gallon tank and begin cycling it
  3. Setup a small 40-gallon coral only quarantine tank
  4. Move all coral that I want to keep to the 40-gallon quarantine tank
  5. Quarantine and treat all livestock in the relocated current tank. I understand this will ruin all of the sand and rock in the current tank, which I am fine with.
  6. After the new tank is cycled appropriately, move the fish and coral to the new tank
Any suggestions, comments, etc?

With both tanks sharing the same space, you need to be aware of biosecurity (as you seem to be with the distance mentioned). Here is an article that gives more info on that:

You might consider using hyposalinity and prazi in your QT, that way, the sand and rock would still be more usable afterwards. I think this is fine for your existing fish (they seem healthy, right?) New fish should probably get a copper/prazi quarantine.

Jay
 
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mstgkillr

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After some more research and thinking about it a little more, I'm leaning towards setting up a 150-gallon Rubbermaid tub. Would 4 Hydra Aquatics 50-gallon sponge filters provide enough biology, provided they were seeded from the current tank?

Current stock list:
(1) Large Naso Tang
(1) Medium Gem Tang
(1) Large Sailfin Tang
(1) Small Purple Tang
(1) Large Yellow Tang
(1) Medium Powder Blue Tang
(1) Copperbanded Butterfly
(1) Medium Hippo Tang
(2) Clownfish
(2) Firefish
(5) various small fish (Anthias, Cardinals)
 

2Sunny

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First off you can find as many opinions on here as there are reefers, but I have a few questions:
1) Is there a problem with your current tank and the health of the occupants?
2) What corals do you have?

In general I would advocate for no medication and using live rock and not dry rock.

 

Fishfreak2009

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After some more research and thinking about it a little more, I'm leaning towards setting up a 150-gallon Rubbermaid tub. Would 4 Hydra Aquatics 50-gallon sponge filters provide enough biology, provided they were seeded from the current tank?

Current stock list:
(1) Large Naso Tang
(1) Medium Gem Tang
(1) Large Sailfin Tang
(1) Small Purple Tang
(1) Large Yellow Tang
(1) Medium Powder Blue Tang
(1) Copperbanded Butterfly
(1) Medium Hippo Tang
(2) Clownfish
(2) Firefish
(5) various small fish (Anthias, Cardinals)
This is what I would do. Multiple large sponge filters and a powerhead or 2 for extra aeration in a stock tank this size. Treat all fish with cupramine for 30 days, then 3 doses of prazi 7 days apart. After this, observe while the rock and sand sit fallow the rest of the time in your new tank. When adding the fish to the stock tank, add a couple bottles of Biospira. Feel free to dose Microbacter7 daily to help prevent ammonia spikes, and add a bottle of Biospira weekly the first 3 weeks or so that the stock tank is set up. Put a pile of various size PVC elbows and tube pieces in the tank for the fish to hide in.

This is exactly how I quarantined all the fish in my old 380 gallon when I upgraded from my 180 gallon.
 

Stang67

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I would think the seeded media may carry whatever your trying to get rid of. Maybe grab some new sponges or I have seen scrubby from the dollar store used. Seed in the new tub with your preferred starter bacteria. And go from there?
 

Fishfreak2009

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I'm still curious as to the reason behind this. Is this simply to upgrade your existing tank?
I did this when upgrading my old aquarium from a 180 to a 380 gallon. I had a lot of harder to find and more expensive fish in the 380, and wanted to make sure the system was parasite free. Doing everything right from the start is easier than having to pull all the fish from the display to go fallow months down the road after everything is already established.
 
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