"Cycled" QT?
 

Can anyone please define a "cycled QT"? From our understanding the QT is free from subtraint and live rock, right? SO how do you cycle water that contains essentially nothing?

Thanks for your help.

Sponge filter media either in a HOB filter or an air driven sponge filter.

One easy way is to get a HOB filter like the Hagan Aquaclear and put the sponge and media in your sump to get seeded with bacteria until you need it for the QT. Start the QT, and put the sponge and media in the HOB when you introduce fish.

If you want a quick automatic cycle of your QT tank, just take a moderately size rock from your DT and move it to your QT. This is with the intention of no longer moving the rock back to your DT. About a 5-10lb piece of rock.

I run an Aquaclear HOB with a small rock in my QT tank at all times. Its just a rock with beneficial bacteria on it. It can absorb some copper, but I can work around that.

That's generally not recommended because it absorbs medications and will make it difficult to keep the proper levels of medication in the tank.

I usually keep two packs of the ceramic rings (that freshwater people use for biological filtrations) in the sump. Whenever I need to QT any fish I just take one pack out and put it in the HOB filter to get an instantly cycled QT.

Yes, use an external filter that will provide the material for the bacteria to live in.....

I then use Seachem's Stability to provide the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria for my systems.

I use it in my QT anytime I wish to setup my QT for a fish(es) for QT purposes and never have any ammonia.

I recommend an external filter with sponges for the bacteria to setup.

I also used it in my 300g system when I started it up and never any ammonia.

I highly recommend its use for providing the necessary bacteria for a fully functional biological filtration system.





http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...Stability.html


Stability® will rapidly and safely establish the aquarium biofilter in freshwater and marine systems, thereby preventing the #1 cause of fish death: "new tank syndrome". Stability® is formulated specifically for the aquarium and contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria which facilitate the breakdown of waste organics, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Unlike competing products, the bacteria employed by Stability® are non-sulfur fixing and will not produce toxic hydrogen sulfide. Stability® is completely harmless to all aquatic organisms as well as aquatic plants, thus there is no danger of over use. Stability® is the culmination of nearly a decade of research and development and represents the current state of the art in natural biological management.

Sizes: 50 mL, 100 mL, 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L

Why It's Different
Illustration of Stability's™ bacteria on biofiltration material. stability contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria
The bacteria used in competing products are inherently unstable. The conditions necessary for their growth and development fall into a very narrow range of temperatures, pH, organic loads, etc. When any of these parameters are not strictly within the proper range, the bacterial culture quickly crashes and dies. Stability® does not contain any of the aforementioned bacteria.

The bacteria strains in Stability® have been in development for over a decade. The necessary conditions for growth of our bacterial strains encompass a very broad range. When other bacteria begin to die off (usually from high organic loads caused by the undetected death of an organism), Stability® simply works harder and grows faster! The strains function in fresh or saltwater. Stability® contains both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, a blend found in no other product. Additionally, Stability® contains facultative bacterial strains which are able to adapt to either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. The bacteria in Stability® are non-sulfur fixing, another innovation in the industry. Most other bacterial supplements will form toxic hydrogen sulfide under the proper conditions. Stability® will not, ever.
------------------

If for some reason you don't or can't use Stability then here is another one:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/artic...-_-32311-_-CYC

Thank you all. We had previously purchased several items for the purpose of using in a QT only... We have a 10 gallon tank, small hydor heater (if needed), small bubbling stone and a aqueon power filter.

The power filter is HOB and rated for up to 20gals. It came with a filter cartridge which we've hung inside or DT...would it be better seasoned by placing it in our HOB Reef Octopus skimmer? Is there a min. or max. on how long it should take to season?

Our DT is a 40galB without a sump. I know that definately would have helped with seasoning the QTs filtration. Hubby doesn't want to remove any of our aquacultured live rock from the DT either so we can either buy a "live" rock from the LFS or use PVC...

Thanks for all your comments, we are learning from them all.

Get a HOB filter that is rated higher than what your quarantine tank will be. I used an AC110 on my 75g quarantine. Get extra biomedia as much as you can fit in there. I used the standard sponge, rings and then a smaller set of rings from an AC20 to put by the water intake chamber. Leave the carbon out. Add some biospira or stability (bacteria) and then feed the quarantine tank like you would if you had a fish in there. Get an ammonia spike and wait for the tank to run its course. After the nitrates come down, then do a large water change and check your parameters again. If they are OK then you can add a fish and carbon if no medication is being used. Feed lightly. This might be considered too conserative for some, but my fish is doing great. He is eating regularly and is exploring the tank.

Thanks. Guess we need to look into a different filter...

If you have a 10 gallon QT and have an AC20, you should be ok depending on your bioload. Maybe do like 1 fish at a time.

Ugh, so 3 small chromis or 2 small clowns would not be good in a 10gal?

You should be ok with the 20 gallon filter on a 10 gallon QT. Which model filter is it?

You should be able to quarantine those fish in the 10. Just put the filter media (floss pad and biomedia, if you have both) in your DT for 2 weeks (another week or two won't hurt) and then put them in your QT filter and put fish in the QT at the same time. Monitor ammonia and manage it with water changes if necessary.

Put a couple of small pieces of pvc in the tank for hiding places.

You have a top for the QT, right? You don't want to lose fish to jumping.

By the way, multiple chromis frequently fight until only one is left.

You should be able to do 2-3 small fish at once in the 10 gallon QT. Just watch your ammonia levels (test every day) and be prepared to do water changes if you see ammonia.

We got a Aqueon QuietFlow 10. Downside that we've seen comparing it to the AquaClear HOBs is that this filter does not provide a lot of room for media. It came with a filter cartridge with carbon. Looking at getting the AquaClear instead.

We did get some pvc at Home Depot today so we're good there, justneed to work out the filtration now and I think we'll be good.