1 " per 5 gal rule.
- Thread starter ddt
- Start date
ophiura
Active Member
Well, this is a good starting point. Most people keeping LR/LS systems will not really approach this, and stock very lightly on the fish because they are the biggest waste producers.
It varies a lot. First, you want to account for the amount of LR in the system. If you have a 55g say, with 55lbs of LR, you don't really have 55g of water. I suspect you can include the amount of water in a sump, roughly, but, unless you have a very large sump, it might not make a huge difference with large fish and overcrowding...it only comes into play with 'dilution' of waste.
It depends on the type of fish you are keeping, and the amount of waste they produce (keep in mind also that all living things in the tank produce waste, fish or not).
I would be far more conservative that 1" per 5 g if keeping large predatory (and messy) fish, for example.
If keeping small fish that may not be fed a lot and won't produce a lot of waste, it can probably be exceeded a bit...but here other factors can come to play, eg, a lot of small fish are still pains in the rear. Their attitude (and territory) takes up the space more so than the waste they produce. Here, counting in the sump volume would be misleading. The fish simply won't like their close quarters.
Also keep in mind that you want to total your fish length based on the adult size of the fish, not the cute little bitty one's you are sold at the LFS.
So, there are a lot of factors involved. The limits will be your biological filter and the personalities of your fish. Both of these result in a lot of stress, and can cause fish death, regardless of whether you 'violated' this 'rule' of 1" per 5 g.
It is not really a cast in stone law, but moreso a rough idea for a starting point (or maximum length) calculation. In reality, it may not really work all that well, but it gets people thinking along the right track, IMO.
It varies a lot. First, you want to account for the amount of LR in the system. If you have a 55g say, with 55lbs of LR, you don't really have 55g of water. I suspect you can include the amount of water in a sump, roughly, but, unless you have a very large sump, it might not make a huge difference with large fish and overcrowding...it only comes into play with 'dilution' of waste.
It depends on the type of fish you are keeping, and the amount of waste they produce (keep in mind also that all living things in the tank produce waste, fish or not).
I would be far more conservative that 1" per 5 g if keeping large predatory (and messy) fish, for example.
If keeping small fish that may not be fed a lot and won't produce a lot of waste, it can probably be exceeded a bit...but here other factors can come to play, eg, a lot of small fish are still pains in the rear. Their attitude (and territory) takes up the space more so than the waste they produce. Here, counting in the sump volume would be misleading. The fish simply won't like their close quarters.
Also keep in mind that you want to total your fish length based on the adult size of the fish, not the cute little bitty one's you are sold at the LFS.
So, there are a lot of factors involved. The limits will be your biological filter and the personalities of your fish. Both of these result in a lot of stress, and can cause fish death, regardless of whether you 'violated' this 'rule' of 1" per 5 g.
It is not really a cast in stone law, but moreso a rough idea for a starting point (or maximum length) calculation. In reality, it may not really work all that well, but it gets people thinking along the right track, IMO.