Coral and Invert Quarantine with Live Rock question

[psycjoe]

I'm about to receive a new batch of corals, a couple of emerald crabs, and some snails in a couple weeks and plan on setting up a quarantine tank. I've never done this with previous coral/inverts, but want to be safe than sorry. I assume I can quarantine all of these critters in the same tank so please correct me if I'm wrong.

I plan on taking a small chunk of live rock (which has a couple zoas growing on it) out of my display tank plus the water from a water change to put into my little 10G quarantine tank. The plan is to do this at 81 degrees for 30-45 days. Corals will be dipped and monitored for pests, but my main reason for quarantine is to avoid fish diseases.

My question: Once complete with the 30-45 day quarantine, is it safe to put the live rock back in my display tank? I assume it would be since no fish and chemicals will be involved but wanted to get the expert opinions. The plan would be to shut down the quarantine tank until the next purchase.

 

[Subsea]

Swedish philosopher, Niels Bore, defined Expert as someone who has made every possible mistake in a field of endevor.

Abraham Lincoln defined Expert as some who went 50 miles to give their opinion and if they were good; they got paid for their opinion.

You are on the right track! Go for the Gusto.

 

[BryanM]

I'm about to receive a new batch of corals, a couple of emerald crabs, and some snails in a couple weeks and plan on setting up a quarantine tank. I've never done this with previous coral/inverts, but want to be safe than sorry. I assume I can quarantine all of these critters in the same tank so please correct me if I'm wrong.

I plan on taking a small chunk of live rock (which has a couple zoas growing on it) out of my display tank plus the water from a water change to put into my little 10G quarantine tank. The plan is to do this at 81 degrees for 30-45 days. Corals will be dipped and monitored for pests, but my main reason for quarantine is to avoid fish diseases.

My question: Once complete with the 30-45 day quarantine, is it safe to put the live rock back in my display tank? I assume it would be since no fish and chemicals will be involved but wanted to get the expert opinions. The plan would be to shut down the quarantine tank until the next purchase.

I would caution re: crabs, I've had terrible luck with what were reported to be reef safe crabs. They are all getting caught and re-homed now.

I love crabs, fun to watch, neat personalities, but when they start nipping on things that cost 100x their cost, time to make a crab cake

 

[psycjoe]

I would caution re: crabs, I've had terrible luck with what were reported to be reef safe crabs. They are all getting caught and re-homed now.

I love crabs, fun to watch, neat personalities, but when they start nipping on things that cost 100x their cost, time to make a crab cake

Thanks for the insight. The emerald crabs are for a 20G anemone tank with a pair of clowns that has a bubble algae issue. I've removed most manually but there's a few spots I can't get to and these guys will get 'em.

 

[BContos]

I have a QT tank set up for the same situation. I had originally planned on shutting it down between uses but decided after setting it up and finishing the first round of corals to keep it going. In between uses I run it with the filter only- no wave maker, lights or heater. I found that the 'ugly' phase will happen even in a QT so keeping it running bare bones with topping off a few days a week helps deter that.

As far as the rock going back to your DT goes personally I wouldn't. Everything in the QT that is going into my DT gets dipped 3X at 2 week intervals so you would potentially be introducing something into your DT by having that rock added back in to the main tank. If you're going through the trouble of QT'ing may as well not take any unnecessary risks imo

 

[NancyFish]

I have a QT tank set up

As far as the rock going back to your DT goes personally I wouldn't. Everything in the QT that is going into my DT gets dipped 3X at 2 week intervals so you would potentially be introducing something into your DT by having that rock added back in to the main tank. If you're going through the trouble of QT'ing may as well not take any unnecessary risks imo

What’s your quarantine process like? I originally wanted to since fish qt is easy. But debating on how to do coral and cuc. Also debating how many coral for my first qt in fears I somehow kill them; but at the same time my giant tank is barren.

 

[psycjoe]

What’s your quarantine process like? I originally wanted to since fish qt is easy. But debating on how to do coral and cuc. Also debating how many coral for my first qt in fears I somehow kill them; but at the same time my giant tank is barren.

My quarantine setup is just a small 10 gallon tank from PetSmart. I put eggcrate in the bottom to hold the coral plugs. I used the water from a water change and a rock from out of my display tank. I had a hang-on-the-back filter and also ordered an AI prime light and Nero 3 for flow.

I've lost a couple of corals already in my quarantine but the snails are all still alive.

 

[Louis Z]

QT tanks are easier if maintained . Maybe better for coral to be in an established QT . It doesn’t have to be elaborate just to keep up the bacteria at higher level. Kind of learned the hard way with a zebra eel in a 20g long . It was a fast setup . The store had a 30% off sale and for a zebra that has never been that low in price so up went the QT , threw in the bioballs and foam and some shells that I had in Display Refugium a week earlier . That eel produced a lot of ammonia without being fed . I struggled that first two weeks in keeping the ammonia down with a lot of water changes and fritz turbo start . Ammonia spike after each time I fed him. Finally after 2weeks and a handful of hair algae . Ammonia at zero per test kit . Didn’t test nitrites or nitrates , I just knew it was high , thus a handful of hair algae

 

[NancyFish]

My quarantine setup is just a small 10 gallon tank from PetSmart. I put eggcrate in the bottom to hold the coral plugs. I used the water from a water change and a rock from out of my display tank. I had a hang-on-the-back filter and also ordered an AI prime light and Nero 3 for flow.

