Different Advice For Stocking Levels

stefday

Fish Crazy
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
359
Reaction score
0
Hi,

I am new to marine keeping having only starting the hobby in March this year. What I find very anoying and frustrating is the different advice you get from LFS about stocking levels. Having had very bad advice and experiencing a comeplete crash(killing everything) it leaves you very unsure about stocking levels.

Is there way of increasing the stocking levels of the livestock without stressing the fish? I have been told that additional cannister filters/sumps etc can increase this but unsure as to why/how this works.

There is always an urge for just one more fish but I would never knowingly risk any harm to any livestock.

Out of interest I currently have a Red Sea Max 250 with a seperate Aqua 1 2450 UV cannister filter. My parameters are fairly constant at Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0-20 calcium 440 magnesium 1400 strontium 10 phosphate 0 amonia 0 pH 8.1-8.3 kh 10 and salinity 1.025.

I currently have an algae blenny, 2 dwarf angels, 2 fairy wrasse, a peacock wrasse, a royal gramma, a yellow tang and 5 carribean basslets.

I have had advice ranging from not adding any more fish other than gobies that count as CUC to could add up to 5 more.

What do people think? Look forward to hearing opinions.

Look forward
 
That tank seems really full to me. And I definitely wouldn't consider gobies as part of the clean up crew in that aspect. Yes, they help clean, but they still produce a lot of waste and therefore contributing a good portion to the bio-load.
That being said,I would not personally add anymore fish to that tank.

The only way (in my opinion) that you can stretch your stock safely is by adding a sump/refugium.
 
That tank seems really full to me. And I definitely wouldn't consider gobies as part of the clean up crew in that aspect. Yes, they help clean, but they still produce a lot of waste and therefore contributing a good portion to the bio-load.
That being said,I would not personally add anymore fish to that tank.

The only way (in my opinion) that you can stretch your stock safely is by adding a sump/refugium.

100% agree with Nemo - and what dip stick told you that gobies don't count, oh lordy!!

adding a sump works by increasing the water mass so, 250 liters in your tank add a sump of say 180 litres and you now have a water = 430 litres

Seffie x
 
Thanks.

Having watched a tank full of fish die from inexperience/reliance on so called experts I have no intention of adding any more fish.

Sorry to be dumb but how does adding a sump increase the capacity? Does the capacity of the tak determine what can comfortably be housed there?

This is an area of marine keeping that is very interesting to me as I assume there are many different therories.

I would like to add a sump but do not want to drill the tank so that is why I added the filter/UV.
 
Thanks.

Having watched a tank full of fish die from inexperience/reliance on so called experts I have no intention of adding any more fish.

Sorry to be dumb but how does adding a sump increase the capacity? Does the capacity of the tak determine what can comfortably be housed there?

This is an area of marine keeping that is very interesting to me as I assume there are many different therories.

I would like to add a sump but do not want to drill the tank so that is why I added the filter/UV.

Seffie explained a bit above about how a sump helps. It adds more water volume. More water volume = less toxins because they get diluted. Now,of course, this doesn't fix the problem of actually physically running out of room in the tank. A sump just allows you to stretch your stock a little more and not have to worry about nitrates going through the roof, it doesn't fix a crowding problem.

I believe that even with a sump, your system would still be quite flow but it would certainly help still. You don't need to drill your tank for a sump, it's just more convenient. Instead, use an overflow box.
Water just naturally flows into the box, is syphoned into a the back compartment and goes through a pipe leading into the sump. A Pump brings the water back up into the tank.

Ex:
EshoppsOverflowBox.jpg


What if the power goes out? Pump turns off, water levels drops and excess water goes into the sump until the water level in the main tank falls low enough where the water can't go into the overflow anymore. The siphon stays in tact. Power starts back up, all is well. Just make sure there's enough room in the sump to compensate for the incoming water from the main tank (therefore if it's a 180 sump, you don't fill the whole 180L with water...).

Stocking can definitely be controversial. You can't put a rule on it. After a while, you just know what an appropriate amount is.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Out of interest how do you calculate what/how many fish can comfortably be kept in a tank? I have a 250 litre tank with a 25 litre external filter.

What size overflow box would you recommend?

Thanks for any advice.
 
a good way to see if you are over stocked is to go by 5 cm of fish per 20L
 

Most reactions

Back
Top