the 10G "quarantine" tank

[angelminx]

As soon as I get my new camera figured out (and new pics downloaded), I will start posting some pics of the quarantine tank.  It has gone through some changes over the last year, and I would like to share its "story" .

Angelminx

[angelminx]

The tank started out with an undergravel filter (however I have no pictures of it then), then I went to a Whisper internal filter (still no pics).  I later changed to a Whisper HOB, then added the sponge filter.

These photos show part of the top (the mineral build-up from the bubbles from the sponge filter popping); where it's situated compared to the 55G; a view from the side; and an earlier pic (with King on the left-hand side), and a later one, after I purchased the Floating Betta Log, and the Java Fern:

         

[angelminx]

There have been quite a few changes in residency--not just "kids" in quarantine, but I had moved some of my plants from the 55G (Ozelot sword, and others) to get them away from the ever-hungry Chocolate Rabbit, and Nerite Snails (that "aren't supposed to eat plants", but kept the poor things mowed down so that they had problems changing over to their submersed forms; they are even going after my Java ferns).  That soon changed, so that I returned the swords and Anubias (except the A. afzelli) to the 55G, and moved the snails to the 10G.

Before I was able to get pictures, I had a succession of Bettas (and ghost shrimp), mostly males, but a couple of females (to help keep the tank cycled).  The 1st Betta I have pictures of is King:
       

   (the last 2 are from above; and when one of the shrimp swam into the picture)

[angelminx]

My last betta (Valentine) is the 2nd one I have any pics of:
         

After he died, I wanted to try to get a colony of Betta imbellis, aka Peaceful Bettas, but I couldn't find any anywhere....

[angelminx]

...so I decided to keep some of the catfish that I eventually wanted to transition the 55G over to:

(the 1st pic is a Rightsideup Upsidedown Catfish )
         

Unfortunately, I ended up with a bad case of Ich, and all my fish (except the "baby" Banjos") died.  The tank is now finishing up re-cycling (lost the cycle during the Ich treatment?  Or removing the gravel during it?  Or both?).

[The last pic shows the size difference between my adults and the babies; the adults are now in the 10G with the babies, my remaining 2 Nerite snails--lost one yesterday--and my remaining Chocolate Rabbit snail]

[angelminx]

When I was treating for Ich, I removed the gravel, and added a sandbox so the babies would have somewhere to hide if they wanted.  After the Ich treatment was over, I added some (well-rinsed, no bacteria packet added) CaribSea Torpedo Beach Sand.
 
Before:
  

After: 
       

This is where I stand now:  with a temp of 80.2, 7.5 pH, 3.25 degrees KH; 11 degrees GH; Nitrate of 9 ppm; and Ammonia of 0 ppm and Nitrite just over 0 ppm.

[angelminx]

A few of the previous residents:

            

[angelminx]

BTW: the gravel I had in the tank originally (see above pics) is some of the original gravel I had. I don't remember dates for sure since I never recorded any info back then, but I 1st got into keeping fish while I was in high school--I think it was 1977.

The 1st tank I ever got was a 15G.  It came with a glass canopy and a fluorescent striplight that had the ballast "spliced" into the cord.  Shortly afterwards I picked up 2 used metal-framed 10G tanks, one of which had the aforementioned gravel.  That gravel came back to Illinois with me (along with the 15G) when we moved from San Diego in1983.  I don't remember what happened to the 2 metal-frames.

[Carl]

Aug 30, 2015 16:29:20 GMT -5 angelminx said:

BTW: the gravel I had in the tank originally (see above pics) is some of the original gravel I had. I don't remember dates for sure since I never recorded any info back then, but I 1st got into keeping fish while I was in high school--I think it was 1977.

The 1st tank I ever got was a 15G.  It came with a glass canopy and a fluorescent striplight that had the ballast "spliced" into the cord.  Shortly afterwards I picked up 2 used metal-framed 10G tanks, one of which had the aforementioned gravel.  That gravel came back to Illinois with me (along with the 15G) when we moved from San Diego in1983.  I don't remember what happened to the 2 metal-frames.

Thanks for sharing the history, always interesting IMO!

As a side note, usually when I set up quarantine tanks, I used no substrate, just used sponge filters which are easily swapped in and out, and kept fish and invertebrates separately

Carl

[devonjohnsgard]

Get you got the QT. Agree with the two points Carl made. Having substrate is just a another layer you shouldnt have to worry about in a QT. Cleaning and maintaining.

[angelminx]

The 1st reason I had used substrate was because of the undergravel filter.  After that, since I was planning on using it as a holding tank for my banjos (and other cats), while waiting for the "population size" to go down in the 55G{*} (for the transition to a mainly catfish display), I wanted the banjos to be comfortable for the long-haul .

{If I had thought about it at the time I was re-doing it, I might have done the 55G in the Torpedo Beach sand...but I was thinking more about the fact that I had wanted a dark substrate.  I really like the Torpedo Beach sand, but unfortunately I haven't found anything comparable in a dark shade, and I also wanted to get some plant-specific substrate in there for the swords, etc...}