(cheerful music)
- Hello, everybody
My name is Matthew. I'm your BRS beginner guru.
I am personally committed.
You guys don't know how committed I am to try my best,
to convince every single beginner out there that
it is a pain. It costs a lot of money,
but it is in your best interest.
And in the best interest of your
livestock to set up a quarantine tank.
I feel like I'm a broken record here,
but there's gonna be a ton of information in this video,
but stay tuned for episode 35,
because we're gonna take everything we
learned and teach you how to quarantine fish.
What is a quarantine tank?
It's a separate aquarium from your main display tank
that is used to isolate, observe and treat sick fish.
Really at the heart of it,
a quarantine tank is meant to prevent disease and illness
from entering your display tank.
Do you need to set up a quarantine tank?
I'm gonna give you four reasons why you need to
plus an anecdote.
Reason number one, it's gonna save you time.
Reason number two, it's gonna save you money.
Reason number three,
it will keep you in this hobby for a lot longer.
And reason number four, it's the ethical choice.
I was contacted over a year ago now
by a total newbie
over in England, he was a copper.
He had a couple kids, super nice guy.
I helped him set up his tank. We went back and forth.
I sent him a lot of voice memos.
We even did some FaceTime chatting to
really get them dialed in.
He was super stoked.
He bought this like 70 gallon aquarium,
all this high-tech gear
and then started buying fish.
But guess what the one piece of advice he ignored,
he didn't ignore it. He just chose not to do it.
It was the quarantine thing. Things are going well.
He spent thousands of dollars. I mean,
he was working overtime shifts to be able to afford,
to pay for his brand new setup.
He went to his local fish store,
started getting corals.
Gorgeous, beautiful, started getting fish.
He had more questions, I would help him.
Everything was going great.
Then he decided there was one more fishing needed.
He went back to the same local fish store
that he always went to, brought it back,
didn't quarantine, put it in his tank.
Guess what happened?
It had ick.
And that ick was passed to every single member of his tank.
He had started his tank six months before,
and he was so disheartened
that he broke everything down
and sold it for pennies on the dollar.
His experience is not an isolated experience.
Trust me, I've heard this so many times.
You may think you're gonna get lucky
and you may for awhile,
but at some point, your luck is gonna run out.
Typically in this hobby,
when we talk about quarantine tanks,
we're referring to fish quarantine tanks,
and that is gonna absolutely be the focus of this video.
But are there other hobbyists out there who quarantine other
things, other cleanup crew members, anemones corals?
Absolutely.
I'm actually running three
quarantine tanks myself right now.
I have a fish only quarantine tank that's currently empty.
I have a anemone specific quarantine tank
and I have a coral quarantine tank.
And each of my quarantine tanks
are there for very specific reasons.
For example, my anemone quarantine tank is there to treat
new anemones with antibiotics upon arrival.
My coral frag tank quarantine tank
is there to observe and remove pests
before moving them to the new display tank.
As you advance in this hobby,
you may want to consider quarantining
other livestock besides fish.
But if you start out with a fish only quarantine tank,
I guarantee you,
you are doing better than probably 99% of new hobbyists.
So what are the different types of
fish quarantine tanks out there?
I'm not talking about, about coral quarantine tanks,
or anemone quarantine tanks,
or cleanup crew quarantine tanks.
We're focusing now only on fish.
There are different ways of doing
a fish only quarantine tank.
You can do one that's cycled,
and you can do one that remains uncycled.
They both work fine,
but they both have their limitations.
If you go for a cycled quarantine tank with
live rock or other ceramic media,
there are just certain things you're
not gonna be able to add.
For example, there are antibiotics
that you can't use because the
antibiotics will kill all of the beneficial bacteria.
There are other products you don't want to use
such as copper because your live rock
or ceramic media may in fact absorb
them and then leach them out at a later time.
If you choose to go for an uncycled quarantine tank,
which is actually the type that we recommend,
there will not be enough beneficial bacteria
in there to keep the ammonia levels down.
That means you're gonna have to test really frequently
and perform large water changes
because that's gonna be your only way
to reduce toxic ammonia nitrite from that system
But on the plus side,
you're gonna be able to use
non reef safe and non bio filter safe medications.
