describe a "quarantine" tank...

[fishmom]

I totally understand the concept of a quarantine tank....I would think primarily for 'holding' rocks/new fish stock, etc...before placing them in the active aquarium. How big is a quarantine tank? Is it set up just as a "mini-me" of the larger tank? With similar sand, rock, protein skimmer, power heads.....ect?
Do you keep anything --"critter wise" in the QT ?

 

[wontonflip]

Depending on what type of fish you are qt'ing, I think 20g is minimum (but I'm sure some use 10g for the smaller fish).

I wouldn't cure rocks in there....in qt, you may end up using chemicals to kill off any parasites/diseases, and some chems will not come off rocks (like copper) -- if you put a rock w/ copper in your main tank, you could kill off all your inverts, who cannot tolerate any copper in the water.

That said, no critters in the qt. Usually, people will take water from their dt and use it to fill up the qt. I think all you really need is maybe a hidey spot like a pot, and a powerhead and heater. Maybe an airstone? But I'm not sure.

 

[Bifferwine]

Usually only fish are quarantined. Most people use a 29 gallon tank or something similar. It doesn't have to be too big, since the fish will only be in there temporarily. Since you will most likely be using the quarantine tank for medicating, you do not want it to have sand or rock. It's usually too small of a tank for a protein skimmer, and if you do medicate, a filter can take the medication out of the system. So normally it just includes a powerhead or two, a heater, and some different sized PVC pieces for shelter for the fish. An HOB filter is sometimes used, but either way you will have to do more water changes than normal on a quarantine tank.

 

[SaltwaterNoob17]

A QT is kind of like a "mini-me" DT in some ways I suppose. Typically a QT is used as a transition tank. When you buy new livestock, you can choose to place them in QT before adding them to your DT. In QT, you can watch the new addition to make sure that it is healthy, eating well, etc. A QT provides the new livestock addition with a safe place, free of competition to adjust. While in QT, you should observe the livestock addition for dieases, pests, etc., and treat accordingly. When you feel they are ready (they're healthy and adjusted), you simply drip them into your DT.

Typically a QT is pretty bare compared to a DT. I have a 50 gallon DT, and set-up a 10 gallon QT for my new additions. My QT was just a bare-bottom tank, with a penguin power filter, and some pvc pipe to give the fish a place to hide. I've also used my old Biocube 14 as a QT (again bare-bottom with pvc).

You'll find many opinions on quarantining procedures and many opinions on whether quarantining is even necessary. Since my LFS keeps their fish in medicated systems, I feel that I don't need to QT fish from them, and so far, I have never had a problem (knock on wood). As for corals, typically I just dip them in iodine (sometimes freshwater as well) and then add them to the DT. However, in a few instances I've used QT systems (i.e. to allow my mandarin to adjust and train him from live to frozen food; for corals that had pests, etc.)

Here is an article that was given to me awhile back. It's worth reading:
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com