fishless tank?

L

learnin2swim

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Mar 11, 2006
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I have a 10 gallon tank that i want to use as a hospital tank. I move the fish that was in it to a larger tank. I want to use this tank to quarantine new arrivals before they get introduce to my large tank to elimate and diseases. How do i keep the tank cycle since its empty at the moment? I went ahead and put some pellets and krills in the tank so that when it decays it gonna produce some ammonia. Is that ok? What do i need to do to make sure that I don't eliminated any good bacteria?

tks!!!!!
 
I went ahead and put some pellets and krills in the tank so that when it decays it gonna produce some ammonia. Is that ok?
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not in my opinion. yes, it'll result in ammonia but it will also pollute your tank and make a helluva mess. what i do is keep a sponge filter in one of my cycled tanks along with the regular filter .. when you need a cycled tank for QT, simply take this mature sponge filter and place it in the new/Q tank.
 
happychem said:
You could also buy some pure ammonia, it's about $1 per bottle, and dose a mL or so each day to keep up the NH3 supply. Just use a test kit to verify the amount. Start small.
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This would be my choice.
 
Just put the filter that is on the 10, on the bigger tank. When you want to put fish in the 10 then put the filter back on the 10 and it will still have all the bacteria. Or, you could leave the filter on the 10 and just put a piece of the filter media in the bigger tank's filter, then when you want to put fish in the 10, put the piece of filter media in the filter on the 10. That's the easiest and best way IMO.
 
I'd go with liv2padl and the sponge filter, for several reasons:

Pros:
1. They're dirt cheap
2. Excellent for biological filteration
3. Very easy to clean. Just swish them in old tank water and squeeze.
4. New fish are stressed enough and a sponge does not produce a current. Why not give them a quiet, soothing place to get used to things?
5. Very easy to place in another tank. Most are black and do not take up much space

Cons:
1. No mechanical filteration, however you should be cleaning or keeping an eye on a QT or Hospital tank very closely
2. No current. Some fish do need a current, but then again, see #4, above.
3. Air pump can be noisey if you aren't careful about which one you buy for it.

Roan
 
I usually just steal some filter floss from my big tank's filter. The rest of the time my QT is kept dry and tucked away. I find a fish tank with water in it is just begging to have fish put in it.
 
tks for da info!!! you guys are great!!!

Ima take the bio filter from the 10g and put it in that filter of the larger tank. Then put it back in the quarantine tank when needed. you guys are saying that is ok right? Also, should i empty the water from the 10 gal tank? R jus leave it and do a 50% water change before i introduce the new fish? If its empty can I jus fill it up w/prepared water or maybe fill 1/2 the 10g tank w/H20 from an establish tank and 1/2 w/prepared water? Does this make any sense?

I like the sponge filter idea but what I don't like is there isn't any mechnical/chemical filtration. I would like to quarantine new fishes for at least 2wks and i don't think bio filtrations alone is gonna work. Would also need some kind of aeration in the tank.

I might jus put a male and a female betta in the 10g until i need to use it as a qt. at least its better than being in a 1gal jar. its kinda like a vac. for the bettas. :thm:
 
Just fill the tank with fresh treated water when you need it. If these are sick fish from your main tank then the water params should be practically the same. If they are new fish from the fish store then a slow acclimation is best. No need to have old water sitting around. Of course if you have advanced knowledge that the tank will be used setting it up and letting the water come up to temp slowly isn't a bad idea.
 
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