Bio-Load Questions

[bksterling]

I have a 120 gallon Reef Ready tank with 120lbs LR with pretty much
all of the gear.
(Sump, Protein Skimmer, UV, 2 Heaters, 2 Powerheads, Mag12, etc.)

I am curing an additional 25lbs live rock right now.

I currently have in the tank:
Yellow tank (2")
2 yellow tail blue damsels (1" each)
Blonde Naso Tank (5')
Volitan Lion (4 to 5")
Majestic Angel (5")
Blood Hawk (1.5")
Longnose Hawk (1.5")
Baby Annularis Angel (1.5")
Sargussum Trigger (5")
Blue Dot Puffer (2")
Red Coris Wrasse (5")
Maroon Clown (3")

Also: 1 Snowflake Eel
1 African Star
1 Bubble Anenome
2 Hermit Crabs

Right now my levels seem fine and I am doing frequent
water changes.. but am I really over doing it???

I dont plan on adding anything else, but do I need to remove anything?
I was going to remove the longnose and damsels, but cant catch them!
Would also remove the Red Hawk, but same problem.

Any thoughts?

 

[quarryshark]

You are pretty highly stocked there, IMO problems will come down the road.
The basic question is do you want an aggressive tank, or a semi aggressive tank?
You have a mix of both here.
First, the lion will eventually eat your damsels.
Second the triggers will do in your inverts.
As these fish grow (and you have some that will get big) territory issues will come into play and fighting will ensue, nit to mention water quality issues.
I guess the question is, what kind of tank do you want?

 

[bksterling]

Aggressive Fish

Actually I would remove the damsels if I could. I realize that
eventually the Lion might eat them but I cant catch them or
the Longnose. I would even remove the other Hawk as he is on
the smaller side as well.
The trigger I have is extremely passive. I chose this type over
some of the more popular/common ones as they tend to get along
better with inverts and I like the Starfish.

If I am successful in removing the 2 damsels and 2 hawkfish. Is this a
workable number of fish?

 

[EJS4]

Have you tried waiting until after dark and the fish are settled down? Use a flashlight to find the fish not the room light.
I think you still will have too many fish in the tank. Go to www.liveaquaria.com they list the size you can expect your fish to reach. Use those lengths not current lengths when you calculate (1 inch per 3 gallons, except the eel)

 

[quarryshark]

Go to www.liveaquaria.com they list the size you can expect your fish to reach.

Its a great site, but they underestimate everything. They want to sell fish.
I still think you need to pick a general theme for your tank. Moving the smallest fish is not going to settle this system in for the long run IMO.

 

[lando]

I agree that you are pretty heavily stocked. the best way to determine if you are overloading your biofilter is to turn to your water parameters. You say they are "fine" but only with frequent water changes. This is a sign that you have too high of a bioload. You have some pretty messy eaters there. What are your current water parameters? How often are you doing water changes? the addition of the 25lbs of LR may help a bit but your really need 180-240lbs total for the best biolocial filtration. Compatability is another issue. I would expect problems as time goes on. As Quarryhark mentioned, decide what type of tank you want. I sould seriously consider reducing the livestock list by at least four of the bigger fish. good luck...Lando