Bioload for a 12g

[pat8you]

I currently have 2x ocellaris clowns and two ricordia mushrooms. i plan on putting more corals in there but i'm not quite sure how much they effect the biooad. For a list of the corals i'm thinking about you can see my other post.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums...ad.php?t=99925

I was wondering how many more fish i could put in there. I was thinking 1 but two would be nice. I was looking at putting in one of these which works out well cuz he is such a little guy.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...fm?pCatId=1441

let me know what you think.

[lando]

Keep in mind that "bioload" is simply the ability of your tank to process the waste produced by livestock. At this point in time, if NH3 and NO2 have been cosistantly zero and NO3 is low your tank's biofiltration is processing the bioload just fine. You may be able to squeeze one more small fish in but that would be max. There is just not enough realeastate in there to house too many fish (more stocking related then bioload related).

As for corals, most do not contribute directly to the bioload of a tank. Some corals can indirectly contribute due to special dietary needs (filter-feeders for example). The list you are considering should be just fine. They will tend to grab food from the water colume at feeding time.

The yellow clown goby is a great nano fish and one of my favorites. However, they are very timid and can often times be "bullied" out of food by more active tank-mates. You can give it a shot, just make sure it gets some food at feeding time.

[JLatsko]

I gotta 12 gallon eclipse with a surface skimmer attachment and a powerehead, with 20 lbs live rock, 2 inches live sand, with 1 clarki, 1 blue damsel, 1 yellow damsel, 1 blenny, 3 feather dusters, 8 mushrooms,20 polyps, 1 coral banded shrimp, 1 hermit crab, and bio load is just fine. everythings zero, except nitrates at 10, but i do water changes of 5 gallons every 2 weeks. my calcium is at aboutr a 1000 though for corals and ph is 8.4. also rmoved lid, and have a 20 inch 65 watt corlife 50/50.

[Kurt_Nelson]

You may be getting away with it, but I wouldn't recommend to newcomers (or experienced folks for that matter) that they put 4 fish in a 12g. Especially when two of them are damsels. How old is your tank?

Also... I'm assuming your calcium number was a typo. With a pH of 8.4, I'm pretty sure you couldn't physically get 1000 ppm of Calcium in your water.

[JLatsko]

nope calcium is right and ph .had the tank for about a year now
some polyps i bought, some grew naturally. each damsel is about a inch wich been in for about 3 months any the clarki is 2 1/2inches, the goby is about 1 1/2. used buffer in the begining. have so alot of live rock in there controlling evrything. probally over 20 lb.s will post pics.

[tawolcott]

Wow.. 20 pounds of rock in a 12g. That's gotta put you in the 8-9 gallon range for actual water after the displacement. Ouchie-wawa

[pat8you]

I ended up trying to put a yellowhead jawfish in there but oddly enough one of my clownfish beat him up and stressed him out so much that he died in a day of being in the tank. was kinda sad. but for now i'm just keeping the two clowns in the tank to help keep the nitrates from rising to fast. I'm considering building a sump/fuge over the summer and then i might put more fish in if that happens.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by JLatsko

nope calcium is right and ph

You have a bad test kit, or are doing the test wrong then. You can not have 1000ppm calcium in a SW tank and still have anything living in it. Here's a couple good articles...

Calcium and Alkalinity by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Chemistry and the Aquarium

[austinsdad]

Yeah. There is something wrong with that reading. Folks would love to get 450, die for anything near 500 I'm sure. 1000 is insane.

[JLatsko]

yeah calcium is at 600 now tested again a few days ago.got the master reef kit.gotta add drops one by one until solution turns purple.just gotta nice rock with daisies