discus quarantine tank question

[neupane00]

hey guys, i just setup a qt tank for discus. my primary function of this tank would be to qt the fish and medicate them and if i get small discus, just leave in qt tank for a month or two and heavy feed them and make them grow.. now two questions:
1) is 10 gallon qt tank too small for discus?
2) i have bare bottom tank. Altho my stand has black top, there is some reflection off the glass on bottom. is that ok? or should i add some gravel to qt tank? thanks a lot.

[Eddie]

1) Yes....a 10 is alright for medicating purposes but a 29 or above would be my choice for a QT tank.

2) Paint the bottom


Eddie

Eddie

[neupane00]

paint the bottom from inside?? what kinda paint should i use? wont it be toxic to fish??

[Disgirl]

No, not the inside! :D Only the outside bottom or the outside back too if you want. You can use cheap spray paint from WalMart, HD or Lowe's. The kind that is $3 or 4 a can. Try to use a light color, like tan or pale blue. It will make your fish's colors the best. A dark paint will make your fish turn dark to try to match their substrate and "blend in". Did this all myself so if you need more info. just ask.
Barb :)

[neupane00]

No, not the inside! :D Only the outside bottom or the outside back too if you want. You can use cheap spray paint from WalMart, HD or Lowe's. The kind that is $3 or 4 a can. Try to use a light color, like tan or pale blue. It will make your fish's colors the best. A dark paint will make your fish turn dark to try to match their substrate and "blend in". Did this all myself so if you need more info. just ask.
Barb :)
wait just from the outside? then how is it make it any better cuz the light will still reflect off the shiny glass in the inside.
my stand is already black so the bottom looks already dark. how is it any different than painting the outside bottom with paint?

[Disgirl]

If your fish see a painted "substrate" when they look down that is good. You don't want them to look down and see open space. Yes, it will look shiny to you when you look in but the fish won't see shine if there is something on the outside bottom like paint, posterboard, a piece of cloth , your dark stand, etc. Just remember a light color is best for them.
Barb

[Apistomaster]

Actually the reflections we see from the outside looking in aquariums are not visible to the fish inside. So if your bare tank is on a shelf then all the fish see is the color of the underlying shelf. Even if the tank is only supported around the edges the fish do not perceive a drop off.

A 10 gal tank is a handy sized tank to use for the treatment of a few small Discus or one adult but 10 gal tanks are too small for longer term treatment/quarantine purposes. The 29H as recommended above is a useful size tank for quarantining Discus for several weeks but how many Discus you should keep in a quarantine tank should not be much different than you would keep discus of the same size as an intermediate stage grow out tank.

[akumastew]

I am looking at setting up a quarantine tank.

I plan on purchasing 6 x 3" Discus.

Would a 29 gallon tank be sufficient for the Quarantine process?

I did look at getting a 40 gallon Breeder for Quarantine, but have found it dificult to find an inexpensive 36 x 18 stand. I am so far over budget on my main tank, that the wife will kill me, if I need to spend a lot more.

I have tried Craigslist and local for sale forums, but have had no joy.

- Stew

[Disgirl]

I certainly would use a 29 for a QT for 6 small discus! Sounds just fine.
Barb :)

[TURBOFROG]

I just bought a 40 gallon breeder tank from Petsmart 2 weeks ago. It came with a glass hood and light for $99.....couldnt pass it up.

[rickztahone]

I certainly would use a 29 for a QT for 6 small discus! Sounds just fine.
Barb :)

i had a 29 long and i must say they can grow out of that quite quick. a 40 would be my recommendation for bare minimum. i use a 55 just to be safe however, unless they were fry (that last part is hypothetical since i've never had fry before).

[csarkar001]

recommend krylon fusion for the paint.

[akumastew]

i had a 29 long and i must say they can grow out of that quite quick. a 40 would be my recommendation for bare minimum. i use a 55 just to be safe however, unless they were fry (that last part is hypothetical since i've never had fry before).

I found plenty of good deasl on 55 gallon aquarium.

But my wife says "thou shalt not get another tank over 3 ft in length"

I might get a 29 gallon, and then once she sees how pretty the new fish look, she will open up the finances and let me get a 55 gallon.

[csarkar001]

I might get a 29 gallon, and then once she sees how pretty the new fish look, she will open up the finances and let me get a 55 gallon.

