Quarantine tank questions

[oKrazyii]

So I’m looking to setup a 6gallon quarantine tank, now I had the tank setup previously to house a few fish before I got my big tank for them to stay for a while so I have some “live sand” and a bio filter (idk if that’s the right term) setup within the filter I had been using. My question is should I use the sand from the tank in my qt tank? I plan to have some gobys and possibly sand sifting star fish along with the corals when I am ready to start adding them. I know that sand sifting starfish’s and goby’s need sand for feeding purposes but I’ve also ready you need bare bones tank so you can see if any parasites reside on the bottom during quarantine, so I’m really wondering if I should use the sand and if so how thick of a layer I should have, I believe originally it was a 5pound bag of sand roughly up to the first knuckle of my finger deep. Any help appreciated also would love to know a step by step of how to quarantine, should I be adding medicine right off top before I even know if it’s needed? Or will that hurt the fish? Should I have rocks or just a little pvc pipe? How long should a qt normally last? Anything helps thank you

 

[oKrazyii]

I should add that the tank had a huge layer of bubble algae at the bottom because I was letting my copepods breed just to see how many would be in there and to hopefully help integrate them into the qt tank so wondering if I should rinse the sand maybe? Or should it be ok as is if I’m using it? Also I will be using seachems stability to help start the tank even with using the same filter and possibly sand

 

[Fish Fan]

Well a few thoughts here I think might help. Some QT livestock by simply observing it. If you have an observation tank, then your sand and filter is fine.

But I would recommended that indeed you do treat your fish with medication in a QT system. One important medication for quarantining fish is a copper based medication, and the copper reacts chemically with rocks and sand, and for this reason when using copper you do not want to use rocks or sand. Most medicated QT tanks are simple bare-bones tanks run by a bubbling sponge filter or simple hang on back filter with some plastic bio media.

The copper is also highly toxic to all inverts including corals, so for this reason you would want to QT fish separately from inverts or anything else.

There's more than one way to QT fish, but I follow the procedure in this thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/
You may also choose to run a third tank as an invert QT tank. There would be no medication, just house the inverts for at least 45 days without any fish in the tank, and fish parasites will die off without a fish host to complete their lifecycle. I don't think many reefers go to this extent, but this is what I'm trying to do.

And last, I would reconsider the sand sifting star. These animals don't feed on the sand, they are feeding on organic material in the sand. They really need a very mature and large sandbed or they very quickly consume all their food and then slowly starve to death in most tanks.

 

[oKrazyii]

Also sand is caribsea sand and I’m not sure if I want to go with sand sifting or brittle star, I plan to have possibly 2 watchman gobys for sand sifting

 

[Fish Fan]

Also sand is caribsea sand

If you're going to use medication, you want to avoid this kind of sand because it will interact with the medication. If you have a fish like a goby that likes to live in the sand, you can put a small dish of an inert (not chemically reactive) sand in the QT tank. I have personally used the CaribbSea freshwater sands for this purpose, something like this:
https://fresh.bulkreefsupply.com/super-naturals-substrate-torpedo-beach-caribsea.html

 

[oKrazyii]

Well a few thoughts here I think might help. Some QT livestock by simply observing it. If you have an observation tank, then your sand and filter is fine.

But I would recommended that indeed you do treat your fish with medication in a QT system. One important medication for quarantining fish is a copper based medication, and the copper reacts chemically with rocks and sand, and for this reason when using copper you do not want to use rocks or sand. Most medicated QT tanks are simple bare-bones tanks run by a bubbling sponge filter or simple hang on back filter with some plastic bio media.

The copper is also highly toxic to all inverts including corals, so for this reason you would want to QT fish separately from inverts or anything else.

There's more than one way to QT fish, but I follow the procedure in this thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/
You may also choose to run a third tank as an invert QT tank. There would be no medication, just house the inverts for at least 45 days without any fish in the tank, and fish parasites will die off without a fish host to complete their lifecycle. I don't think many reefers go to this extent, but this is what I'm trying to do.

And last, I would reconsider the sand sifting star. These animals don't feed on the sand, they are feeding on organic material in the sand. They really need a very mature and large sandbed or they very quickly consume all their food and then slowly starve to death in most tanks.

Gotcha so I think I’m good then, I cleaned the tank throughly there’s a tiny tiny tiny bit of sand In The bottom that was left over that I could t manage to get out which I’ll sift out in a few. I also was wondering if I qt my fish and then once they’re in my display tank go to qt my coral in the same tank will that be a problem? Like will the medication be out of the water by that point or will I have to completely empty, clean and refill the tank before adding coral for qt? I’m still a little ways away from adding any coral to the tank, want to setup my base cleaners first hence the gobys to start helping to clean the sand up and possibly some other invertebrates I haven’t decided on yet

 

[Fish Fan]

This is sort of an old question, but from my research you can use a fish tank for inverts (including corals) that has previously been used as a copper medicated tank. The copper shouldn't bind to the tank's glass or silicon. So yes, if you're careful and don't use any calcium carbonate rocks, sand, or biofilter media, I think you can do this. But I would be careful, and honestly I'd consider getting another tank. I don't know how big your display tank is, but maybe get a 10 gallon tank, on sale at PetCo right now for $20. Use that 10 gallon to QT your fish. You can break it down and store it in between use. Use your smaller 6 gallon to QT inverts and corals.