how can you tell when a tank is overstocked

[rayraypico]

I have noticed that most people with a nice coral reef have very few fish in the tank. Now i do want to go the same rout as those people and add a bunch of nice pieces of coral to my tank.
But for god's sake it is a FISH TANK. therefore i want to add fish to it.
1 how can you tell when your tank is overstocked
2 what is the reasoning behind not adding to many fish to your coral setup. (my guess is to keep down on the phospates and make your tank more stable, but i want to know what you guys with the big beautiful reef's have to say about this)
3 look at what i have in my tank what should be the limit of fish i put in. keep in mind that i plan to start adding the coral soon just waiting to make sure my phospates stay low and i maintain my calcium level

 

[dfishh]

u could deffintly add sum more fish, and ur rite about how reefs have less fish. im not exactly clear on y though, hopefully sumone very experienced will chime in. u can tell when your tank is overstocked when ur water qualitly starts to drop, mostly nitrates will go up. 100 gallon tank can handle quite a load, but just dont push it.
DAVE

 

[plum70rt]

I have a bunch of fish, you have to add them slowly to build up your bio load, Monitor your nitrates , more fish , more food , more waste,need to get rid of more waste,I see you have a manderin you have alot of pods to keep him alive?

 

[rayraypico]

the mandarin seems to be doing good i have had him for about 3 weeks. if i did not have enough pods how would i go about getting more or is this something that just occurs naturally.
are pods those little white looking insects that you see when you look at your lr real close

 

[plum70rt]

yes , how old is your tank? you get them after a while,you should have plenty with 150lbs of live rock

 

[rayraypico]

my tank is about 4 months old.
i have seen those little pods from time to time when is the best time to look for them are they nocturnal?

 

[plum70rt]

IMO I would of waited on the manderin, does he seem fat?

 

[rayraypico]

not fat but he does seem healthy
is their anyway to stimulate the growth of pods

 

[plum70rt]

there are many claims, time seems to work best , just keep the water quality up

 

[leigh]

if you add a refugium that'll help a lot with pod growth.

 

[cadbury]

From what I know, fish will add a bio-load to the aquarium in which will increase your nitrates, corals are very delicate and need excellant water conditions. Thats why the amount of fish may be a factor, but with proper monitoring and not over stocking you can create a happy medium.