Beginning A Quarantine Tank

I'm just starting my main tank as well and I read the articles on setting up a Quarantine Tank but I have a few questions still. Should I wait until my main tank has cycled and then set up the quarantine tank with that water? Or should I set up both now and let them both cycle? When I get my very first fish after my tank has cycled, should I still quarantine them or could they go directly into the main tank? I'm also planning on adding a Malaysian Trumpet Snail, would it need quarantined also? Final question (for now), do plants need to be quarantined? I just bought 6 to start with, would they be okay in the main tank?

 

If those will be the first things in the tank, no QT is needed. Just treat them in the main tank.

You will need to QT any new arrivals after you add the plants and snail in though.

 

No need to QT your first fish into the main tank because there are no existing other fish. So if the stock of fish have problems you will treat the entire tank.

If you want to set up a QT tank you can buy a sponge filter and put it into your filter or have it running in your tank. It should take about a month to seed since your tank is still fairly new. When you do need it down the line just pull the sponge filter out and put it into your QT.

 

If those will be the first things in the tank, no QT is needed. Just treat them in the main tank.

You will need to QT any new arrivals after you add the plants and snail in though.

So after the plants are in, the fish need to be quarantined to make sure they won't affect the plants?

 

The newest inhabitants will be QTed in the tank itself.

The QT tank will be for any new inhabitants to make sure it doesn't carry any diseases.