Hospital Tanks - enlighten me please

Just some questions about hospital / QT tanks that has me a tad perplexed.

I understand and agree with the benefit of having a hospital / QT tank....however - i keep envisioning this empty tank sitting there running all the time with nothing in it except for when and if anything gets sick or when a new purchase is made.

For those of you with hospital tanks - can you please explain exactly HOW it works? Do you literally have a second tank running all the time?

what if a fish needs to be QT at 3 am? Do you dig a bunch of equipment out of the closet and set a triage station up?

How does one set a hospital tank up?

What do you keep in a hospital tank? does it have rock etc in it?

I appreciate the enlightenment.

 

I know you already stated that you know/understand the function but I’m gonna briefly cover it again. A hospital tank/quarantine tank are to be used for new purchases or helping a fish recovery from disease or injury in a stress free environment. The use of a separate tank will allow you to better medicate a fish when necessary and will allow you to employ medications that might not be possible in a tank with corals or other types of fragile life.

I use a 10 gallon tank with a simply HOB filter (Whisper PF10) and a small heater. The reason I use a ten gallon is simply because it is small enough to store but large enough to provide a bit of stability in terms of water quality. Set it up someplace where it’s easy to access.

I only set this up when I need it and I only use main tank water (the freshly made up water goes into the main tank). Since I don’t transfer any media over with bacteria to assist in waste reduction I do a small water change (1 gallon or so) daily, it’s not a big deal and only takes 10 minutes.

I have some 1 ½ PVC T pipes (so they don’t roll around) for hiding places. You could add a rock from the main tank if you have a fish that would require this to fulfill a feeding or behavioural need.

If you find a fish that has been injured or is sick odds are it has been that way for a while. There are many immediate options from putting him in a small bucket with an air stone, into the refugium temporarily or turn off the lights while you prepare a more permanent hospital tank.

Fish can have amazing restorative powers and quite a few injuries can be left alone (i.e. you don’t need to yank out a fish with a split fin etc.).

Keep going through these forums, there have been some incredibly innovative ideas.
Hope this helps a bit