Right, and then you'll wake up. :argue:

[tdo]

Right, and then you'll wake up. :argue:

lol. i'm in the same boat!

[Apistomaster]

Surface area is more impotant than volume and few popular sized aquariums have a worse surface area to volume ratio than the 55 gal show.
The 55 gal has a surface area of 576 sq in.
The 40 gal breeder has 648 sq in of surface area.
That is 76 more sq in than the 55 gal.
The best value among the 48 inch tanks is the 75 gal tank.
864 sq in of surface area. It doesn't actual take very much more floor space to set up than a 55.
And the 75 is popular enough to find on sale frequently. It is a far better aquarium to keep 6 adult discus in than a 55 gal.
A 29H make a good quarantine tank for temporarily housing 6 small discus.

[shoggoth43]

You will not likely find a 36x18" stand. I think they assume a breeder will just build out a rack for these instead. You could try some of those really sturdy metal shelving units or just get some 2x4s on edge and 3/4" plywood and build something for <50$. If you do it right it will house all of your quarantine tools/meds and whatnot as well.

I used one of those ThisEndUp crate type TV Stands, or maybe it was book shelving? It wasn't quite up to the size so I got some 3/4" ply and doubled it up. Put some glue in the middle and screwed it together so the plywood is now nearly 1.5" thick to support the overhang. Very sturdy and I have no worries about the tank. This may also be an option you could pursue. Out of my more recent purchases I have to say I'm very happy with this tank in terms of size/volume and general appearance. It would also make a good sump for a larger tank as well.

-
S


I am looking at setting up a quarantine tank.
...

I did look at getting a 40 gallon Breeder for Quarantine, but have found it dificult to find an inexpensive 36 x 18 stand. I am so far over budget on my main tank, that the wife will kill me, if I need to spend a lot more.

...

- Stew

[akumastew]

I found a 50 gallon corner tank that would work well in my storage room.

I got the tank, stand, magnum 350 canister, powerhead and lights for $60.

And at 594 sq in it is better than the 55 gallon for surface area, but not as good as the 40 gallon.

and I couldn't go wrong at the price, especially as I had been considering getting the Magnum canister filter for water polishing on my main tank.

Now I just need to get the thing cleaned out, and I will be good to go.

[akumastew]

Now that I have a QT.

How do you guys keep your QTs ticking over?

I plan on cleaning and setting up the tank this weekend, using aged water from my current tank, and an aged filter.

I do not plan on purchasing my Discus for another 4 weeks or so.

I do plan on adding another couple of Blue Rams before then.

I was thinking on have the Rams in the QT until I purchase the Discus.

When the Discus arrive, I plan on adding the Rams to my main tank, and then the Discus to the QT.

What should I do in the tank once my Discus are ready to move to my main tnak?

Thanks

Stew

[tcyiu]

... How do you guys keep your QTs ticking over? ...

This is what I do for my hospital tank and for setting up new tanks. Every once in a while, I take a little bit of the poop from an established tank and seed the tank. Just a little bit is all that's needed to keep the small bacterial colony alive. Sometimes I don't do this and the bacteria die off and become dormant. But that's OK because they rebound very quickly.

When it is time to populate the tank, I take some used/mature filter media from the other tank and plop that into the filter of the QT. Then I do a large WC with treated/aged water. Voila! For all intents and purposes, a mature tank after a WC.

Normally, because you can never time things exactly, this set up runs for several days before fish go in. But in an emergency situation, such as for a hospital tank, it works just as well.

If you have filters of different size with different media, no worries. Get some filter floss (or buy a pillow from Target and use the stuffing). Put this in the filter of the mature tank for a week. It will get seeded and then transfer this to the new filter.

Note that you can only use this procedure if you're sure the existing tank is healthy. I don't mean sterile. Your existing tanks will never be sterile or your fish will be dead. Just healthy.

As to the original poster's question, I like 10s for hospital tanks and emergency shelter for battered fish. As a QT, it is really too small.

Tim

[714pedro]

hi, can i use a hospital tank to be my quarantine tank also.? since i have limited budget and space so i cant afford to buy new tank just for quarantine, the tank is 20gal w/a sponge filter,
what should i do before putting new discus for quarantine?

sorry to post the question here, instead of making a new thread, since it is related to quarantine tanks

thanks guys