Overstocked?

S

sandy

Guest
Sorry this is long... I'm a newbie.
Diatom... my tank is overstocked? I started with 2 damsels, a whisper filter and and undergravel filter with a powerhead, and the tank cycled. Eight months later one of the damsels died (got up in her fish house (which is no longer in the tank) and died from lack of oxygen. I added 2 small percula clown fishes and a royal gramma. The levels in the tank were normal. I had to give the blue velvet damsel away because he was getting to big and was a bully.
When I added the 20lbs of LR, the fish store said get rid of the undergravel filter because it was an accident waiting to happen. I put two small powerheads at different levels behind the LR to circulate and keep debris from laying in the back. The crushed coral and sand are at about 2" in depth, but not behind the LR. I have a Whisper filter with Fluval Media stones, a Skilter (Protein Skimmer/Dual Filter). I have two Coral Life lamps: 1 50/50 and 1 Full Spectrum Super Daylight.
So what's in the tank: 2 very small yellow-tail damsels, 2 small percula clowns, 1 royal gramma and 1 small (young) purple tang. There are about 4 hermit crabs and 3 snails. There is 23lbs of live rock. (I added two very expensive pieces with a nice algae bed for the snails and to seed the tank).
I've had slight levels of Ammonia and Nitrite because the tank is re-cycling. When I did a 25% water change today -- there was very little extra food debris at the bottom (Hermits doing thier job?. I'm going to re-test tomorrow. I do small water changes all week and 25% on the weekend.
I was told that the Tang will be fine for 6 month to a year before she will need more room. Everyone gets along and there is lots of swimming space.
What do you think?
(I'm looking for a used 50-70 gal tank to set up, I just do not have the money right now. I will give the Tang up if my levels to do go to zero within a few weeks -- It's all about the health of the fish - well, that is what is most important to me).
 
S

sandy

Guest
Okay, I CAN'T get a bigger tank right now. So, should I give the purple tang a new (safe) home immediately? Does anyone else have to go? Too many hermits or snails? (Clowns, Yellow Tail and Royal Gramma Stay!)
 

karlas

Member
give up the tang definitly until u can afford a bigger tank. the other fish should be ok. i had 1 blue gudgeon, 1bangaii cardinal, 2 firefish, 2 green chromises, and a scooter blenny. assorted snails and 2 cleaner shrimp in a 38 with ls and picture rock with 2 whisper pwr filters running and the fish were good the only thing was high nitrates.(moved up to a75 with lr/ls). a 25 % water change threw my tank into a cycle also so i lowered it to a 10% water change/week and it worked out a lot better. i stuck with that with the 75 10% and everything is doing good. when u do a water change u take bacteria out of the tank and thats why your tank cycled again. you probably removed too much bacteria. so try that and let us know what happens ;)
 
D

diatom

Guest
Sandy~
Even without the tang ( not a particularly hardy fish ). IMO your tank is overstocked. Your equipment is just not setup for that kind of bioload. Now you may do alright because you have some fairly hardy fish (with the exception of that tang) but they certainly won't be as happy and healthy as they could be.
I hope you don't feel this is a flame because it isn't...just want you and your fish to be happy...you might check into buying Scott Michaels book...it will give you some good guidelines on proper tank size for each species of fish.
HTH,
D~
 
they say for safe stocking the general rule of thumb is 1" of fish per 5 gallons of water. inverts, i.e., cleaner crews, on the other hand do not apply to this rule, they are considered part of the filtration system.
 
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