Overcrowded?

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macman7010

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Nov 15, 2004
Messages
833
Location
MD
Hey,

I was considering adding a Lemon Peel Dwarf Angel to my Reef tank but wondered if you guys thought I would be overcrowding it with Bio-Load and fish types. Here is a breakdown of how it is now

50 Gallon Reef

1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Two Spot Sand Sifting Goby
3 Pajama Cardinalfish
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Yellow Basslet
1 Royal Gramma
1 Maroon Clownfish
2 Green Chromis
1 Bi-Color Blenny
1 Purple Firefish
1 Mandarin Fish

Various Shrimp and Crabs

Various Corals

Various Other creatures

Filtration:

Pro Clear Aquatics Wet/Dry Filter w/ Sump and Skimmer
CPR Bak Pak Skimmer
Ehiem Pro II Canister
Aqua Clear 500 Modified Refugium
50 pds Live Rock
DSB

any ideas regarding adding a Lemon Peel?
 
I think you're already past overstocking and shouldn't add anymore IMO. How's your nitrates? 20ish, I'll bet. If I'm wrong, you must be doing something incredibly correct.
 
Nope Ray - no nitrates at all, my guess is running two skimmers and doing weekly water changes of 15% are the way to go. I do agree that I am overstocked though I read about people with reef tanks and lots of fish. The old school of thought was that in reef tanks you should have little to no fish but it seems with all the filtration methods avaliable it can be possible to have your cake and eat it to. Though I think after some research I am gonna skip the Angel mainly since I read it may nip at Brain Corals and Mantles - and that is no good.

I keep a ten gallon tank running under my UV sterilozer shelf at all times with water for water changes. Using the pump from the sump I take about 10 gallons out weekly then hit the pump on the ten gallon which is connected by vinyl tubing to the 50 gallon reef and refill it. The water is run through with the main tanks' water weekly so not only does it make the amount of water greater to balance salinity - it makes water changes a snap.

Now if only I could build a robot to clean my powerheads and filters!
 
Besides from the stocking issue, a Lemonpeel is going to be a terror in your reef tank. About a year ago, I added this angel to my 50 gal and I quickly learned it was a big mistake. Not only did this fish CONSTANTLY nip at my corals, it also would harass my snails, shrimp, and starfish. I ended up returning it to the store. However, maybe other people have had different experiences. Just a heads up, HTH.
 
Now if only I could build a robot to clean my powerheads and filters!
... and change water, and top off water, and clean the front glass :roll:.

You build it and we will come.

That's awesome on your trate readings.
 
Hopefully not, the tank has been set up for a while and actually at one time had a higher bio load than it does now. I kept a purple tang for some time - not a good idea - but I have a good friend who owns a large fish retail store so it had a place to go. Anyhow I keep an eye of my levels and my exact nitrate reads at .1 ppm which is barely detectable and my P04 reading came out at .1 ppm which is very low also.

My assumption is many of the nitrates are utilized in the refuge. To me it seems odd the reef keepers fear overstocking so when the reef enviroment in nature is generally very over crowded. Given that currents and other natural works clean the water to perfection it is still possible to garnish good qualtiy with advanced filtration and regular water changes.
 
IMO if you system is doing well, I would leave it be. Adding another decent size fish might tilt it in the wrong direction. You are without a doubt pushing it.
Just my 2 cents.
 
I think the tank is overstocked. Even if nitrates are 0ppm, that doesn't mean the fish have ample room to swim about, or grow properly.
I definitely would not add another fish...probably not even another hermit crab.
 
I agree with Kurt and have decided to not add any more fish to the existing system. I think that the fish have ample room to grow though. Most of the fish that I have reach maximum sizes of three inches in legnth and none of them appear to be territorial fish that require great areas of tank space. The only two fish that I have that in my expierence have shown any territoriality or aggression are the Maroon Clownfish and that is only at feeding times when other fish come around his anemone and the Yellow Watchman Goby. There are some fish I want to remove from the system but just cannot catch - and the using a commercial trap has not worked well for me at all.

I recently watched a video though about a reef tank that contained many soft corals, some SPS corals, and LPS stuff. The tank was 100 gallons in size and had over 140 coral pieces in it, 58 fish including two mid-sized tangs, over 100 brittle starfish, I cant remember but between 500 or so hermit crabs and various other tank cleaning creatures. What is unique about this aquarium is it utilizes a deep sand bed, Aqua C Remora Skimmer, and small refugium as filtration and that is all. The clean up teams of brittle starfish and other creatures work on eating unwanted food and fish waste. According to the person who was administrating the tank claimed low nitrate readings and so on. Im not trying to advocate overstocking reef tanks since it is a dangerous game but there are some alternative methods of approach that have appeared to work well for some hobbyists. At any rate Ill try to find that video and post a link so others can watch it.

There are some tanks in Ultimate Marine Aquariums that defy stocking rules too. Anyhow I keep a check on all my variables and if I see a rise in anything or see fish that appear unhappy or are struggling with each other the above mentioned friend that owns a fish store will have some new arrivals.
 
Actually I am upgrading to a bigger tank soon anyhow. My fish room at my house is just way too crowded with the 80 gallon Discus tank and tons of 20 gallons for quarantine, fry, so on and so forth. I have a huge humidifier running and still everything is damp most all of the time.

I am having the glass company custom make me a 120 gallon Acrylic for my reef tank. I think I might move it to my office - I think a nice reef tank would be a good wow for clients. The only thing that worries me is the water here, the office is on city water where at home I have a natural spring that is really nice water.
 
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