I need some help with stocking and hospital tank

[AquAdave]

Ok so i feel kinda dumb but I'm the guy that until last week thought all this hospital tank talk was extra expense and work that could be easily avoided. However i am 100%wrong on thinking that and had to learn the hard way. I got a dwarf gourami from pets mart and that was my first mistake i know. I usually never buy my fish anywhere other that my local trusted aqua shop but a sale on fish and i was there for cat needs and i bought the stupid fish, i say stupid because it ended up devastating my 75gal tank. I lost the gourami, a penguin tetra a pictus cat a 2 mollies and a cory and i am beyond surprised i saved another 2 mollies that looked past death with hardly any tails left and all the little white spots all over them and 2 other corys. Anyway i now get the hospital tank idea. My question is this with the tank being something i would only use when i bring home new fish. And i have heard many people say not to put any sub or hard scape in the hospital tank. How do i cycle said tank. And even once it's cycled how will it stay cycled if i don't put any fish in it for over a month or 2 or longer. To try to answer my own question i thought about maybe getting a pair of neons or guppies or some fish thai is cheap and too be a sacrificial fish so to speak. Also is a 10 gal big enough. I tend to play on the bigger end of fish my largest fish i have now are either my balas that are around 8" or my sailfin pleco around a foot. But i would like to think i would avoid having to put them into the hospital tank if i always quarantine new fish

 

[Nopsu]

How about keeping a extra sponge filter in the 75 gallon and moving it to the QT when needed?
Or have any extra filter where you can stuff media from your running filters, like keep some media bag or piece of sponge in the main filter that fits the qt filter in need
10g plastic container is what i use for the "tank"

 

[CMT]

I keep extra sponge filter sponges in my canister filter (FX6). The QT does not always run. If I need it, I set it up, open my filter to get a sponge, and I can have a cycled tank up in about 30 mins.

My QT is just a hard plastic container that I fill with 10 gallons of water. Have sponge filters and an extra heater, a few fake plants, no substrate.