I just moved everything from a 10 gallon nano to a 20 gallon tall. The 10 gallon is sitting under the stand, bare-bottom, with a heater set at 82F, an Aqua-Clear with nothing in it for flow, a tiny PC bulb for light (maybe 5 watts?), and a handful of chaeto. I added a small Pajama Cardinal a couple days ago who seems to be doing well.
I've never used a quarantine tank before, and I've paid the price. So... The people at the lfs, including the guy who really seems to know his stuff and is helping me with tank maintenance, say I should be fine with weekly water changes. Is that true?
Also, in the future, I'm thinking about adding sand and a bit of rock, letting it cycle, and using it as a 'planted' saltwater tank, maybe with a whole bunch of featherdusters for extra color. I'd have to move it up on my desk or somewhere but I've got a nice PC fixture that came with the tank so I should have enough light. I'm assuming I could still use it as a quarantine tank if I needed to but I'd like to enjoy it in the meantime. Thoughts?
I'm going to use an air driven sponge filter in my QT the air bubbles provide some flow and the sponge provides bacterial filtration. If you do put sand and rock in it eventually it wont be a good QT tank because the sand and rock will absorb any medications.hope this helps.
And then I can just buy a 5 gallon to use as a treatment tank, right...? Well, hopefully, I won't _need_ to treat, just isolate. In any case, I'd need to find room for the tank+lights, and then commit to doing the weekly maintenance... We'll see.
I bought some carbon inserts for the Aqua Clear. I haven't put one in yet, will they help? I know I can manage weekly water changes and I'll check the salinity every couple of days, but I really don't look forward to a daily water change if I can avoid it.
okay...that's strange. They must have moved. I'll have to try and see if I can find them again. maybe V did something weird when he linked the files in there...
Or MarineDepot is doing something odd on their site. <shrug> It finally showed the articles, and I did a fast read thru. Thanks!
After looking at the articles, I may pull the carbon out of the 20 gallon to use as a bio filter in the 10 gallon. Or I'll hunt around and see if I have an extra sponge for the filter, and seed it in the big tank for a couple days.
I do have a question about feeding. This is a very small Pajama Cardinal and, while he seems healthy, I'm not seeing him obviously eat. It looks like he's just not noticing the sprinkles of whatever food I offer in the volume of water he's in. He'll make what I think are feeding motions later, but I'm too far away to see what he's actually doing. Like I said, he seems healthy and curious and I've been watching him for a couple weeks at the lfs.
Hey Suep, how are you? Haven't heard from you for a bit.
Concerning your plan for using the 10 gal for a planted tank and secondarily for QT. Most people assume they have to "treat" a fish in QT and therefore don't recommend what you propose. I feel differently about QTing my fish. If you carefully follow my suggestions for picking out healthy fish at the LFS you may never have to "treat" new arrivals but, rather bring them into optimum health through QTing. If you have to "treat", then a bare QT tank is the way to go. I personally prefer to just bring them up to health via "health spa" type QT.
I have not treated a fish with copper in over twenty years. The powers to be here on TR (not necessarily Rob) have suggested I write an article on the above thread. I'm going to get busy and begin that very soon. Just as soon as I can fit it into my schedule which includes, business, erecting our frag/storage building, posting on TR, spending what little quality time I get between my wife's work schedule, Dr appointment (today), eating, sleeping, relaxation time and what ever else gets in the way. BUT, I will write it because people think it's worthy. I'm humbled, thank you TR family.
Dick
__________________ Amphibious
Reaching my 70th BD, I realize that I cannot help but grow old. However, I refuse to grow up!!! My wife would tell you, "He may be 70 but, He's going on 17". Life is wonderful with a woman like that.
It was interesting...I was at the Reefstock Meeting in Denver a couple of weeks ago.
Frank Burr talked about "Self-Sustaining Marine Biospheres". It was an interesting talk to listen to, with many different takes on skimmerless tanks and QT tanks. For his fish QT tanks (he has separate coral QTs), he actually has a substrate bottom and live rock! He keeps them running, doesn't shut them down between QTs, and he also treats all newcomers with copper-based medications. He says he doesn't care about the buildup of copper in his substrate and he probably has a very high concentration of copper in his rock and substrate, but he doesn't seem to care! I thought it was interesting to listen to his talk. I'm not sure if I would try it myself, but...always good to get a discussion going.
Hey Amphibious! I agree with everybody else, that post is worthy of an article.
I'm doing OK, having some tooth problems this week that have me knocked sideways. The tanks are doing well. If I can find a battery for the camera, I'll take some shots of the 20 gallon. I really like how it looks. The new little PJ seems to be doing OK. I just laid flat on the floor and watched him for a while. I dropped a shrimp pellet in and he found it and pecked at it a few times, which I assume is a good sign. Like I said, he'd been looking good in the store for a couple of weeks.
The clams are still looking great and seem to like the lights. Some of the LPS corals are still adjusting to their new placements, hopefully they'll be OK. The brain has been shriveled for days, but it's pretty inflated today so that may just be cyclical. Wonder if brains get PMS? One head on the pink candy buttons is shriveled but the other two look good. And I think I remember it being OK yesterday, so I'm scratching my head...?
Ah well, that's 20 minutes when my poor tooth didn't hurt! Yeah!
So... The people at the 
Thoughts?
Well, hopefully, I won't _need_ to treat, just isolate. In any case, I'd need to find room for the tank+lights, and then commit to doing the weekly maintenance... We'll see.
The tanks are doing well. If I can find a battery for the camera, I'll take some shots of the 20 gallon. I really like how it looks. The new little PJ seems to be doing OK. I just laid flat on the floor and watched him for a while. I dropped a shrimp pellet in and he found it and pecked at it a few times, which I assume is a good sign. Like I said, he'd been looking good in the store for a couple of weeks. 
One head on the pink candy buttons is shriveled but the other two look good. And I think I remember it being OK yesterday, so I'm scratching my head...?
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