QT Regimen
 

All,

I'm just about to start buying my first set of coral at frag swap next weekend. In planning my 1000+ gallon tank I've been trying to prepare for the worst and do my best at eradicating pests/disease before going into main system. I've built a 15"X15"X15" cube I'll use for Frag QT/dipping and have a 75 gallon for Fish QTing. That being said, I've been doing some looking around for recommendations on QTing frags and looking for what everyone elses regimen is?

I've seen a lot of people sware by Bayer so considering using it but what else should I dip? How long should I QT/observe in the frag QT system? I'm planning on keeping a mixed reef so I'll have softies, zoanthds, LPS, SPS so I need to try to figure out treatment for all of them. Have a feeling I'm going to be doing a ton of reading tonight so I can run to Premium Aquatics tomorrow or order online ASAP.

Frag QT tank (Should hold 20-25 frags):
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/p...f/IMG_0610.jpg

18 Watt Par38 LED lighting:
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/p...f/IMG_0608.jpg

Can you explain "Bayer"

I haven't heard of this!

QT should be around 4 weeks give or take. And its easier to QT the same corals at the same time. (Lps, Sps, softies)
This is because those will require different dips and or lengths. Plus you won't have to worry about chemical warfare at that time.

Check Sps for red bugs, and aefw. Montis for nudies
Check zoas for spiders and nudies.
Lps I'm not 100% familiar with.
My softies just get an iodine dip.

All corals get a flat worm/plinaria dip. Because they can be in the rocks or plugs of anything.

And the reason for the long QT is because eggs are never effected by dips. So you have to wait for the cycle, hatch, rekill and make sure those didn't lay more eggs...

Seems I failed to subscribe to my own thread:)

Take a look at the following article regarding Bayer. Kind of crazy but everyone seems to be having good success with it. Looking on other forums/Google it seems to be widespread. I actually ask what coral dips my local vendor recommended and was surprised to see the response of not buying one of the coral dips they had in stock.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ighlight=bayer

Sorry... I was thinking aspirin.... haha.

I remember a thread here that was using it for killing red bugs and stuff, but haven't researched it for anything past that....

dahenley, thanks for the thoughts/opinions. Anyone else on other experiences they have and recommendations? I picked up the insecticide tonight and at $12.97, this will make nearly 77 gallons. :D

No one else dips coral? I'm willing to purchase any dip, I'm just looking to use the most effective measures and hoping to drop by Premium Aquatics ~Thursday!

I personally have used revive for years and very happy. It won't stop red bugs like bayer but it will kill the majority of pests including AEFW (not the eggs). I usually double dose it on all corals except some acropora such as echinata and turoki.

hth

Thanks for all the input and it's greatly appreciated. I've just not came across a lot of sites with a good amount of information/content on the subject and it's more of a challenge to figure out what I want to do. Melev's reef had a few good reads and I've found a few other places but seems like it's everyone's deep dark secret. If one fragger dips and kills the pest, they may in turn save 1000 reefers from an infestation so I'm not only doing it for my tank, but others!

Here's regimen I've came up with. I put order in with Premium Aquatics for the stuff and will likely run over there on lunch hour today/tomorrow to get the goods.

Before adding to Coral Frag QT:

- Dip in Bayer mixture, rinse with SW, place in QT
- After everything has opened up and seems to be healthy I'll treat Frag QT as a whole with Flatworm Exit
- Week 2 - Revive Dip
- Week 3 - Iodine Dip
- Week 4 - Another Revive Dip
- Week 5 - Before transferring to frag tank I'll do a last dip of Bayer and SW rinse before adding to frag tank

***I'll also be using a TLF Reactor filled with Carbon to take any nasty stuff from the coral out of the water column. During flatworm Exit treatment I'll be sure to aerate water well and then start carbon filtering.

Suggestions based on that? I know I'm OCD/Anal Retentive:spin3:

Keep a turkey Baxter and toothbrush on hand for scrubbing and cleaning.

Also, a cheap magnifying glass from harbor freight is a great tool as well!

What iodine dip are you going to use?
i normally use "seachem reef dip"
but i also have lugols..... (i got this because i was out of the other, and because i can dose it in my tank.
just curious as to what your planning on using?

I've got the turkey baster...Need to pick up some tooth brushes I guess.

As far as dip, I'm using the Kent Lugols dip. Going to Premium Aquatics on lunch hour (Dangerous thing for my marriage to stop at PA on lunch hour)!
http://premiumaquatics.com/store/mer...Category_Code=

Thanks to meth heads we can only buy 1 oz sizes.........:angryfire: