Coral qt critique & questions

[Biff0rz]

Setup:
20g long
Aragonite sand substrate (same as dt)
Small chunks of live rock from dt (cycled)
2 frag racks
1 wave maker (jaebo)
Coral life T5 (dt has T5 hybrid w 3 kessil 360we's)
HOB filter with matrix media

Any suggestions or changes to the setup?

On to questions-
How often should I do water changes? I was considering awc from the dt to the QT then awc from qt to drain to keep mag/alk stable enough for the QT

Everything I read said to keep it fishless - but add inverts. Cool, I can add inverts. However, wouldn't a 6line Wrasse in the coral qt kill lots of pests? I would never put it in my dt, qt only.
If I do normal water changes, how often would you recommend doing them and would I need to top of alk daily?

Note, I plan to have a mostly sps dominated tank. I may have some mushrooms and such but the main goal is sps.

Thanks!

 

[ReefLab]

To keep things simple (not worry about dosing) I rely on doing water changes from my display 2-3 times a week of about 10%. Awc is a great idea. Don’t forget about top off water.

the light you have on there is excellent.

keep it fishless because coral skeletons/frag plugs can have ich or other parasites that you don’t want in your display tank - keeping it fishless starves out these parasites.

I’d probably go without the live rock.The matrix media will introduce all the bacteria and micro fauna you need and seed the sand itself. If you get a pest like aiptasia or flatworms, it could spread to the live rock and make it harder to remove from QT

Good idea to throw some carbon in the HOB

lastly, remove frag plugs and dip in/out of qt and potentially during qt if you notice a pest

good lock and props for having a quarantine!

 

[Biff0rz]

To keep things simple (not worry about dosing) I rely on doing water changes from my display 2-3 times a week of about 10%. Awc is a great idea. Don’t forget about top off water.

the light you have on there is excellent.

keep it fishless because coral skeletons/frag plugs can have ich or other parasites that you don’t want in your display tank - keeping it fishless starves out these parasites.

I’d probably go without the live rock.The matrix media will introduce all the bacteria and micro fauna you need and seed the sand itself. If you get a pest like aiptasia or flatworms, it could spread to the live rock and make it harder to remove from QT

Good idea to throw some carbon in the HOB

lastly, remove frag plugs and dip in/out of qt and potentially during qt if you notice a pest

good lock and props for having a quarantine!

Thanks for the help and props! So my thoughts with the live rock was to help seed/cycle the tank faster. I can easily add carbon to the HOB. Wouldn't matrix take a while to cycle? Forgot to mention I do have an extra ato that came with the DT (used) so I'll use that for this qt. Looks like I need another apex dos

 

[ReefLab]

Thanks for the help and props! So my thoughts with the live rock was to help seed/cycle the tank faster. I can easily add carbon to the HOB. Wouldn't matrix take a while to cycle? Forgot to mention I do have an extra ato that came with the DT (used) so I'll use that for this qt. Looks like I need another apex dos

Lol you can never have too many dosing pumps thats for sure.
Oh I made the assumption that the Seachem matrix was already cycled. I keep 2 large bags of matrix in my sump at all times so if I need to set up a new tank, I just throw the matrix into the HOB and its immediately cycled. Having sand in there will help it move along even more.

you could probably cycle your dry Seachem matrix in about a week of it being left in the sump.

 

[Biff0rz]

Lol you can never have too many dosing pumps thats for sure.
Oh I made the assumption that the Seachem matrix was already cycled. I keep 2 large bags of matrix in my sump at all times so if I need to set up a new tank, I just throw the matrix into the HOB and its immediately cycled. Having sand in there will help it move along even more.

you could probably cycle your dry Seachem matrix in about a week of it being left in the sump.

OK that's cool, I'll toss the matrix in there tonight and set it up next week. I have both dry and live sand, should I do the live?

 

[ReefLab]

OK that's cool, I'll toss the matrix in there tonight and set it up next week. I have both dry and live sand, should I do the live?

Yeah wouldn’t hurt to use the live sand from ur dt and you can fill it back in with dry sand if you want.

 

[Biff0rz]

To keep things simple (not worry about dosing) I rely on doing water changes from my display 2-3 times a week of about 10%. Awc is a great idea. Don’t forget about top off water.

the light you have on there is excellent.

keep it fishless because coral skeletons/frag plugs can have ich or other parasites that you don’t want in your display tank - keeping it fishless starves out these parasites.

I’d probably go without the live rock.The matrix media will introduce all the bacteria and micro fauna you need and seed the sand itself. If you get a pest like aiptasia or flatworms, it could spread to the live rock and make it harder to remove from QT

Good idea to throw some carbon in the HOB

lastly, remove frag plugs and dip in/out of qt and potentially during qt if you notice a pest

good lock and props for having a quarantine!

How do you have your AWC set up? I have AWC on my DT (233g) and it's changing ~4g/d. The QT is only 20g. I have a second Apex DOS so I could do AWC with fresh saltwater from my storage or I could change from the DT. If I did DT->QT->Drain and only want to change 1g/d on the QT would I just add 1g to the DT when changing the water?

So right now I have my awc setup as:
DOS1
Storage -> DT(4g) -> Drain(4g)

Would I set it up like
DOS1
Storage -> DT(5g) -> Drain (4g)
+
DOS2
DT -> QT (1g) -> Drain (1g)

 

[ReefLab]

How do you have your AWC set up? I have AWC on my DT (233g) and it's changing ~4g/d. The QT is only 20g. I have a second Apex DOS so I could do AWC with fresh saltwater from my storage or I could change from the DT. If I did DT->QT->Drain and only want to change 1g/d on the QT would I just add 1g to the DT when changing the water?

So right now I have my awc setup as:
DOS1
Storage -> DT(4g) -> Drain(4g)

Would I set it up like
DOS1
Storage -> DT(5g) -> Drain (4g)
+
DOS2
DT -> QT (1g) -> Drain (1g)

Actually I just manually change water everyday (or every other day) on my quarantine. It’s easy enough to change a gallon.

I think if you continued your 4g AWC on your display tank and just allocated 1G to the quarantine that would be basically bulletproof. Don’t change with fresh saltwater as that won’t have any nitrate or phosphate which your corals need.

You would still want to account for salinity somehow. I just make sure it’s topped off to the bottom of the plastic rim in my tank.