qt tank emptying?

Mgamer20o0 said:

if you have no fish in the qt then drain it..... qt shouldnt have gravel you want a bare bottom tank.... move the filter in the tank with the highest bio load.... wait 2 weeks until its seeded.... then when you are ready for new fish (dont get a whole lot at once) move the filter over and fill up the tank with new water. keep a eye on the tank you pulled the filter from for 2-3 days. keep a eye on the qt for week. after a month of the fish being fine.... move into your other tank and get new fish.

stocking slowly isnt a bad thing.

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What he said

Mark

evil wizard said:

look every body i am on 2 other sites and everybody is saying some different things so i am asking all of yours permission to quote you all on 2 other sites.

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Feel free to quote me if I am one of the people.

What other sites and what are they saying? What mgamer said is pretty much what a lot of people do. Your filter media is where a lot of your bacteria live. Having a QT filter on an established tank while the QT tank is empty, then moving it over to the QT when needed. (I actually keep the filter media from a smaller filter in my HOB and just pull it out if I need it so I dont have to run 2 filters) Obviously your main tank will loose a little bacteria and should be monitored, but should rebound quickly. Gravel from the main tank is an option, I would put it into a filter bag and place it into the filter of the QT, but thats more of a hassle and not as effective. I'm not sure why anyone would suggest using water from another tank.


Edit- I don't know why you would need confirmation from other sites. Me, I'm an average fishkeeper, not super experienced but I know the basics, done a lot of research and know what works. Now people like mgamer and wes, I would trust 99% of any fact they say without question.

The advice I have heard is to keep a filter, usually a sponge filter, in your main tank and then transfer it to your q tank when you put the fish in it. The gravel will carry bacteria yes but it will still take it a while to spread and reach the level that is required, also q tanks should be bare bottomed like previously mentioned anyway.

I don't care if you quote me or not.

point is.. water in the tank will not have much of the bacteria you need for a 'cycled' tank.. most of the bacteria live on media in the tanks..gravel, decorations, driftwood, plants and filter media. as well as the parts of the filter that are in direct contact with water... they pretty much live on/in the film you feel when you touch those parts.

one technique used for QT is to run a filter in a tank that is already cycled..it will populate with the bacteria you need (give it 1-2 weeks to mature)

then when you need to set up the new tank (QT) you simply move the filter over to the new tank...presto instant cycle.. tho keep in mind the filter will prob only support a small bioload until it has a few hours to ctach up.. you don't want to over power the new filter by dumping in a lot of new fish.. too much ammonia will stall out the cycle (actually ammonia in high amounts can kill the bacteria)..it is after all, when used in concentration, a household cleaner.

there are other techniques that will work. transfer media from a mature tank to new tank.. is another that works