Hit 500 gallons on my quarantine tank this week, never thought I'd need that much

I always thought a 20 gallon quarantine tank was plenty for my saltwater setup. But after losing a $150 wrasse to velvet last year, I decided to rethink things. This week I finally hit the 500 gallon mark on my new QT system, and it's just a series of three 100 gallon bins and two 40 breeders. The milestone that surprised me was realizing I've spent more time cycling this QT than my main display. What convinced me was watching a friend lose his entire 180 gallon tank to a single infected fish. Anyone else find themselves scaling up their quarantine setup bigger than they planned?

2 comments

2 Comments

laurabennett29d ago

You're basically spending more money and time on a backup system than the actual tank itself. That just seems backwards to me. Most fish diseases can be handled with proper observation and a solid copper treatment if something looks off. All that extra plumbing and water volume just adds more places for stuff to go wrong. If you're that worried about losing fish, have a strict QT protocol with a simple 20 gallon tank and call it a day.

the_gavin29d ago

Man I felt that @lauwbennett comment in my soul because I used to say the exact same thing. I had a 20 gallon QT for years and thought anyone running big systems was just overcomplicating things. Then I had a tank crash where three fish came in looking perfect but one had brooklynella and it ripped through my sump before I even noticed. Lost a clownfish pair and a mandarin that took me six months to get eating frozen. Now I run two 55 gallon drums as a dedicated QT and honestly the peace of mind is worth every penny. Sometimes you just need to get burned once to realize cheaping out on biosecurity costs way more in the long run.