I’ve had bad luck with fish purchases and I’ve moved heavily into quarantining anything that’s wet. Because of that (and to try and save some space) I’m wanting to build a quarantine tank that is very similar to my DT and double up on Apex control and lighting.
My DT is a 6’ 125 gallon setup. I recently purchased a 55 gallon tank that is almost exactly half the size of my DT. The reason for this is I plan on running the QT tank in shifts. I’ll quarantine inverts/corals for a period of time, then go fish only. I do plan on using copper as part of my quarantine process with fish. I’m also planning on having plenty of time between fish only and invert/coral that I won’t have to tear down the tank between the two (unless there’s a death during QT).
In my head the quarantine tank would use water from the DT (I do small daily water changes) via a DOS pump. Is there a way to control one of the pumps individually? I would rather not have to drain the DT into a bucket and pump water out of the bucket into the QT. If I could pump directly into the QT from the DT, then pump the extra QT water into the drain that would be best.
I would run the QT about half full for copper treatments (to save on copper) and do manual water changes during that stage. Once the copper is over I would go back to automatic water changes to get rid of the copper.
The biggest advantage I see to the size of my QT is acclimating corals. I can place all my corals at the bottom of the tank and move them up where I want them during their fallow period. Once I’m ready to move them into my DT they would be used to the lights. I would use the same lighting for both (presently T-5).
For fish I would buy a few fish over a period of time then after acquiring the desired fish I would begin the quarantine process. This way I can keep an eye on the fish and get them used to how I feed without compromising my DT. I would assume that after QT is over I could move a couple inverts from the DT into the QT to help with cleanup?
Other than cost, what is the downside to this approach? I haven’t decided if this is the way I’m moving, it’s just the more I think about it it seems to make the most sense. I figure I have about 2-3 years of doing this to fill up my DT between cycling fish and corals around. It also keeps the number of tanks in my house to two, which my wife has limited me.
I do have a 20 gallon emergency tank backup if needed, hopefully it can stay in storage.
My DT is a 6’ 125 gallon setup. I recently purchased a 55 gallon tank that is almost exactly half the size of my DT. The reason for this is I plan on running the QT tank in shifts. I’ll quarantine inverts/corals for a period of time, then go fish only. I do plan on using copper as part of my quarantine process with fish. I’m also planning on having plenty of time between fish only and invert/coral that I won’t have to tear down the tank between the two (unless there’s a death during QT).
In my head the quarantine tank would use water from the DT (I do small daily water changes) via a DOS pump. Is there a way to control one of the pumps individually? I would rather not have to drain the DT into a bucket and pump water out of the bucket into the QT. If I could pump directly into the QT from the DT, then pump the extra QT water into the drain that would be best.
I would run the QT about half full for copper treatments (to save on copper) and do manual water changes during that stage. Once the copper is over I would go back to automatic water changes to get rid of the copper.
The biggest advantage I see to the size of my QT is acclimating corals. I can place all my corals at the bottom of the tank and move them up where I want them during their fallow period. Once I’m ready to move them into my DT they would be used to the lights. I would use the same lighting for both (presently T-5).
For fish I would buy a few fish over a period of time then after acquiring the desired fish I would begin the quarantine process. This way I can keep an eye on the fish and get them used to how I feed without compromising my DT. I would assume that after QT is over I could move a couple inverts from the DT into the QT to help with cleanup?
Other than cost, what is the downside to this approach? I haven’t decided if this is the way I’m moving, it’s just the more I think about it it seems to make the most sense. I figure I have about 2-3 years of doing this to fill up my DT between cycling fish and corals around. It also keeps the number of tanks in my house to two, which my wife has limited me.
I do have a 20 gallon emergency tank backup if needed, hopefully it can stay in storage.