Fish stocking in a 30 gallon tank

[gvbender1]

Hi, I am new to the saltwater aquarium hobby, but I just think fish are awesome so I decided to give it a try. At the beginning of January I bought a 30 gallon hexagon tank with a 204 Fluval filter. I put in live sand and let the tank run for about 2 weeks. Then I got 4 damsels to help and attempted to cycle it for 4 weeks. There was an initial ammonia spike and then it went to zero about a week after I put in the damsels. After the 4 weeks were up I bought a small perculla clown fish who has been doing fine for the last 6 weeks, and I added a red starfish (do not know the actual name) which has also been doing well. I keep close tabs on my water parameters and after the cycling the ammonia and nitrate have been zero, ph 8.1, and nitrate less than 10.
I am looking to add more fish to the tank now and would like some advice. I know a 30 gallon is considered small for a saltwater tank, what fish and and how many fish could I buy that would give me a healthy cool looking tank. I've heard from different sources that the number of inches of fish is the real issue when stocking a tank, and from others that the number of fish is the issue. Which is it?? Also I am looking into getting a couple of shrimp?? Any suggestions?? also if I get a shrimp will that reduce the quota of fish that would be healthy for this tank. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am quite new at this. Thank you

[ryguy]

Hey, welcome to AA.

good to see everything is still doing well.

I've heard from different sources that the number of inches of fish is the real issue when stocking a tank, and from others that the number of fish is the issue. Which is it??

It's a combo of both in my opinion. On one hand, your system needs to have good filtration to allow your stocking to be maximized to the "inch rule" which is 1" per 5G of water. On the other hand, the aggressiveness and territorial nature of the fish you keep also limits your stocking.

With your tank, being that it's a Hex tank, it has the flaw of being short on surface gas exchange because of the tanks' geometry. Therefore, you shouldn't try to pack as many fish in there cause oxygen may be limited, and CO2 may be high.