Quarantine 40-50 fish from existing 500 gallon reef

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Jeffdstafford

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I cannot believe what just happened... walked in the house from work and he was swimming at the top of the tank...Slowly creeped up on him and jabbed a net his way, and Badabing Badaboom, tank is fishless!!

Poor little guy has got to be so stressed out, I'll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get sick. I'll also wait a few days before starting copper to let him chill out..The big rush was starting the fallow period.

Time to pop some champagne!

1227161817.jpg
 

melypr1985

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I cannot believe what just happened... walked in the house from work and he was swimming at the top of the tank...Slowly creeped up on him and jabbed a net his way, and Badabing Badaboom, tank is fishless!!

Poor little guy has got to be so stressed out, I'll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get sick. I'll also wait a few days before starting copper to let him chill out..The big rush was starting the fallow period.

Time to pop some champagne!

1227161817.jpg

WOOT WOOT!!
 

Brew12

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I cannot believe what just happened... walked in the house from work and he was swimming at the top of the tank...Slowly creeped up on him and jabbed a net his way, and Badabing Badaboom, tank is fishless!!

Poor little guy has got to be so stressed out, I'll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get sick. I'll also wait a few days before starting copper to let him chill out..The big rush was starting the fallow period.

Time to pop some champagne!

1227161817.jpg
Absolutely fantastic!!!

I hope you get a great nights sleep tonight, you've earned it and it sounds like you need it!
 
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Jeffdstafford

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Alright, finally started the first dose of Coppersafe last night, the pencil wrasse was swimming around in the open and eating like a pig, so I felt fine starting treatment. The bottle says 1 cup for 190 gallons, which is probably exactly what volume I'm dealing with, so I put 1/4 cup in last night. I figure I'll start testing after the 2nd dose tonight to get a feel for the API test kit since I've never used it before.

With the therapeutic range of coppersafe being 1.5-2.0, what specific level do you all shoot for?
 

melypr1985

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Alright, finally started the first dose of Coppersafe last night, the pencil wrasse was swimming around in the open and eating like a pig, so I felt fine starting treatment. The bottle says 1 cup for 190 gallons, which is probably exactly what volume I'm dealing with, so I put 1/4 cup in last night. I figure I'll start testing after the 2nd dose tonight to get a feel for the API test kit since I've never used it before.

With the therapeutic range of coppersafe being 1.5-2.0, what specific level do you all shoot for?

I always shoot for 2ppm. It's easier to read on the test, therefore easier to keep it at that level. It also gives you some breathing room to let the level drop a bit before dropping out of therapeutic range.
 
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Good deal. Do you read the test vial from the side or looking down into it?
 
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I always shoot for 2ppm. It's easier to read on the test, therefore easier to keep it at that level. It also gives you some breathing room to let the level drop a bit before dropping out of therapeutic range.

Now that I've done a couple tests with the API test, I see what you mean about the 2.0 being easier to ready..everything from .25 to 1.5 is pretty impossible for me to differentiate. That darker 2.0 is my only hope to tell any difference!

I added the second 1/4 cup of Coppersafe last night, and stupidly did a water test afterwards..I'm a bit sleep deprived this week so my brain is about 2 steps behind. Ammonia was starting to creep up as well as nitrates, so I did a 30% water change, and re-dosed coppersafe to the new water.

Having the 2nd water trough really helps with water changes and re-adding copper. I'm going to keep this one fishless for this reason..I'm able to shut down the pump to isolate this container, then remove/replace water, and re-add coppersafe and mix it up to proper levels, while maintaining stable levels in the other container with the fish. Everyone is getting along fine, and eating well, so I'm not going to mess with things while they're working.


While all this is going on, I'm also curing another 200 lbs of dry rock for the upcoming new tank build. I added some bacteria in a bottle along with a pieces of rock from the tank, and it's been running with a pump & heater in a couple large Brute trashcans. I cannot believe how well that Dr Tims bacteria works; I threw a LOT of mysis shrimp in both containers, thinking I'd get a massive ammonia spike, then let it cycle over the next couple months. Well, I never got any ammonia or nitrite spikes, and I put ton of shrimp in there, just blood red nitrate readings..I'm really sold on that stuff! I'm going to do a 100% water change on both rock containers this weekend, and will continue to monitor phosphate levels over the next couple months.


Hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and Happy Reefing!!
 

melypr1985

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Yeah, the biggest complaint from people is how hard it is to read the colors.... that's why I always say shoot for 2ppm. Way easier to read that.

That Dr. Tims is good stuff. Fritz makes a live one as well that works really well... it's refrigerated.
 

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Good luck with this man, looks like it's going to be a long process.
 
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Yeah, the biggest complaint from people is how hard it is to read the colors.... that's why I always say shoot for 2ppm. Way easier to read that.

That Dr. Tims is good stuff. Fritz makes a live one as well that works really well... it's refrigerated.

I spoke with the guys at the Fritz booth at Macna, that was my first time hearing about their bacteria but it sounds like very good stuff especially coming from a good brand like their's..I'll have to give it a shot at some point.


Good luck with this man, looks like it's going to be a long process.

Appreciate it; and that's an understatement my friend, it's already been a long process, so 3 months from now is an eternity away! Well worth it for healthy fish though, and this has forced me to learn about quarantine procedures, something I probably needed to be forced into otherwise I would have continued to be lazy and not do it.
 

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Hey did you end up covering your QT with screen or anything? I do have some jumpers, so need to figure out some sort of a top for mine

Yes, I covered it with 1/4" netting.

When I was looking at the dismantling photos I was quite concerned you would wake up to a wrasse swimming the tank in the morning. that sucks! :(

EDIT: Now that I am caught up in your thread, that sucks that you learned the hard way about eggcrate - it's too big!

I'm so happy to see you got more volume now! From your pics, do you have all the fish in one of the tubs, and the second tub is just for volume? If so, why don't you move all the equipment (skimmer, filters, etc) to the tub that doesn't house fish, and then you can simply drape some window screening over the whole tub holding the fish? That would make a better seal than trying to go around all the equipment sticking up.

For future reference, bioballs work great for quarantines like this. Fill a bucket with them like you did with the sponges, and you don't have to worry about the water going around the sponges. Takes some weeks to seed them though.
 
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