Qt for coral

[dh350twin]

What set ups are you guys using to qt your new coral? I have a lot of sensitive fish going into my main display and when that happens I plan on qting everything and anything that will make its way to my main tank. So I will need a set up that can support this for 72 days to make sure no parasites make there way into my main tank.
This set up will not house fish!
Please show me your set ups, maintenance, etc. the more detail the better.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Humblefish]

My 29 gal "fishless" frag tank. I place all corals/inverts in here for 72 days before they go into my DT. Just cheap T5 lighting, Koralia powerhead, HOB powerfilter, heater, rock/sand and a frag rack gets the job done. ;)

 

[Squishie89]

This is mine.

40 breeder with 2 Kessil A360's, Aquamaxx HOB1 skimmer, AquaClear HOB filter with sponges, gyre 130, 200w heater, 10lbs of rock (might add more) and some sand. I plan to eventually keep an Angler Fish in there. I dip the corals in bayer insecticide after acclimation complete with getting scrubbed with a toothbrush. Then it is just a waiting game, feeding heavily so any hitchikers will grow/pop up quicker. My main thing is hydroids, along with the usual suspects: nudis, seastars, bugs, etc. Going to do 10-20g water changes weekly. I have only had this set up for a few months and most of the corals in there have only been in there for 2-3 weeks now. But so far so good!

 

[dh350twin]

My main display tank is a 300 gallon peninsula so I have a lot of real estate to fill. It is sps dominated. So my qt needs to be more then sufficient to house them and grow them for the ten weeks. I will do frequent water changes with my main display water.....which should keep parameters straight. Just need good flow and lighting and filtration and auto top off for stability. I'm thinking an all in one nano with upgraded pumps and a small skimmer.

 

[dh350twin]

My 29 gal "fishless" frag tank. I place all corals/inverts in here for 72 days before they go into my DT. Just cheap T5 lighting, Koralia powerhead, HOB powerfilter, heater, rock/sand and a frag rack gets the job done. ;)

Have you had success with sensitive acropora in that set up and what is your maintenance schedule?

 

[Humblefish]

Have you had success with sensitive acropora in that set up and what is your maintenance schedule?

I really don't do much SPS anymore. Mostly softies/LPS. But if I did, I think I'd go with a Maxspect Razor on it over my 4 bulb T5. And increase the flow. Might also have to invest in a small reactor or two to maintain the supplements.

I do WCs on the frag tank maybe every 2-3 months. I barely feed it, so nitrates/phosphates always stay 0.

 

[leecasey82]

Do you put any media in the filter? Are you dosing or anything?

 

[Humblefish]

Do you put any media in the filter? Are you dosing or anything?

I put a sponge/carbon in the HOB. Sometimes I'll run GFO in a Phosban 150 if I think I'm seeing too much algae growth.

I dose kalk on all my reef tanks. But for the frag tank, I just use a pitcher and gravity feed kalk into the tank using crimped air line tubing (cheap). You can also just maintain your supplements by doing WCs on a tank so small, or even use those liquid supplements.

 

[jazonPartij]

Shrimp qt?

 

[dh350twin]

Shrimp qt?

What is your question?

 

[jazonPartij]

Sorry. I meant to say, should I put a new shrimp into A QT tank and for how long? If it's my first invert is it necessary for quarantine... Can they carry fish diseases?

 

[Virtualbasil]

if you put any invert into QT do not add copper

 

[Humblefish]

Sorry. I meant to say, should I put a new shrimp into A QT tank and for how long? If it's my first invert is it necessary for quarantine... Can they carry fish diseases?

Almost all SW livestock are capable of "hosting" fish parasites at least, just in different ways. For fish, they can carry trophonts i.e. the “feeding stage” of parasites which attach themselves directly to the fish. However, parasites have a complex life cycle they utilize in order to reproduce. They are not capable of reproducing directly on the fish. So after trophonts drop off the fish they eventually become what is called tomonts i.e. the “encysted stage”. This stage is capable of sticking to any hard surface - rocks, shells, substrate - and even possibly corals/inverts. Tomonts will eventually rupture, releasing theronts i.e. the “free swimming” stage which seeks out fish to infect, thus becoming trophonts and the cycle begins all over again.

All crustaceans (including shrimp) have hard exoskeletons that tomonts are probably capable of encysting upon. Safe bet would be to QT for 72 days or at least until the first molt, whichever comes first.

 

[jazonPartij]

Is there a time frame for how long each life cycle lasts for the trophont stage, the tomonts stage and the theronts stage?

 

[Humblefish]

Is there a time frame for how long each life cycle lasts for the trophont stage, the tomonts stage and the theronts stage?

72 days max, for all (ich) theronts to be released from a group of tomonts. Ich has the longest total life cycle of all the external parasites. I break it all down here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/understanding-ich.188770/

 

[VJV]

If you are quarantining SPS corals, and assuming y are dosing supplements to keep your parameters stable (Alk, Cal, Mag), doubt really need to do water changes? (Also assuming you will not be feeding the corals)