am i overstocking???

alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
ok so heres my tank. it is a 29 gallon bowfront. i have about 25 lbs of live rock and...
1 occelaris clown
1 ytb damsel
1 shrimpgoby
1 pajama cardinal
1 curly cue anemone
random miscellaneous snails, hermits, conch, featherduster, hitchhiker shroom polyps, etc.
i am running a mechanical/ biological /chemical (when i have the $$$ for carbon sheets) filter made for 30 gallon tanks, an aqua-c remora skimmer for up to 75 gallon tanks, and i have two powerheads circulating the water.
my parameters are-
trites- 0
trates- 30
ammo- 0
p.h.- 8.4
my water is crystal clear and all of my fish are very healthy and all have been in the tank since last november and they have reached their adult sizes. none of the fish are aggressive except the damsel is slightly territorial. however, my tank looks very empty an i was wondering if it woulld be too much to add another occelaris clown and maybe 2 more small, bright colored, lively fish???
thank you for your advice!!!
EDIT// i just thought id throw in that the tank has been set up for more than 3 1/2 years, i bought it from a guy who was moving out of state and couldnt take it with him. water, about 7lbs of live rock, etc.
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
also i lost the booklet for my test kit. i was wondering if my nitrates are too high? thanks!!!
 
oceansidefish

oceansidefish

Active Member
I would not add more than one more fish... How often are you doing water changes and how much? You might be overfeeding as well... If you get another clown now you may have problems unless yours is still a juvie
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
i do water changes 2 gallons once a week and top off with r/o every day. i feed at 3.30 pm and i actually thing i may be feeding too little because they always seem humgry afterwards. i have to say though, im not sure how accurate my test kit is, and the resulsts are hard to tell. at some point next week i am going to my LFS to buy salt i will have them test it.
 
clay12340

clay12340

Member
I'd say 4 fish is probably about as much or more than you want to go in a 29. For the nitrates 30 is definitely too high. 0 is optimal and anything over 15 is a concern to most corals.
If you are skimming and doing weekly water changes, but you still have 30 nitrates it isn't a good sign. Have the LFS test the water. If they get 30 nitrates as well, then you either need to remove a fish or add some form of nitrate export or lessen the nutrients going into the system.
Fish are always hungry. Nature doesn't feed them everyday at 3:30pm, so they've evolved to always eat when it is available. Begging you for food is just easier than hunting :p How much and what are you feeding?
 
nietzsche

nietzsche

Active Member
the damsel will be great if its the last fish you put into the tank, especially once everyone else has claimed their territory. this guy will be vicious and a pain to get out if its not the last one added. beautiful fish though. try to find out why your nitrates are at 30, 20 is ok, 10 would be better. 30 isnt high though. i would really wait on the anemone until your tank is established and you learn more. just realize that its going to have to be fed and itll sting corals near by. you could add another fish though, but just take it slowly.
edit: my bad i thought i saw shrimp. the 4 you listed should be enough. just really think about what kind of fish you want-- colors, activity, size, etc.
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
i feed either half of a cube of frozen mysis or a pinch of tetracolor granules each day. the food is always gone within 1.5 minutes. the damsel was the second fish in the tank, and since then i have added 3 other fish with no problem (one was a lawnmower blenny that i no longer have, however i have never had more than 4 fish in the tank at one time) if i think the damsel was giving anyone a problem i would move it to a seperate tank for a week. i am going to retest today, because when i did my last test alot of sand had been getting churned up and i had scrubbed my rocks (not in the tank but the water did get a little cloudy) (could someting like this raise my nitrates?) and if i get the same results ill have my lfs test it. because really other than the recent stir up in the tank i dont know why my nitrates would be that high either.
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
Originally Posted by nietzsche
i would really wait on the anemone until your tank is established and you learn more. just realize that its going to have to be fed and itll sting corals near by. you could add another fish though, but just take it slow.
the anemone came on a piece of live rock i bought before i had any fish. the lfs gave it to me for free because its ugly and the guy hated his manager. i have had the annemone since january and it has been thriving ever since. once a week i feed it chunks of mysis and whenever i feed the fish it grabs food in the water. currently the only corals i have is one mushroom polyp and apart from maybe a couple more shrooms, i dont plan on getting too much into corals, because i dont have the money for them, metal halides, etc.
im sorry, i dont want to sound arrogant or like i have an answer to everything. i really appreciate everyones advice, but i am going to chip in with my own experiences, because no two tanks are alike. i have learned sooo much from saltwaterfish.com and other sites, and i one reason i love this hobby is that there is always someone that is willing to help you out and glad to share their experience.

thanks!
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
because when i did my last test alot of sand had been getting churned up and i had scrubbed my rocks (not in the tank but the water did get a little cloudy) (could someting like this raise my nitrates?)
although it occurred to me that if this is what happened wouldnt it have raised my ammonia too?
anyways, i resested. my kit is hard to read because its one of the ones where you drip the chemicals in the vial and then match up the colors. anyways id say its somewhere around 16-20, because its not as light as a 10... do they have dipsticks for trates? i think ima buy some of those.

anyways, is this ok? should i increase my water changes to bring it down any more? also, i know fish can go longer than a week without food... should i feed even less (every 3 days-ish)?
 
clay12340

clay12340

Member
Maybe try straining the juice out of the mysis before feeding it. I personally wouldn't cut down on the number of times you feed your fish. They can go a long time without eating, but very few fish actually do this in the wild on a regular basis.
Stirring up your sand will often cause a nitrate spike. It lets all the trapped organics in the sand out into the water column. Your water changes and rock should eliminate that in a little time.
The dip type tests are usually even less accurate than the cheaper chemical drip ones and you still have the problem of matching two colors to determine a value. I like them for ease of use on established tanks, but if I want a good reading I use something else.
 
nietzsche

nietzsche

Active Member
ah i read everything wrong and read through everything too fast. yeah those things are ugly lol. 16-20 is acceptable for nitrates. if you really want to lower them you could get something like phosguard for it.
 
oceansidefish

oceansidefish

Active Member
You may want to change a little more than 2 gallons every week... I change about 2.5-3 gallons everyweek in my 24g... You are definately not overfeeding them. Also defrost the mysis in some tank water first and then strain through a paper towel before you feed. This elminates any liquid protein causing you trates to be high
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
Originally Posted by Oceansidefish
You may want to change a little more than 2 gallons every week... I change about 2.5-3 gallons everyweek in my 24g... You are definately not overfeeding them. Also defrost the mysis in some tank water first and then strain through a paper towel before you feed. This elminates any liquid protein causing you trates to be high
thank you, ive been doing this, and i did a 3 gallon water change yesterday, and i just checked my nitrates! woohoo! 10(ish)ppm!
 
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