medication problems

[alan]

as you say i have not yet set up the quarentine tank,but will be doing
so over the next week,but if i treat them in the tank and keep the
skimmer on will it not remove the medication i have put in.
i am a newcomer to the hobby and any advice is much appreciated.

[Billy]

"alan" > wrote in message
om...
| as you say i have not yet set up the quarentine tank,but will be
doing
| so over the next week,but if i treat them in the tank and keep the
| skimmer on will it not remove the medication i have put in.
| i am a newcomer to the hobby and any advice is much appreciated.

Yes, the skimmer will remove some medications from the water, but
since your skimmer is tied into your entire filtration system, you've
got no choice. As long as the tank isn't too big (reef 500 supports
up to 125 gallon tank, reportedly) go ahead and begin treating.
Remove any carbon from your system, and, I just realized, you may be
able to "plug up" the air intake for the skimmer. Immerse it, stuff
something in it...The rest of the system will continue to operate,
but the skimmer will stop skimming. Be sure you don't have any
inverts or other critters like mandarins that are sensetive to
medications. Getting that q-tank up is a must. Buy a cheap sponge
filter (mine was 3 dollars) and run it in your established tank for a
few days...you can even use some water from your established tank to
get the q-tank started. Don't forget to run your main tank temp up to
82 or so. It will accelerate the ich life cycle, and coupled with
meds your problems should be over soon.

billy