Keeping up on a Hospital Tank

Hello

I have a 10 gal tank setup with water from my main tank, crushed coral and some rock from the main tank (it is not live but has been in there for the cycle).

At this time I do not have any fish in it, what should I do for keep up, right now I have the lights on 8 hrs a day and the filter on all times but nothing else.

Every week or 2 I add some small food bits to keep up the bacteria, is this good or should I just leave it as is?

 

You dont need to constantly maintain a QT. You do not need rock or substrate. When you need your QT just take the water from your DT,throw a small powerhead and a peice or 2 of pvc pipe for the fish to hide in and you are good to go. A light over the tank is nice but does not have to be a great amount.

I use a small in tank cannister filter. It filters the water a little so a water change isnt necessary quite so often and it creates circulation like a little PH. Here is a pic of mine. Hope you were not expecting something fancy!

 

I always leave my QT tank up and running. You never know when you find something you want. Like last Friday I stopped at my LFS just to waste a few minutes and I spotted a small bicolored angel fish. Priced right at 18.99 and then today only sign all live stock25% off. HAd to have it so I do not have to worry about trying to rush home set upQT and acclimating fish.
My Qt just uses a hang on filter way too big and I have 3 chromis always init so bacteria is always ready and waiting. I am just too much of an impulse buyer and do not like to shop online for live goods
Mike

 

i was under the impression you needed to keep it up in case something got sick you had it ready or you wanted to quarantine something new.

Mburke, how do you maintain it on a daily basis? i was thinking of some damsels maybe 2 or I could get some minnows from the bait store but I am not sure how they would act towards tropical fish.

 

I just feed the fish every other day. Change 5 gals of water once a month unless there is something being quarantined and change the one of the filter pads once. I would not do damsel due to their way of tring to take over a tank. They will haunt anything you add to the tank later on. And create more stress on an already stressed fish.
Once I quarantine something I usually just observe for a week to make it comfortable and make sure it is eating good. If something shows up sooner I will treat for that. After 1 week I usually start to lower the salinity to 1.009 to get rid of ich. Usually takes 4-5 days to get there then 4 weeks at that reading then return to normal salinty over next week. Then I just temp acclimate and release in display tank. This has kept my display tank ich free for 2 years. Did that game one time and will avoid at all costs.
Mike