OK, I think I left off a while ago mentioning that I had gotten a quarantine tank. This was prompted by my losing a goby and a female percula clownfish that were put directly into my display tank. Even though my tank is only 30 gallons and I could have easily gotten away with a 10 gallon QT (based on the fish I plan to put in my system) I chose to use a 20 gallon long tank for the QT for several reasons. First, in the world of salt, bigger is better! Since my work prevents me from siphoning out the detritus and uneaten food on a daily basis I wanted more volume in the tank to buffer these pollutants. Second, I plan to have a much larger tank in the future, and I figured a 20g would be large enough to accomodate essentially anything I'd be interested in adding to that tank. And lastly, I just liked the look of the 20L. It looks like a great tank dimension to make into a small reef, but I'll resist the urge and keep it for its intended purpose - quarantine and potential hospital facility.
This is a plain-'ol glass aquarium that I got at PetSmart. I spray painted the back surface black in order to reduce the stimulation of its occupant. I considered painting the sides as well but instead decided to keep them open to improve viewing.
From left-to-right you can see my equipment for this tank:
1. digital thermometer
2. MaxiJet 900 powerhead for circulation
3. PVC fittings for hiding places
4. 50W Hydor heater
5. Nemo
6. intake tubing for AquaClear HOB filter
7. blue painter's tape to mark my fill line, which reminded me to topoff with RO/DI and keep salinity stable
8. Ammonia alert badge - this little doohickie has a color indicator that changes when ammonia levels become detectable. This was helpful in that when I was in a hurry and didn't want to test the water, I'd just give this a glance and was reassured when it was yellow.
This is not meant to replace performing tests, but it can clue you in if/when you've been complacent and there's a problem.
9. regular old room lamp that I hooked up to a timer
10. the top was covered with eggcrate to inhibit any high-jumping activities
I set this tank up in a separate, quiet room to reduce stress on the fish. I transferred the filter sponge from my sump into the HOB filter of the quarantine tank and let it run for a couple of days before placing my fish in this tank. Oh, here's something else I did. I read that you can use a powerhead OR an airstone for both circulation and oxygenation of the water. I favored the powerhead, since my tank has a fair amount of flow and I wanted my fish to become acclimated to this as well. In order to get the benefits of the oxygen from an airstone (stabilizes pH) I used the venturi attachment that comes with the MaxiJet powerhead. You can see the air intake tubing extending up above the eggcrate on the left side of the above image. This worked quite well, I believe, in that my pH remained at about 8.2 the entire time my fish was in quarantine, with only a few water changes.
Here's another view of the QT with the eggcrate off, looking in from the top.
Pretty sterile-looking, eh? If anyone has any criticisms or comments about this QT setup please let me know. The only things I'd change would be to get a different heater, and maybe a more appropriate aquarium light. This heater proved to be very unreliable. I had an extremely difficult time calibrating it to my desired temperature and even when I thought I had it dialed in, the temperature in this tank fluctuated by about 5 degrees in any given day. Fortunately this didn't hurt my fish but I was very uncomfortable with this. I thought a 50W heater would be plenty for a 20g tank. Maybe next time I'll put in 2 50W heaters, or just junk the Hydor for a Jager?