I apologize ahead of time for the rambling
TL;DR what if we used dosing pumps to push water into a coral/invert QT, while simultaneously taking water out with a dosing pump in order to keep ALk, Po4, and No3- balanced
so I'm new to the art of QT, and I think/ hope I'm getting the hang of it. Starting with fish, I'm working to prevent velvet and ich from the tank. problem is, what's the point if I'm just going to introduce velvet or ich (and other coral pests ie. red bugs, flatworms from eggs, etc) when I add more coral or rock.
My line of thinking lead me to want to set up a coral QT for any incoming coral. I'm getting some higher end sps in a week or two, and obviously hope to get more coral down the road. Currently the Tank is follow which helps for the time being, but I should have fish in there by the end of march/mid April. Last thing I want to do do is introduce more pests
the issues I'm noticing with other coral QTs are the following
-Equipment costs
-Levels
-Alk NEEDS to be stable for SPS and LPS. the scary part is the coral will be in the tank for approximately 30-70 days, no one wants an expensive coral to die during this time. This might require dosing or a CRX, which itself is a relatively high investment. Especially for smaller tanks like a 5-20 gallon. I know, "no such thing as a high investment" and "it'll cost more if the entire tank gets wiped out" but surely there must be another way?
-Nutrients like Phosphates and nitrates need to be stable as well. Can't add a fish or that'll make a fishless qt pointless. Can't plumb the qt into the display, because that would make the point of a QT pointless. Inverts might help, but eventually they'll probably need to go into the display. No one wants to buy a $100 (or any cost) acro, only to have it brown out in QT because of the lack/instability of nutrients. furthermore, not everyone has the time to test every single day to make sure the params are in check in both their display AND their qt.
I ended up coming up with the following Idea, but It has kinks which I am reaching out to the community. This primarily applies to Neptune users, however it could work through the use of different dosing pumps.
What if, using a DOS and the water change method, we had water going from the display tank into the coral QT, and then the other side taking the same water from the QT into a waste container? This way, the levels in the Display tank could at least be simulated in the QT tank, making it also simpler when the coral are added to the display as there will be no change in ALK or nutrient levels.
Theoretically, through 5 small water changes a day equaling 1 gallon (I'm thinking in a 10 gallon tank, but could be larger for larger qt tanks) wouldn't the levels be balanced out to accommodate for coral? Granted testing and maintenance should be done, including an ATO being added to prevent water loss due to evaporation.
my only concern right now is, 1 gallon into the QT means 1 gallon of saltwater is lost in the display. Maybe this could be done with an additional DOS putting fresh saltwater into the display while the ATO is off?
My reasoning for using the DOS is the ability to track how much fluids are passing through each, whereas other pumps are plug and run for a certain amount of time which could lead to inaccuracies and nutrient imbalances.
Additional concern is, what if the coral QT takes up more ALK than the CRX or alk dosing method in the display can provide? what if the additional head on the second DOS was to add the supplemental ALk to compensate for the drop?
Any thoughts, comments, or additional Ideas would be greatly appreciated. I appreciate you for having read up to here!
TL;DR what if we used dosing pumps to push water into a coral/invert QT, while simultaneously taking water out with a dosing pump in order to keep ALk, Po4, and No3- balanced
so I'm new to the art of QT, and I think/ hope I'm getting the hang of it. Starting with fish, I'm working to prevent velvet and ich from the tank. problem is, what's the point if I'm just going to introduce velvet or ich (and other coral pests ie. red bugs, flatworms from eggs, etc) when I add more coral or rock.
My line of thinking lead me to want to set up a coral QT for any incoming coral. I'm getting some higher end sps in a week or two, and obviously hope to get more coral down the road. Currently the Tank is follow which helps for the time being, but I should have fish in there by the end of march/mid April. Last thing I want to do do is introduce more pests
the issues I'm noticing with other coral QTs are the following
-Equipment costs
-Levels
-Alk NEEDS to be stable for SPS and LPS. the scary part is the coral will be in the tank for approximately 30-70 days, no one wants an expensive coral to die during this time. This might require dosing or a CRX, which itself is a relatively high investment. Especially for smaller tanks like a 5-20 gallon. I know, "no such thing as a high investment" and "it'll cost more if the entire tank gets wiped out" but surely there must be another way?
-Nutrients like Phosphates and nitrates need to be stable as well. Can't add a fish or that'll make a fishless qt pointless. Can't plumb the qt into the display, because that would make the point of a QT pointless. Inverts might help, but eventually they'll probably need to go into the display. No one wants to buy a $100 (or any cost) acro, only to have it brown out in QT because of the lack/instability of nutrients. furthermore, not everyone has the time to test every single day to make sure the params are in check in both their display AND their qt.
I ended up coming up with the following Idea, but It has kinks which I am reaching out to the community. This primarily applies to Neptune users, however it could work through the use of different dosing pumps.
What if, using a DOS and the water change method, we had water going from the display tank into the coral QT, and then the other side taking the same water from the QT into a waste container? This way, the levels in the Display tank could at least be simulated in the QT tank, making it also simpler when the coral are added to the display as there will be no change in ALK or nutrient levels.
Theoretically, through 5 small water changes a day equaling 1 gallon (I'm thinking in a 10 gallon tank, but could be larger for larger qt tanks) wouldn't the levels be balanced out to accommodate for coral? Granted testing and maintenance should be done, including an ATO being added to prevent water loss due to evaporation.
my only concern right now is, 1 gallon into the QT means 1 gallon of saltwater is lost in the display. Maybe this could be done with an additional DOS putting fresh saltwater into the display while the ATO is off?
My reasoning for using the DOS is the ability to track how much fluids are passing through each, whereas other pumps are plug and run for a certain amount of time which could lead to inaccuracies and nutrient imbalances.
Additional concern is, what if the coral QT takes up more ALK than the CRX or alk dosing method in the display can provide? what if the additional head on the second DOS was to add the supplemental ALk to compensate for the drop?
Any thoughts, comments, or additional Ideas would be greatly appreciated. I appreciate you for having read up to here!
