Bio Load

[pm64971]

I'd just like to do a quick survey to figure out how many inches of fish people have in their tanks. I'm a little disheartened knowing that I should only put 10" of fish in my 50 gallon tank. That means, one butterfly fish and one clown and I'm done. So, I just want to hear what other people are doing. Please respond with the size of your tank, the type and length of each fish you have in the tank and whether or not you are having bioload problems.

Thanks,
a much more discouraged Phil

 

[thorn]

Phil,

That rule of thumb depends on a lot of things... your tank needs to find it's own stasis point... if you add more fish, simply bulk up on the clean up crew as well... adding more rock, more hermits, more snails and more sand sifters (like brittle stars, conchs) will take care of additional bioload. Once you get past cycling and find your groove with your stable tank, feel free to add in more fish... you'll soon notice if you get diatoms or algae blooms due to your increased bioload.

I know there is a lot of debate about the riskiness of cucumbers, but I've kept 3 for over a year in my 29 gallon tank and it's helped a great deal with the bioload.