Aeration in QT tank

[Majsa]

Hi all,

Recovering from a disaster with new fish (I had a thread on this a couple of weeks ago), I am in the process of setting up a quarantine/hospital/spare tank. Actually I am not sure if a QT tank is the way to go but I didn't like the trouble with the main tank either. I am not in a hurry to get new fish, around new year the earliest.

The QT is a 50x30x30 cm (45L) open top, bare bottom glass tank with a Dennerle corner filter XL (150l/h, with some mature media) and a heater. I am planning to add a piece of wood with anubias and moss and small terracotta pots with gravel and plants (if that'll work out 🙂), but the lighting is really low so I am not sure if the plants will survive that long.

Now I'm not that into non-/sparsely planted tanks so I don't know what's the deal with oxygen when there is no photosynthesis. I wonder if a slight surface ripple from the filter (spray bar sitting just on the water level) is enough for aeration in such a setup? The tank sits in our bedroom so I would like to avoid my noisy Tetratec air pump or any other "splashy" solutions, if possible. How to optimise the oxygen levels while keeping it quiet? Additional water changes? Maybe I am overthinking this but any advice is welcome as I don't want to test things out with livestock.

 

[ceg4048]

Hello,
Yes you are overthinking this. You should be careful when assess your light levels. What many people think is too low light is actually adequate light. You can easily use moss, anubias and ferns as these are low light plants. All of these can be tied/glued to rocks, wood or hardscape such as terracota and can be grown successfully is low light, but again, we really do not know what type of light you have unless you specifiy brand or model.

With these types of plants, generally, if you can see the light when you turn it on then this is enough to grow these plants so I hardly think this is an issue.

A spraybar can be used very near the surface and can provide any strength of ripple depending on how far you angle the holes upwards.

Whichever plants you add then add LOTS of them and this will be a good and healthy tank for your purposes.

Cheers,

 

[tam]

My 'quarantine' tank has ended up with gravel, some wood, plant off cuts and floating plants. I figure I could chuck/wash stuff if I ever really had to, but the fish will be more relaxed whilst in there than a bare tank.... and it looks better. Got some Otos chilling out in there at the moment.

Floating plants with longish roots might be worth considering. They'd provide cover to help them relax, but don't require substrate and are cheap and multiply fast so not a big upset to oust if anything goes wrong and you want to sterilise.

 

[Majsa]

Thanks ceg and tam! Today I tied some anubias, moss and fern on a piece of wood, and planted some crypto wendtii in small pots filled with gravel. I am planning to keep the tank bare bottomed at the moment to make things easier, the plan is to keep it a temporary tank but I'm sure I'll have hard time putting it away...Floating plants are a good idea, I thought they need a lot of light but I see now that according to Tropica Limnobium laevigatum and Salvinia manage with lower light.
About the lighting, the lamp I have now is a very small 0,6W LED clip lamp (Superfish Nano LED for max. 5L), just to be able to observe the fish, I'm sure that can be considered low light. BUT there is also quite some natural light in the room during the day, so what I understand from ceg I guess it's enough.

 

[ceg4048]

If you can see light in your tank it's enough to grow many plants, including Anubias, ferns and moss.

Cheers,