How many gallons does your quarantine tank have to be?
I'm gonna say somewhere between
10 gallons and 40 gallons
If you only have a small display tank and you're only
quarantining small fish, a few at a time,
a 10 gallon tank is gonna be fine.
But if you have a larger fish only system, or you know
they're just gonna be bigger fish
that you need to quarantine,
You may want to consider something like a 40 gallon breeder,
but if you have no idea what you need,
20 gallons is a perfect starting size for a quarantine tank.
So how long does a quarantine tank
need to last for your new livestock?
A minimum of 21 to 28 days disease and pest free.
Best case scenario,
you get your new fish,
you bring them home,
you put them in the quarantine tank.
You watch them for three to four weeks straight,
and there's no disease,
they're done quarantining and ready
to move to your display tank.
But if you have even one fish in your quarantine tank
show any signs of illness, or disease, or parasites,
then you have to either wait
until the fish die, or you have
to wait until they're completely healed.
And only then does that 21 to 28 day clock start again.
So this process could possibly go on for months.
Let me just say that I have learned
a lot of patients from the quarantine process
because there have been times when I have had fish in my
quarantine tank for three to four months.
I was watching some old videos
I made about quarantine tanks
and I had a list of like 20 things
that were essential for a quarantine tank.
But I have parsed that down
to seven essential elements of a quarantine tank.
The first essential element is a tank.
I would recommend getting a 20 gallon tank,
but you're only gonna be doing small fish,
a 10 to 20 gallon tank works fine.
You can either go with a glass aquarium,
a good place to buy these is at your
local big box store during their gallon per dollar sale,
but you also don't need to use a tank.
You could use any sort of food grade plastic container.
The only downside with using a plastic tub
instead of glass is with glass,
you can observe the fish really easily
and notice if they have disease.
And it's definitely more challenging
when you can't look through the plastic container.
Essential item number two is a heater.
Nothing at all fancy here.
My favorites are the Eheim Yeager heaters.
Just get one, that's the correct size
so you can keep your tank at around 78 degrees.
Number three is a filter
and the most simple and most inexpensive type
is just your standard, hang on the back filter.
They come in all shapes and sizes.
As long as you have a hang on the back filter
that's gonna turn over that water column
five to 10 times, and you have a little sponge
you can stick in there. It's pretty much all you need.
Item number four is a gravel vac.
If you follow our methodology,
you are gonna have to do frequent and rather
large water changes to keep that ammonia level down.
So picking up a good gravel back will help with that.
Essential item number five,
it's not really essential.
You can get away without having it.
What we're gonna call the central,
we're gonna call a light.
A light will just help your fish acclimate
over time to the light schedule
you plan on having your display tank.
It's true that a fish isn't gonna need light to survive,
but to get them used to the display tank.
It's a really good idea.
You don't need anything fancy here.
You don't need a high-end LEDs or a huge fixture.
You can go with something inexpensive at this point.
Number six is PVC pipe.
You can really use any sort of
food grade plastic decoration,
but I like to use PVC.
It's really easy. It's really inexpensive.
You can pick it up at your local hardware store,
and it provides really good hiding places for your fish.
And the final essential item,
number seven is a mesh screen.
A lot of the fish you're gonna buy
are gonna be jumpers
and fish especially like to jump when they're stressed out,
and quarantine time can be a stressful time,
especially at the beginning.
So get a tight fitting mesh screen or a glass top.
And if you don't have one, there are DIY options.
Well, everybody, I am a rockin,
a new haircut and a new BRS sweatshirt.
And before you comment on the haircut, yes,
I have cut my own hair for the last five years.
It grows out fine.
It doesn't look good at the beginning,
but I have saved thousands of dollars.
So, be nice about the comments.
We're gonna wrap up 32 A
because there's just so much to talk about again.
So stay tuned for episode 32 B,
because we are gonna go through
how to build a quarantine tank using all BRS skier
and how to do that as cheaply as possible.
And then we're gonna spend time and answer the most
common beginner questions regarding quarantine tanks.
And there's actually quite a few out there.
And as always, everybody
thank you for watching.
Happy reefing, be well.
We'll see you next time.
(cheerful music)