QT tank questions

[chaoslite]

Hi all,

I have a 10g tank that I would like to use as a QT. Would this be big enough for 2 or 3 juvenile discus that I would like to buy? If so the tank is cycled, but the pH is high, around 7.8. I already have a piece of wood in to try and drop the pH, but that does not seem to be working. Any ideas on how I can drop the pH? Oh and all the other levels are fine. I want to add the 2 or 3 juveniles to the 60g tank I am going to start cycling within the up coming week. I have 4 other discus in a 40g. I thought all were juvies and they might be, but two might be stunted pairing off. The other two are 3".

I have another Thread about coloring and if I should have kept this post there let me know, because I am new at this forum thing and new discus.

Thanks,
Mishka

[jball1125]

My ph is 7.8 and my fish are fine. As long as the ph is stable, don't worry about it. Might want to test ur ph straight out if the tap, if it's the same or close to the same perfect. However if your ph out of tap has a big difference then you should consider aging your water to get it to 7.8

[mmorris]

Hi all,

I have a 10g tank that I would like to use as a QT. Would this be big enough for 2 or 3 juvenile discus that I would like to buy? If so the tank is cycled, but the pH is high, around 7.8. I already have a piece of wood in to try and drop the pH, but that does not seem to be working. Any ideas on how I can drop the pH? Oh and all the other levels are fine. I want to add the 2 or 3 juveniles to the 60g tank I am going to start cycling within the up coming week. I have 4 other discus in a 40g. I thought all were juvies and they might be, but two might be stunted pairing off. The other two are 3".

I have another Thread about coloring and if I should have kept this post there let me know, because I am new at this forum thing and new discus.

Thanks,
Mishka
How big are the juvies that you want to quarantine in the 10 gallon? How did you cycle the tank? Is this your ph straight out of the tap? Does your ph from the tap change after 24 hours in a bucket? Is it still the same in the tanks?

[chaoslite]

Hey guys,

Never tested my ph out of the tap. The tank has been cycled for 4 months and the ph remains the same, very stable. I want to buy 2.5" to 3" juvies. The tank is not BB and has three Danios in it that I was going to relocate to the 60g. I could actually make it BB if need for the QT tank.

[chaoslite]

Ok tested the ph from the tap and it is the same as the 10g, 7.8. So I guess I can use it as a QT tank. I have a few more questions. Am I going to throw off the ph if I remove the sand and wood? And how many juveniles are ok to put in a 10g for 30 days? The standard for QT is 30 days right?

Mishka

[nc0gnet0]

IMHO a 10 gallon is too small for anything other than a hospital tank when treating one fish. I would CL a 20-29 gallon tank, you can pick them up next to nothing and I am sure you will have a use for it in the future.

And removing the sand and wood should not change your ph, but it will create quite a mess for a time being.

[chaoslite]

Wow. Ok so I need to cycle two tanks? Guess I need to shop on craigslist and see if I can find a bigger tank for a steal. If I use the same media from the 10g to cycle the 20-29g do you think I would get a big spike? Oh and mmorris, I cycled the 10g tank with tap water, water conditioners and a molly that lived through the whole nasty experience.

Mishka

[mmorris]

Wow. Ok so I need to cycle two tanks? Guess I need to shop on craigslist and see if I can find a bigger tank for a steal. If I use the same media from the 10g to cycle the 20-29g do you think I would get a big spike? Oh and mmorris, I cycled the 10g tank with tap water, water conditioners and a molly that lived through the whole nasty experience.

Mishka

Re. cycling - it doesn't matter how big the tank is. The amount of bacteria that grow depends on the bio-load, not the tank size. If you cycled a tank with a molly, then there is only enough bacteria in the media to sort the waste from one molly. There will be a spike when you suddenly increase the bio-load (add more discus). I would get a 20-29 gallon, steralize it, buy discus from a good source (NOT lfs) and ask if you can buy a cycled sponge. Then, I would keep the new discus strictly quarantined from the other fish for a few weeks.

[chaoslite]

OK Sounds like a better plan. I did add more fish slowly to the 10g, but I will see check into getting discus from a sponsor on the site and see if I can get a cycled sponge form them. Thank you mmorris.

Mishka

[ZX10R]

My PH is around 7.8 also so yours should be just fine. My QT tank is a 30 gallon and my hospital tank is a 10 gallon. I would keep that 10 gallon incase you ever need it for a hospital tank later may come in handy. I am not running a filter on my QT or hospital tank just doing big WC every day with aged water. I have 8 juvies in QT and one sicky in the hospital tank right now.

Good Luck