Quarantine Tank

[Chad]

Another question for everyone. If I have an extra tank (say a 10g) and want to use it as a quarantine tank, do I have to keep it running concurrent to my "regularly" stocked tank? What I mean is, if I don't need the 2nd tank right then and there, do I need to keep a filter running through the cycled tank "just in case"? If not, and I have a sick fish that I need to quarantine, do I take some water out of the main tank (to keep the bacteria) and add some treated tap water (ph checked, and so on).
Hope those questions made sense. If not, I will clarify if I can!

Chad

[Cearbhaill]

There are many ways to do this- I can only speak for what works for me.
I keep a sponge filter running in a stocked tank all of the time so it stays full of bacteria. When I need a Q-tank I find an empty tank, fill it with tank water, transfer the sponge filter over and I have a cycled Q-tank.

[TKOS]

I always stuff an extra bit of sponge into one of my HOB filters so I can use it if need be on another tank. If you want to keep another tank running with out fish that is cool but you will need to keep feeding it with an ammonia source everyday.

[kveeti]

Originally posted by Chad
If not, and I have a sick fish that I need to quarantine, do I take some water out of the main tank (to keep the bacteria)


There is little or no nitrifying bacteria in the water column. Taking some old water will only help for acclimation. You'd be better off taking a handful or 2 of the gravel. Or, do a small gravel vacuum, let the water settle and add the 'sludge' to the quarantine tank.

[anonapersona]

I take the sponges out of one of the canister filters and give it a good sqeeze into the newly set up filter, then fill the tank with water from the home tank of the sick fish. The canister filter get the squeezed sponge back right away. I've never measured any ammonia at all in the Q tank, plus the Q tank gets large water changes every few days.

If the Q tank is running with a HOB filter, this works well as all the junk gets caught in the whisper filter pad, if it has a air driven sponge filter it looks pretty messy for awhile until the next water change in the Q tank, but the sponge got everything it needed and the junk didn't hurt the fish apparently.

[emoore]

I keep the sponge for my HOB quarantine tank filter in one of the media containers of my main tank canister filters. Then when I need the Q tank I just take the sponge out and put it in the HOB filter.

[Richer]

Transferring water from an established tank to a "brand new" tank will do virtually nothing in terms of speeding up the cycling process... nor will squeezing your sponges from an established tank into a non-cycled tank. Vacuuming and transfering the slug from an established tank may help somewhat... but again, will do almost nothing very useful (plus if you keep a clean and light/moderately stocked tank, its difficult to get a substantial amount of sludge to begin with).
I would suggest leaving extra sponges within your current filtration in your established tanks. When and if the time comes, remove the sponge(s) from your established tank and transfer it to your Q-tank.
My 66 gallon Malawi tank has 2 AC300 and a fluval 404 running on it. My AC300 have multiple sponges in them (just sponges I took from my various collection of AC200, minis, etc.), and my fluval 404 is packed to the brim with bio media (rings, etc.). If I need to get my 15 gallon Q-tank running, I just pop on an AC-mini remove a sponge from one of my AC300s and transfer a few rings from my fluval 404, and the Q-tank is ready to go.

On another note, since my 66 gallon tank is over-filtered, removing a couple of sponges and some bio-media does nothing to the bio-filtering capacity of my tank. There is never any detectable indication that my ammonia or nitrite levels have raised. Another reason to overfilter your tanks!

HTH
-Richer