Setting up my QT tank...

[nekomi]

Hi everybody,

I'm in the process of setting up my first QT tank for my reef. I bought a 20 gal "long" aquarium, and was planning on following the method described in this article by Steven Pro:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

My question is concerning the sponge filter. I purchased a small Whisper air-driven internal filter online the other day, and when I received it today, I stuffed the chamber full with a small sponge. Problem is, I didn't realize until now that the filter is only rated for 1 - 3 gallons! :eek: Of course, part of me wants to believe that in a QT tank, that would be a moot point anyway... the little filter turns over 20 gallons per hour, so the water in the tank would be completely filtered each hour.

Will the filter provide enough biological filtration to maintain my QT tank? I have it in the refugium of my main display right now and plan to leave it in there for about 3 weeks in order to build up some bacteria.

Any help would be greatly appreciated... thanks, everyone!

[schiejr]

That is a tough one to say for sure due to all the variables. It might work if you feed lightly and the fish is small-monitor to make sure; but I would be very careful if using it for larger fish.

Personally, I use a powerhead with a sponge on the intake for good flow, in my 20 gal QT.

How large is the sponge? Do you have a link to the filter you are using?

[old salty]

I think you will be fine. In a QT tank, you should be doing frequent water changes as well. Any time I have a fish in QT, my main tank will get three 5 gallon water changes per week, as does the 20g QT tank. I just use the main tank to supply the QT. This allows the fish to become accustomed to the tank water it will be living in and prevents any parameters from going haywire.

[nekomi]

Here's the link for the filter I bought... I bought it without actually reading much of the description, since I thought I knew what I was looking for... I had a $5 off coupon too, so it was quite cheap...

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441810417&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030565&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1161271828206&itemNo=9&Ntt=whisper&In=All&previousText=whisper&N=2

I removed the cartridge that came with the filter and stuffed the entire chamber with a foam-block sponge instead.