Quarantine. Quarantine. Quarantine.

When I originally set up my tank I did not set up a quarantine tank because I felt that the cost of running two tanks was too high.

My first set of corals and fish came from local stores, and I never had any issues. However, last winter I went to a local frag swap and it nearly destroyed my tank. I had a terrible outbreak of Bryopsis algae and flatworms! I tried everything for months to fight both, but they essentially won out.

I finally had to buck up and buy a quarantine tank to salvage what was left of my corals, and then spend an entire weekend disassembling the tank and cleaning it out.

For anyone starting out, PLEASE quarantine your stuff. The cost of another tank is far less than the cost of having to fix potential problems

 

+1 This

 

Just a quick add on this- always thoroughly clean any used equipment that you get. I made the mistake of not cleaning my 40g breeder before setting it up and found out about a month ago that the previous owner had a HUGE bryopsis outbreak that stayed on the glass in the tank.

Now it is all over my LR, though it seems that the magnesium treatment is working. Still a gigantic PITA.

 

I feel like the quarantine topic has been coming up a lot lately...

I've said it before, it would cost anywhere under 80 dollars to set up QT and could potentially save you 1000's in damage.

 

+1 If you do it smartly, the costs are minimal, but the benefits are immense.

| | -"Come join us!"

| | -"Soon, I don't want to get you guys sick!"