I've lost a couple of corals already in my quarantine but the snails are all still alive.

I did a similar set up but cheaper light and flow. I wouldn’t say the coral are happy but they’re open. It’s so frustrating knowing these be happier in the tank and so would I so it wouldn’t be so barren. Any idea why you lost a few corals? Did they have warning signs?

 

[NancyFish]

QT tanks are easier if maintained . Maybe better for coral to be in an established QT . It doesn’t have to be elaborate just to keep up the bacteria at higher level. Kind of learned the hard way with a zebra eel in a 20g long . It was a fast setup . The store had a 30% off sale and for a zebra that has never been that low in price so up went the QT , threw in the bioballs and foam and some shells that I had in Display Refugium a week earlier . That eel produced a lot of ammonia without being fed . I struggled that first two weeks in keeping the ammonia down with a lot of water changes and fritz turbo start . Ammonia spike after each time I fed him. Finally after 2weeks and a handful of hair algae . Ammonia at zero per test kit . Didn’t test nitrites or nitrates , I just knew it was high , thus a handful of hair algae

Did the eel survive it all? I didn’t think about pre cycling the qt because I assumed I should be doing heavy water changes and you don’t want rock etc in them. Now I’m wondering how bad an idea that is. Meanwhile. You mention algae in your tank in under 2 weeks, my main tank is three months in and no algae, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop

 

[Louis Z]

My fowlr tank has been up for 6+ years . I got hair algae from snails that I introduced . I haven’t been able to get rid of it . So I will try Rx flux even though it’s not bryopsis I have had hair algae for about 3years . In a way I don’t want it but in a way I do . My water is very good because of the uptake by it , i don’t have to target feed my sea urchins that I love . Thelike to eat it ‘oI pull up large qty of it and dispose of it . But this time , instead of discarding I dropped it in my qt tank . On its own. It would take a while for the Q tank to develop algae . You could do this with other algae’s . My cheatomorpha didn’t do well , the hair algae may have outcompeted it , as for the eel , yes it survived and doing well . I use the ammonia badge and it always told me about it was Ok yet the API tested always higher . So to be on the safe side, I did water changes
y

 

[BContos]

What’s your quarantine process like? I originally wanted to since fish qt is easy. But debating on how to do coral and cuc. Also debating how many coral for my first qt in fears I somehow kill them; but at the same time my giant tank is barren.

My apologies just now seeing this!

I have a 10 gallon tank with a HOB filter and a smaller version of the same light for the QT thats on my DT. My QT has sand and rocks/rubble and some seeded media from my DT. Most of my corals are shipped so when they arrive I temp acclimate and put them in the QT tank. After 24 hours of them settling into the tank I pull each one out and look at it under a well lit microscope and remove the frag plugs gluing rubble on the bases of the corals. Two days after that I will dip them. I run 3 dips while they are in QT all 2-3 weeks apart and each time visually inspect them. After the third dip they are rinsed in fresh saltwater and added to the DT.

 

[NancyFish]

My apologies just now seeing this!

I have a 10 gallon tank with a HOB filter and a smaller version of the same light for the QT thats on my DT. My QT has sand and rocks/rubble and some seeded media from my DT. Most of my corals are shipped so when they arrive I temp acclimate and put them in the QT tank. After 24 hours of them settling into the tank I pull each one out and look at it under a well lit microscope and remove the frag plugs gluing rubble on the bases of the corals. Two days after that I will dip them. I run 3 dips while they are in QT all 2-3 weeks apart and each time visually inspect them. After the third dip they are rinsed in fresh saltwater and added to the DT.

No big deal, thanks for the response! So you don’t worry about pest getting in the sand or rock? Do you do the same dip (like coral ex, etc) just spread out?

I have mine up and running over 3 weeks now and I think I spend more time on this than the display. Hi weekly water changes doesn’t keep the slime / dust (detritus?) down, so I started wiping with roller fleece and leaving some at the floor. I still don’t think it’s enough so have to break out the hob (which seemed inefficient when I had a similar one on a fish qt).

Realized the fritz turbo 900 wasn’t gonna cut it the way it did for fish qt either. So lot of learning curves. Added more ceramic media - but only late to the game because I thought the whole thing should be as steril as possible (to minimize pest).

And to top it off, I learned euphyllia should have healthy flesh bands, so I have like three of those I have to try and nurse back for our first corals while maintaining the other guys lol. I thought these guys would be easier than the fish qt to keep them happy, wrong. Lol