Need help setting up Quarantine Tank

[Spicy Rice]

Hello everyone :D
I'm new to this board as well as fish keeping. I have little experience with fish keeping that consisted of helping my dad change the water of his freshwater tank when I was younger. To make a long story short, I've always been fascinated with salt water life (fish, corals, etc.) and I decided to finally give it a shot after months and months of reading books and researching the internet.

My setup is a 50 gal that is going to be FOWLR. I am going to begin the cycling process soon (I'm going to use shrimp with base rock and play sand, then add lots of live rock and some live sand after the tank has cycled), but I have a few questions on setting up a quarantine tank. I've searched this and other forums for the answers, but wasn't able to find anything.

Should I cycle the quarantine tank before I begin cycling my main tank? Since I should quarantine every fish that I get, including my first ones, for a few weeks, I thought that the QT should be set up, cycled, and running with my first fish in there while I'm in the first of second week of cycling my main tank.

Should I cycle the QT the same way that I am going to cycle my main tank?

The QT is created to acclimate new fish, and treat sick fish, so what should be in there to keep the bacteria going if I have no new or sick fish at any particular moment? Should I keep a damsel in there at all times?

What is necessary in the QT hardware-wise? Should I get some live sand and rock in there? I was planning on using a 12 gallon eclipse setup w/bio wheel for my QT and a 25W heater.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :D

[OrionGirl]

The easiest way to have a q-tank is not to have it up and running full time. Keep a sponge in your main tank (sump, etc), and pull it out for use in the q-tank when needed. This way, you can clean it completely or replace it between fish, and not ruin live rock with medications. Keeping it cycled with a damsel would mean all new fish would be subjected to the damsels abuse--bad plan, and that the damsel would be exposed to diseases and medications--also not a good plan. Keep a spare tank around that you can throw water in with the sponge filter and plan on doing regular water changes while in use. Plastic plants make good cover inq-tanks, since they are easily cleaned, easy to store, and won't prevent your from observing the fish.

I would quarantine your new fish this way, even if there isn't anything else in the tank. Fish are a great disease vector, and treating them in a q-tank is much safer than potentially infecting the main tank, where your treatment options are limited.

[Spicy Rice]

Thanks for the tips. Can I leave the sponge directly in the tank somewhere since I won't be using a sump, or would my canister filter be a good place to put the sponge. I'm just running the filter empty for water movement (a friend gave me the filter). Also, will just dumping the sponge in the QT be enough to get the tank ready for the new or diseased fish, or will I have to run the QT a week or two before putting the new/diseased fish in and put Cycle or fish food or something to feed the bacteria ammonia to stay alive?

[jhrivera]

well, i put asked my lfs how i should go about setting up my quarantine tank, and they said that i should keep my quar tank running all the time with live rock, sand, and some shrimp and crabs. i can see how keeping a cycled quar tank would help new inductees into my main tank, but if i were to quarantine a sick fish and medicate it, wouldn't the medication kill the bacteria in the tank (i.e. on the live rock)? and wouldn't this defeat the purpose of keeping my tank running with live rock if eventually i will be killing off the bacteria with the medication?

[OrionGirl]

Yep, and those inverts will die if you ever have to treat with copper, as well. This is why I don't worry about having the tank up all the time. The sponge in the main sump, where water flows through it, maintains a small colony of bacteria, suitable for a single fish, or a pair if they are small. I place the sponge over the intake of a powerhead when it's in the q-tank--this forces the water through it, and provides better contact for the bacteria. No need to let it run for a while--just add water, bring to temp, and acclimate the fish.