55 gallon stocking - how many more fish can I get?

[mctypething]

My 55 gal has been cycled for about 6 weeks now. I initially added 4 angels and two died right away. I soon realized I hadn't done a sufficient PWC to rid the tank of nitrates that accumulated during the cycle. Since then I haven't lost a fish and they all seem to be doing well.

So I currently have 2 angels and 4 corys (two peppered, one albino, one emerald).

I'm think of getting some zebra danios next. Just curious how much more fish I can get. I see some threads where it seem like people have huge amounts of fish in their 55 gals. I definitely don't want to overstock and would rather be a little on the understocked side.

Thanks!

[Floyd R Turbo]

The fish loss could have been due to Nitrate levels, but what was it at?

I have a ton of fish in my tank, it all depends on your specific setup. What kind of filter (brand, model, etc) do you use?

I have a 55 heavily planted with about 43 fish: 6 swordtails, 4 mollies, 6 platies, 5 neons, 2 serpae tetras, 1 rasbora, 1 red eye tetra, 1 leopard & 1 zebra danio, 1 black skirt tetra, 7 2-1/2 month old guppy fry, 5 adult guppies, 1 marigold, a red tail shark, 1 SAE.

Here's my system setup: I run a Marineland C-360 Canister, which is 'suggested' for aquariua up to 100 gallons. I maintain it religiously by cleaning every 3 weeks and replacing the coarse pads every 9 weeks and the fine pad every cleaning. I take the bio-media and put it in treated water and wash all the trays with one of the micro-fiber cloths, then I put it back together swirling the bio-media around a bunch to loosen detritus. I also use Seachem Purigen instead of carbon; since I run a planted tank, carbon takes out the trace minerals. Purigen adsorbs the excess dissolved organics and therefore slows the production of Nitrate. Even with this bio-load on my system, my Nitrates rarely go over 20ppm even right before performing the PWC. I did 30% PWC yesterday and tested today, 15ppm. Once the Purigen starts to run out, the Nitrates start to go up, then you just recharge it. I had my own mishap with that, but it won't happen again now that I know what I'm doing.

So if you have a smaller filter, you may have to go with a smaller bio-load or clean it more often, etc. It's all relative. So tell us what your setup is like as we'll go from there.

[mctypething]

Well, I have reason to think my API nitrate test was flawed. At the end of my fishless cycle, it showed 0 for ammonia and nitrites, and a low amount of nitrates. It seemed odd that my nitrates were so low after a long fishless cycle, but I assumed it was right and didn’t do a PWC before adding fish. I brought a water sample to my LFS and my nitrates were high. That’s neither here nor there though. I haven’t had a fish die since and I do a 40% PWC every week.

I also have a C-360. I have not thoroughly cleaned it yet as I didn’t want to disturb the beneficial bacteria. I’ve only had fish for about 6 weeks, and I’m not counting the cycle time as time the filter was running (for purposes of maintenance), since it was just filtering clean water. I’m going to clean it this week when I do my PWC. I also have a cheap, Aqueon, HOB filter, just to have as a backup. Between the two, I think I’m in great shape for filtration capacity.

Just a few questions on your maintenance of the 360…..Is the “coarse pad” the black pad at the bottom of the canister? Is the “fine pad” the white floss pad at the top? I use the carbon pads, but I don’t have real plants. Also, since the filter is filled with water all the time, do you have to re-fill it with water after cleaning before plugging it back in?

[Floyd R Turbo]

What a coincidence. Yes the black is the coarse pad (bottom) and white is the fine pad (top).

What did the LFS say your Nitrates were at?

"High" is relative. Some consider 20ppm high, others 40-80. Your angels might have died due to something else. If you can, post your Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and pH levels. Also test you tap water pH and let us know what that is also.

Your reading could have been low because you didn't shake the #2 bottle well enough. Shake it like mad for about a minute to get the solid into suspension (if you look at the drops closely, you'll see white particles in it).

A canister filter can quickly become a Nitrate factory if it is not regularly maintained, so it is important to stick to a cleaning schedule.

As for filling it, when you open the shut-off valve to disconnect it, the water stays in the tubes. When you're done cleaning it and hook it back up, when you close the shutoff valve it will fill up on it's own and you'll have to top off the tank with about 3 gallons of water.

[mctypething]

I'm sorry, I didn't meant to re-direct the topic towards the quality of my water. Thankfully, I'm not having an issue there. My tank is cycled and I'm doing 40% PWCs each week, so my nitrates always come up low. I was mainly curious as to how much more room I have for fish.

Thanks for the advice in how to clean the C-360!

[Lynae]

go to wwaqadvisor.com...
its not too bad at helping you figure things out...

[Floyd R Turbo]

Originally Posted by mctypething

I'm sorry, I didn't meant to re-direct the topic towards the quality of my water...I was mainly curious as to how much more room I have for fish.

They go hand in hand, which is why I brought up the cleaning schedule and the purigen, etc. As long as you clean and do PWCs often enough to keep the water at the level of quality required by your fish, you can stock your tank pretty heavily (see my list - that's about max capacity). The minimum rule you should follow is the 1 inch per gallon rule.

[newfound77951]

I also have my 55 pretty heavily stocked. My tank is also heavily planted which helps as the plants act as an additional biological filter.

You can certainly add some zebra danios. I'd say you have room for a couple more school of small fish. Then maybe some interesting fish like loaches or a pleco. It kind of depends what kind of fish you like, too.