Logistics Of Starting My Tank.. Quarantine?

HI all -- I'm planning to get my main 20 gallon long tank started up in a few weeks. It is currently empty (no water). My plan was to use TSS with a fish-in cycle (a couple of danios). But then, I thought about quarantine...

My question is about whether I should be quarantining these fish in my 10 gallon quarantine before introducing them to my main tank? My quarantine has also not been set up yet / is totally empty. If so, should I just do a fish-in cycle in the 10 gallon with the TSS, then use some of that bio-media to start my 20L in 4-6 weeks when the fish have made it through the quarantine period?

Or should I just go YOLO and start off putting the fish in the 20L?

Thanks!

 

Hello Din...

Start by setting up the tank completely with all the pieces, Fill it, plug in everything and add some floating plants from the fish store and let everything run for a few days. This will allow the plants to settle the tank water and the temperature. I wouldn't do anything else for a few days and get back with us then. A fish-in cycle is an established method and one that I'd definitely recommend. If done correctly, your fish will be fine.

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Just keep on top of your water changes and water monitoring, and your fish will be fine

 

Since you do not have any fish in the 20 you can use it as QT for the first fish, you can do a fish-in cycle with a few of the fish you want (hardier ones to start out with), then use the 10 as QT for the following fish you add. Your QT should be at least a month to insure everything is good with the fish (mosto f the time longer than that, mine went 6 weeks in QT to insure they were good).
Keep up on water changes and make sure the fish are okay.

 

Thanks for the help, everyone!

Are live and/or floating plants suggested for a fish in cycle? I hadn’t been planning on having live plants, other than maybe some marimo balls (technically algae I suppose)... Otherwise was planning for all fake silk plants...

 

Thanks for the help, everyone!

Are live and/or floating plants suggested for a fish in cycle? I hadn’t been planning on having live plants, other than maybe some marimo balls (technically algae I suppose)... Otherwise was planning for all fake silk plants...

D...

Floating plants take nutrients in through their leaves and help keep the water cleaner between water changes. However, if you monitor the water chemistry by testing every day during the cycle and remove and replace some of the tank water when needed, you don't really need the plants. The 25 percent water change will get the chemistry back into the safe zone for the fish and still leave some nitrogen to feed and grow the colony of beneficial bacteria.

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