quarintine tank

**rookie** · 06-26-2009, 07:30 AM

ok i have been thinking of keeping my 10g as a quarintine tank however im not sure how to keep one lol. correct me if im wrong but if i set up the tank and leave it run with no fish it would loose its cycle and if i need it to put a fish in it would not even be cycled. i guess my question is how do you keep a tank with no fish

**jaysee** · 06-26-2009, 07:45 AM

What kind of filter do you have for it?

You can leave the tank bare - makes cleaning it easier. I leave one of my quarantine tanks always running, while the other one I drain when not in use. I use ACs on them because of the ease of transferring biomedia. I have multiple biomax bags in each of my other ACs, so when I need to use a tank the biomedia is all ready to roll. The qt filter only has foam and floss in it so all I have to do is drop in a biomax bag from another tank and presto.

**rookie** · 06-26-2009, 08:16 AM

thats not a bad idea i dont know my filter situation yet i will have the xp3 on the 50g and i have two other filters i can play with i got a zoo med canister (at like a up to 30g rating that my buddy gave me). and i got a cheep hob that came with the 10g that i can only get cartages at wal mart lol my 10g setup was a gift.

**jaysee** · 06-26-2009, 08:21 AM

Does the cheap hob use biobags? If so, all you'll have to do is empty out the carbon and replace it with biomedia from your canister.

**rookie** · 06-26-2009, 08:23 AM

they are sealed cartages in a wierd shape

**Dave66** · 06-26-2009, 09:34 AM

I use sponge filters in my quarantine tanks since some fish can't resist the pull of a power filter, especially if they are ill and undergoing treatment.

To keep my quarantines cycled, I keep several zebra danios in them. I remove the danios when I have new fish incoming.

Dave

**jaysee** · 06-27-2009, 08:22 AM

Keeping a 10 for a quarantine/hospital tank really is a good idea. Since you will be using a canister on the 50, I'd urge you to get an AC20 and this is why. The biomedia for AC's is that biomax bag I was talking about. Place the bag in your canister's biomedia tray. All you would have to do to have your 10 ready for fish is fill up the tank, run the filter for a couple hours, pull out the bag you conveniently placed in the canister, put it in the AC filter (on top of the sponge) and add fish. When you're done, put the bag back in the canister and break the tank down.

This is the method I use everytime I start a new tank and it's never failed me. ACs are a must for people with MTS.

**Jaster** · 06-27-2009, 12:17 PM

I would place a sponge or media bag in the HOB instead of those premade carbon filters. You can always keep it in your canister until it's needed. drop the bag into the filter slot on the hob and you're done.
I do that with my Emperor filters all the time. I havea bunch of slots that I can place extra media and I keep two sponges in the back just for seeding other tanks. Works very well and I've not had a problem when doing it this way.
Good luck!