Quarantine Checklist for Tank Automation

Fish quarantine and coral quarantine have different goals, equipment, and acceptable ranges. Build distinct controller profiles, dashboards, and alert rules so medication use, light schedules, and flow logic do not overlap or create bad assumptions.

Assign heaters, air pumps, return pumps, powerheads, ATO pumps, UV, and lights to named outlets before livestock arrives. Clear outlet mapping speeds up remote troubleshooting when a heater sticks on or a dosing pump needs to be locked out immediately.

Decide which devices must stay online during controller failure and which should default off. In quarantine, a heater and aeration device often need independent backup power, while lights and dosers should fail to a safe state to prevent overheating or overdosing.

Program realistic ranges such as 78.0-79.0 F, SG 1.025-1.026 for coral QT, pH 7.8-8.3, and ammonia alert thresholds at any detectable level above 0.02 ppm NH3 equivalent if your monitor supports it. Quarantine tanks swing faster than display systems, so narrower monitoring windows help catch drift early.

Avoid overbuilding a quarantine tank with unnecessary gear that creates more failure points than benefits. A controller, temperature monitoring, leak detection, smart lighting schedule, and remote camera usually deliver more value than complex dosing or high-end flow programming in a bare setup.

Write down how to bypass the controller for heat, circulation, and top off if the app, Wi-Fi, or base unit fails. Quarantine emergencies are time-sensitive, and a manual recovery plan prevents livestock loss during network or firmware issues.

Check probe accuracy against a trusted thermometer and correct offsets inside the controller. In a 10-20 gallon quarantine tank, a 1 F error can be the difference between stable treatment conditions and chronic stress.

Use dual sensor logic, such as a primary optical sensor with a mechanical float backup, to reduce overfill risk. Small quarantine tanks can swing salinity rapidly with evaporation, but a stuck ATO can be just as dangerous.

Place leak sensors beneath the tank, ATO reservoir, and any external medication or dosing containers. Temporary quarantine setups are often assembled quickly, and loose tubing or bumped containers are common sources of avoidable spills.

Tracking watt draw helps identify a failed heater, stuck relay, or unusually long heating cycles before temperature visibly crashes. This is especially useful in quarantine rooms or garages where ambient temperature changes fast.

Set sensible delays, such as 2-5 minutes for water level alerts and 10-15 minutes for temperature deviations, so feeding, maintenance, or room drafts do not spam your phone. Alert fatigue causes reefers to ignore notifications right when a real issue happens.

Nighttime pH and temperature patterns can differ, especially in a minimally buffered quarantine setup. Distinct thresholds reduce nuisance alerts while still catching true instability, such as temperature drops below 77.5 F overnight.

A simple Wi-Fi camera lets you verify respiration rate, flashing, feeding response, and whether pumps or airlines are actually running when an alert comes through. Visual confirmation often prevents unnecessary interventions and helps validate automation events.

Use the controller as the primary switch and set the heater's onboard thermostat slightly above the target as a backup limit. This layered approach reduces the chance of a relay failure cooking a quarantine tank.

Medications can reduce oxygen availability or increase fish stress, so use power-state monitoring for air pumps or circulation devices. Program an alert if the aeration outlet loses power unexpectedly, because low dissolved oxygen can become fatal quickly.

Program feed pauses carefully so mechanical or biological filtration is not offline long enough to affect oxygenation or ammonia processing. In quarantine, short pauses of 3-5 minutes are usually safer than display-style extended feed modes.

Most fish QT systems do not need automated alkalinity or calcium dosing, and unnecessary dosers can create risk if heads drift or lines siphon. If coral QT requires dosing, start with conservative schedules and verify consumption manually for several days.

Use gradual intensity increases over 7-14 days, especially when incoming frags have unknown light history. A target of roughly 80-150 PAR works for many soft corals and LPS in coral QT, while stressed SPS may benefit from starting near the lower end before moving higher.

If you run UV on a coral QT or observation-only fish QT, place it on a separately controlled outlet and create a rule that prevents automatic restart during active medication phases. Some treatments and observation protocols require equipment changes that should not be hidden inside old automation routines.

Log daily or weekly top off volume so abnormal changes stand out quickly. A sudden increase can indicate a fan issue, room humidity shift, or sensor placement problem that may destabilize salinity in a small quarantine system.

Even with automation, quarantine tanks need frequent manual verification because ammonia can rise fast in sparse biofiltration setups. Schedule reminders for at least daily checks during the first week and after any medication, heavy feeding, or filter cleaning event.

Use recurring tasks based on the actual treatment plan rather than generic weekly maintenance. This is especially helpful when coordinating copper verification, Praziquantel rounds, or post-dip recovery periods that require predictable water changes.

If your quarantine station relies on small storage containers, low-volume alerts prevent missed top off or incomplete emergency water changes. Running out of prepared water during an ammonia event is one of the most avoidable quarantine failures.

Require confirmation that hoses are reconnected, sensor mounts are aligned, and medication containers are sealed before enabling automation again. Many quarantine mishaps happen right after a manual intervention when a float sensor is bumped or a tube is left out of the tank.

Temporary quarantine systems often show wider pH movement due to low gas exchange stability and smaller water volume. Alert on extreme values, such as sustained pH below 7.8, but do not let the controller chase pH with aggressive additives unless the system is specifically designed for it.

A heavily fed fish QT may clog floss or reduce HOB flow in days, not weeks. Tie reminders to observed flow drop, camera checks, or intake water level changes instead of relying only on fixed intervals.

Compare temperature, SG, and if applicable pH to trusted standalone tools at least once per quarantine run. Automation is only valuable when the data is real, and probe drift is more common in intermittently used systems.

Copper, antibiotics, and coral dips should be logged and verified with dedicated test kits, not inferred from pump runtime alone. Head wear, line air bubbles, and reservoir concentration errors make treatment-by-runtime risky in quarantine.

For each major alert, define the immediate response, such as kill the heater outlet, restart the air pump, pause ATO, or call someone at home to check livestock. Fast, scripted decisions reduce mistakes when you are away and responding from a phone.

Verify that notifications reach you when your home internet is down or when your primary phone is in do-not-disturb mode. A quarantine controller that only alerts under perfect network conditions is not truly protecting livestock.

Unplug the heater, trigger the leak sensor, lift the ATO sensor, and disconnect a pump to confirm each alert and automation rule behaves correctly. Controlled testing exposes bad logic and mislabeled outlets before they matter.

Save the exact alert thresholds, light schedule, maintenance cadence, and treatment timeline used for each fish batch or coral shipment. Reusing a proven automation template shortens setup time and reduces errors in future quarantines.