They do it for
everything that's going into any display, this includes all invertebrates. My own experience is only with one P.A., and the q/t system for the coral lab consisted of the following:
Three 3,000 gallon circular tubs
Four 100 gallon acrylic tanks (gifts)
Two 180 gallon acrylic tanks
One shop display-type system with the cubes on top of one large (about 80 gallons) tank
Three banks of 10-20 gallon tanks (used mostly by the girl who breeds the sea dragons, but also for the smaller fish) - can't remember how many tanks in each bank, but three rows of four or five tanks, with the 20gals on top. The shelving that comprised the banks is warehouse, metal shelving, adjustable IIRC.
Who gets placed where is determined by a few factors, for instance, frogfish and other animals that CANNOT tolerate copper get placed into the system that is clearly marked "Never Copper!" Small, tasty fish need to go into the smaller cubes, or, if those are full, we reserve one or two of the larger tanks for those fish. LBAOP gets some seriously LARGE fish in to go into q/t, this is what the large tubs are for. Outside in the rear are three or four 10K tubs (swimming pool size, usually sharks and other pelagics go in there). That's completely separate from the coral lab q/t area, though.
Each system has its own filtration, all consisting of wet/dry towers (yep! Good ol' wet/dry) and
very large protein skimmers. When a particular system is getting medicated (most commonly copper) they're turned off.
Water changes are the means by which most everything is controlled during regular quarantine, but as you may have guessed this system is also used for hospital and brood rearing quarters. LBAOP pulls water from offshore, pumps it on-site, and filters. It is then either heated or cooled according to which display area it's feeding. So, you pretty much have fresh, clean saltwater on tap (though protocol insists we let the pipes flush for one minute before using with specimens).
Standard quarantine protocol is 30 days (and this is the really important part a lot of people miss)
disease free. That means that if an animal gets halfway through q/t and comes down with ich (most common), it gets treated, and once shows itself to be disease-free, that counter starts all over again.
If you have space or financial issues, just remember that what is used for quarantine only needs to be chemically inert and watertight. Thusly, Rubbermaid.
(or
even kiddie pools!)
