Quarantine tank

[carttman]

I have had a successfully running tank for about one year now, and I was wanting to get more fish. My question is what would be a good size quarantine tank to get. I was thinking about buying one of the Eclipse five gallon tanks. Also, what would be the fastest way to cycle my quarantine tank. I have read that if I take the bio-wheel from the quarantine tank and put it in the established tank for twenty-four hours, and then put some water from the established tank in the quarantine tank then it would be all right to put my new fish in. Is this true? If not, please advise me on what to do.

My existing tank is 29 gallons with 11 Cardinal tetras, and one 4 inch common pleco. I was planning to get 11 Rummy nose tetras.

 

[Hound]

I use a 10g tank as a quarantine tank. No gravel 2 fake plants and I'll usually put some anacharis floating in it when I have fish in there. Filtration is a simple corner filter converted as such into a sponge filter. A 50 watt heater completes my set up along with a hood. No lights on the tank.

I'd give the bio wheel a week in your current tank myself if you are going with that set up. Also you don't need to transfer water from your established tank into the quarantine. The bacteria you want is a surface bacteria not a water table type.

In my set up if I really had to I could also take the sponge prefilter off of my Fluval intake (in my main tank) and put it in my corner filter (quarantine tank) should I have the tank taken down for some reason.

 

[Richer]

This is one of the main reasons why having multiple filters for a tank is a good thing. When I want to setup my Q-tank, all I do is go into one of my numerous filters, grab a sponge, stuff that into the filter of my Q-tank, fill the tank with dechlorinized water and its good to go.

As indicated before, leave the biowheel on your main tank for at a week or so, and don't bother transfering tank water over to the Q-tank.

HTH
-Richer

 

[Hound]

Forgot to mention, the main reason I have a sponge filter on my quarantine is that if need be it can double as a breeding tank for fry without worrying about them ending up in the filter itself.

 

[daveedka]

Agreed on the filter/ cycling suggestions, size of a Q tank largely depends on fish type, with the fish you are proposing, a 5 gallon would do but a 10 or 15 would make things easier. Q-tanks double as hospital tanks should something go wrong so I always figured if my fish can't live in it for 2 full weeks, it isn't big enough.

I have never used the eclipse system, but IMO there are things there you dont need, and you could easily get a 10 with a glass top, and a sponge filter for very little $$$ and have a slightly bigger set-up. Remember lighting isn't really necessary, and a simple filter with good bio-capability and some mechanicle capability is all you need. This points real strongly towards the sponge.