Display/QT Tank Combo

[ccombs]

Hello All,

I have an idea that I would love to bring to life, but I am not sure if it is feasible.

In my current home, I do not really have a place that a QT tank would be able to go. However, I have a place that a secondary nano 10-15 gallon AIO tank would look pretty nice.

Do you guys think I could stock a small nano with a couple of clownfish, a shrimp, and some simple corals, and if I need a QT tank, move the corals and shrimp into my main display temporarily and do a copper treatment with the 2 clowns and whatever other fish I need to treat?

 

[nden]

If you have space for that second tank, you have space for a qt. So long as it's 10 ft away from your display, why not just set it up as a qt?

 

[ccombs]

If you have space for that second tank, you have space for a qt. So long as it's 10 ft away from your display, why not just set it up as a qt?

I simply do not want to have a tank that runs empty all of the time in my living room. It isn't as simple as having space so I could put either there.

 

[Hermie]

I don't quite understand the dilemma.
QT tanks don't have to be empty all the time, if the animals inside them have already been quarantined then of course they can stay in there. A QT is basically just a second tank that's designed for medications (less concern for lighting or aquascape, maybe less substrate than a display etc).

 

[ccombs]

I don't quite understand the dilemma.
QT tanks don't have to be empty all the time, if the animals inside them have already been quarantined then of course they can stay in there. A QT is basically just a second tank that's designed for medications (less concern for lighting or aquascape, maybe less substrate than a display etc).

I would love to keep something in the QT as a permanent home. I was basically asking if it is ok to have the QT as a secondary display of sorts, but just move inverts to my main tank when I need to dose copper.

 

[Hermie]

I would love to keep something in the QT as a permanent home. I was basically asking if it is ok to have the QT as a secondary display of sorts, but just move inverts to my main tank when I need to dose copper.

Certainly, with the caveat that anything remaining in the tank during treatment would be susceptible to the stress that treatment entails

 

[ccombs]

Certainly, with the caveat that anything remaining in the tank during treatment would be susceptible to the stress that treatment entails

Yes, I certainly understand the risks there. Thanks for the answer! I was basically just wondering if this was a terrible idea or not lol.

What would a good alternative to rock be for that set up, I want something a little classier than PVC lol.

My thought is to do a cute little 14g IM Peninsula in my office with a Kessil A80 and QT fish in there with copper. Then I would remove copper when I need to QT inverts or corals.

 

[Hermie]

My thought is to do a cute little 14g IM Peninsula in my office with a Kessil A80 and QT fish in there with copper. Then I would remove copper when I need to QT inverts or corals.

"General advice" is to not use copper in a tank that will house inverts in the future without first changing the substrate and cleaning the walls/glass/filter. There are alternative treatments to copper, which you could consider. But it just depends on how much risk you are willing to take about the inverts, and how thoroughly you believe you can get rid of copper from the system after dosing it. It's one of those things that some people swear by and some people gamble with, or found that trace copper residue is not noticeably damaging to inverts.

Personally I have treated my main tank with copper several times in the past, but that was before swapping substrates and it's been many months of granular activated carbon since then, and I have hermit crabs doing fine, copepods doing fine and a sponge doing fine. No corals yet in that tank. I was using cupramine for what it's worth.

 

[ccombs]

"General advice" is to not use copper in a tank that will house inverts in the future without first changing the substrate and cleaning the walls/glass/filter. There are alternative treatments to copper, which you could consider. But it just depends on how much risk you are willing to take about the inverts, and how thoroughly you believe you can get rid of copper from the system after dosing it. It's one of those things that some people swear by and some people gamble with, or found that trace copper residue is not noticeably damaging to inverts.

Personally I have treated my main tank with copper several times in the past, but that was before swapping substrates and it's been many months of granular activated carbon since then, and I have hermit crabs doing fine, copepods doing fine and a sponge doing fine. No corals yet in that tank. I was using cupramine for what it's worth.

Hmmm, good to know. Is it fair to say that CupriSorb isn't as good as I would hope here?

 

[Hermie]

Hmmm, good to know. Is it fair to say that CupriSorb isn't as good as I would hope here?

I mean I use it now, but my levels are too low for me to know if it's working. Carbon is supposed to work faster but exhausts quicker and does not selectively adsorb metals. There are pros and cons to everything, but I would use activated carbon or polyfilter to remove medications (even copper-based) and I'd use cuprisorb if I think there are trace metal issues in my water, namely copper, though it adsorbs a few others as well.

 

[Pbh-reef]

I think doing the tank as a qt and then transitioning it to a disply tank would be better than switching back and forth. In a 14g a clown or two could be aggressive to new fish, which is the last thing you want in a qt. Some diseases are easy to treat but others can last a long time and are a pain to treat. So my advice is get the tank you want as a nano but don’t swap it back and forth, just finish QTing everything first. Sometimes you’ll want to totally disinfect the qt and that will mean starting the cycle again. It just sounds like a hassle to me.

Cuprisorb works but it is slow to get the last bit of copper.