Advise on a Q tank please ...?

[Marco67]

I'm running a 25 tall as a Quarantine tank for a powder brown. He will be going into my new 110 soon.

My question / problem is I can't seem to get the Nitrate/Nitrite levels down. On the tank is one of the FO filter boxes with a ploy pad (no sponge). A skimmer and about 5# of live rock (taken from a 1.5 year established tank. No sand bed.

I've been doing daily water changes of about 3 gallons. This tank has been up for one week. Still Nitrate is 25 to 30 ppm and Nitrite is 1-2 ppm ammonia is 0.

I would very much appreciate any suggestions or thoughts anyone might have to offer.

BTW this guy is very active and eating great he gets flake food twice daily (will eat from my hand) and either Nori or spirulina once a day.

Thanks Marc...

[john f]

If I were you I would remove the live rock and add 2-3 inches of very fine sand to the bottom.
This will eventually help to lower the nitrates if the tank will be set up as a long term Q tank.
If you have nitrates that is actually a good sign that the biological filter is working.
The Nitrites should drop to zero in a few days.

One of the advantages of no live rock in the Q tank is you could lower the salinity to 1.009 while the fish is in quarantine to eliminate any parasites on the new fish.

This is the method I am currently using as advocated by Terry B.

Are there fish in the 100 already?



John

[intekhab]

If I were you, I wouldn’t put any Live rock or sand...

My Q Tank will have the following setup

- Water with same salt level as the main tank
- Same Temp
- Some PVC pipe for hiding places
- Protein Skimmer

Feed only as much the fish would eat.

Remember the purpose of a Quarantine Tank, it is suppose to be a temporary home for the fishes before you can determine they can be moved to your Main Tank. (Or treating sick fishes)

Later

intekhab

[Marco67]

There are no fish in the 110 as yet. As a matter of fact the 110 is not even set up yet. it will be an upgarde from my present 55.

Adding sand would be tough to do without making a sand storm ..wouldnt that stress him more that the potential gain ?

I didn't want to introduce the Powder brown into the 55 for size and tertorial reasons. Also given the reputation of BPT and ich I thought the Q tank would be prudent.


Thanks for taking the time to respond .... Marc

[hcs3]

i wouldn't add any calcium based sunstrate or decoration. if you ever need to treat medically, the calcium will soak up much if the copper. instead gow with a none calcium based substrate. use PVC for decoration and hiding places, not LR. do WC's using water from the main reef tank.

HTH

henry

[john f]

Why would you treat with copper in a Q tank?
Hyposalinity is much easier and works better.

John

[hcs3]

there are fish that cannot withstand lowered salities, likewise there are fish that cannot withstand copper treatment.

saying "A" works better than "B" in all cases is practically never true in this hobby.

HTH

henry

[john f]

Which fish are those?

I can just started using hyposalinity and in all the information I could find not one reference to a fish species intolerant of SG 1.009 for 4-6 weeks.

If you know of some please list them here so I and others might avoided harming them inadvertently.


Thanks,

John

[maroun.c]

is your skimmer producing good amounts of skimmate?
IF yes what's the colour.
Also you could decrease feedings.

[hcs3]

hi john

in terms of hypo-salinty i think you would need to speak in terms of exact species rather than genera. i've seen large angels come through hypo-salinty with flying colors. i believe i read about an asfur angel that lived in 1.010 for a couple years. however, i have also personaly had bad experiences treating bi-color angels.

i think the same could be said for many butterflies. i've put an indian ocean falcula through a 2 week hypo treatment and had to terminate prematuraly as the fish looked like it was on it's death bed.

in the end both fish became terribly ill, quit eating, and died.

interestingly, neither of the above mentioned fish were sick prior to being subjected to hypo-salinty. i was short on tank space and they became victims of circumstance. :(

HTH

henry