Fully Stocked Aquarium: a tricky thing to deffine

[hedonic]

I have seen a lot of people post about rules of so many inch's per gallon in the slatwater aquarium. Personally I don't think any such guideline is appropriate for saltwater tanks. I might have just missed the thread when I searched for it, but there does not seem to be a lot of info on how to better describe when your tank is fully stocked.
To me that is the point at which any bio-load addition (in a well maintained tank with acceptable water parameters) causes irreversable or unsually fast nitrate gains or any (in an established aquarium) significant bump in nitrites. Of course there are a large amount of variables (skimmer size, amount of LR/LS, Gallon capacity) but these changes are some what independant of those variables as any persistant problem means something is not right.
So what does fully stocked mean to you? Have you found inch per gallon rules to work? And what is your reasoning? Just thought it would be an interesting discussion.

 

[lion_crazz]

I don't believe in the inch per gallon rule at all.
I judge fully stocked on water level control and crowdedness. I don't like my tanks to look crowded, so if it did, I would say the tank was at least fully stocked, if not over-stocked.

 

[v-lioness]

So what does fully stocked mean to you?
I try to determine my Tank by Size, Filtration, Adult Sizes, Eating Habits, Compatibility and so on. When I stock, I stock for the long run.
Have you found inch per gallon rules to work? And what is your reasoning?
No, there is more to consider than inch per gallon when stocking.
Many times Adult sizes are not considered, sometimes it is not as easy as taking it back to the LFS when it out grows your tank or kills all of it's tank mates.
Compatibility, Space & Territory must be taken into consideration or you can end up with a disaster, it is easier to add a fish, than to remove a fish.
Maturity plays a big role in stocking because a sweet little fish today can end up a nightmare tomorrow.
Filtration, the bigger they get the more waste they can produce and that's when it can catch up to you ... lol
And it just goes on and on from there.....lol
Kaye