Stocking Level?

[Gourami_Girl]

I have had my tank for almost a year this month. It has been pretty stable, but in the last 3 months I have had brown algae growing, can't get rid of it. I read that means too little light, but I had decreased my light because I read fish should have only 10 hours a day. I also read this means there is not enough oxygen but with two filters plus two bubblers I think there should be enough.

So, I decided to get brown algae eaters, four Oto Affinis. I wanted zebras because of stocking level/max size but could not find any. Also get one twinbar platy cause it was cute and didn't add that much more to levels.

So, I had
2 platties
2 pepper corys
4 cherry barbs and
1 dwarf gourami

and now have the additional fish. Aqadvisor says I am now at 107% stocking level, do you agree?

I change water/power vacuum every two weeks, I expect I will have to do weekly now. I have a Penguin 150 (30 gal) and a Marineland 50 gal filter, both in my 20 gal tank so i think filtration is ok.

Before new fish:

Nitrate- 10ppm
Nitrite-0
GH- 75ppm
Chlorine- 0
KH- 40ppm
PH- 6.8ppm

So, what do you think? Ok?

 

[Gourami_Girl]

Wrong Class

Now that I have the little buggers home, I checked them and have reclassified them as otocinclus vittatus, not o. affinus. Still same percentage tho 107%, no replies so far? Disappointed, 50 views but no advice.

http://www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor....AqSpeciesWindowSize=short&AqSearchMode=simple

 

[Mebbid]

Now that I have the little buggers home, I checked them and have reclassified them as otocinclus vittatus, not o. affinus. Still same percentage tho 107%, no replies so far? Disappointed, 50 views but no advice.

It takes a bit to get a response sometimes. Definitely not worth being disappointed about since that means people aren't giving you misleading information if they don't fully understand whats going on.

I have had my tank for almost a year this month. It has been pretty stable, but in the last 3 months I have had brown algae growing, can't get rid of it. I read that means too little light, but I had decreased my light because I read fish should have only 10 hours a day. I also read this means there is not enough oxygen but with two filters plus two bubblers I think there should be enough.

So, I decided to get brown algae eaters, four Oto Affinis. I wanted zebras because of stocking level/max size but could not find any. Also get one twinbar platy cause it was cute and didn't add that much more to levels.

So, I had
2 platties
2 pepper corys
4 cherry barbs and
1 dwarf gourami

and now have the additional fish. Aqadvisor says I am now at 107% stocking level, do you agree?

I change water/power vacuum every two weeks, I expect I will have to do weekly now. I have a Penguin 150 (30 gal) and a Marineland 50 gal filter, both in my 20 gal tank so i think filtration is ok.

Before new fish:

Nitrate- 10ppm
Nitrite-0
GH- 75ppm
Chlorine- 0
KH- 40ppm
PH- 6.8ppm

So, what do you think? Ok?

There are a few different things I want to touch on here:

1. Diatoms - The diatoms feed off of excess sililcates in the water supply. Excessive light and nutrients will help spur them on. Are you using well water? That's often the only place you will find enough silicates to make diatoms be a problem.

2. Light - 10 hours a day is the absolute maximum you should be running your lights. 8 is better and 6 hours daily is best when dealing with an algae issue. I would cut the lights back to 6 hours daily until the problem goes away. Use a timer just to make sure.

3. Oxygen - Your fish aren't going to suffocate just because the lights are off. You don't really need the bubblers at all. The water movement from the filter alone should be more than enough to oxygenate the water for your fish.

4. Test strips - With the readings you are giving I am assuming you are using the test strips rather than the liquid test kit. I would highly suggest buying an API master test kit as they are far more accurate than the strips.

5. Water changes - Generally, the recommended amount of water changes is 50% weekly for the healthiest tank.

6. Stocking - On to stocking. The cherry barbs really need a larger tank as a 30g is the minimum recommended tank size for them. Imho I would rehome them or return them to a store. In their place I would increase the cory cat school to 5 minimum and add probably another 2 platies. The cory cats feel more comfortable and will be happier when there are more of them around. Those added fish should finish off the stocking of your tank.

 

[Gourami_Girl]

Thanks for the info.
1. Diatoms - Are you using well water?
No, I am not, it's tap water from the city treated with Prime.

2. Light - 10 hours a day is the absolute maximum you should be running your lights. 8 is better.
That is doable I can cut it to 6 but now worry, don't my otos need the algae? I will see if they eat the algae wafers and shrimp pellets, I have only seen them eat the algae so far. I would rather get rid of the algae.

3. Oxygen - You don't really need the bubblers at all.
Ok, but they are pretty and if they do no harm, I prefer to keep them.

4. Test strips - I would highly suggest buying an API master test kit as they are far more accurate than the strips.
Something to consider. Thought about the master before, I had an API ph tester but the vial broke and I stuck with the strips.

5. Water changes - Generally, the recommended amount of water changes is 50% weekly for the healthiest tank.
I will try this, I think I have to now anyway.

6. Stocking - On to stocking. The cherry barbs need a larger tank, 30g. In their place I would increase the cory cat school to 5 minimum and add probably another 2 platies. The cory cats feel more comfortable and will be happier when there are more of them around. Those added fish should finish off the stocking of your tank.

I am disappointed to hear that about barbs, other sites said ok for 20g. I have had them the whole year and they move around well except for one shy one that only comes out to feed. I had 4 corys that used to stay in pairs, separately, 2 died and the last 2 still hang together. I do not want to get rid of the barbs now so I will consider your advice once they are gone. I was going to anyway since I like having the platys more due to color variations.

Thank you for all of your advice. I feel more confident now that my tank is not overstocked since you would have replaced 4 barbs with 2 platys and 3 corys.

I have been reading up on Otos, should I get a small chunk of driftwood? What about the ph change (lower) in so small a tank?