AqAdvisor accurate?

[ddodad]

I am double checking my stocking/stocking plan on the aqadvisor web site. I seem to be quite overstocked it doesn't make sense to me. Anybody else have that issue?

[Cynic]

What's your stock? Aqavisor uses the what your fish will grow into size wise which is a good warning for those who think their 55G is a good home for things like clown loaches, Bala sharks and plecos.

[ddodad]

For my current one I am not worried about its a 20 gallon with a few platys, 2 Otos, 2 drawf frogs and 4 tetras and a dwarf gourami

My new one I'm setting up is:
10 Harlequin Rasbora(already in)
1 platy ( my daughters gift)
1 butterfly pleco (already in)
1 pearl gourami
3 spotted hillstream loach
5 Boesemani Rainbow
5 Sterbai Cory or 1 smaller type of pleco
A few Malaysian trumpet snails for the sand (already in)

In a 60 gallon

[Old Scales]

IMO Aquadvisor is on the conservative side. But it does have diclaimer about if you are an experienced aquarist. IME let the fish tell you what's enough by there bio-load. Once your tank is established, you have what filtration and plants you want and you know they are growing well, measure your Nitrates right before you do your weekly water change.
Life & luck, OS.

[aqua_chem]

I trust AqAdvisor about as much as I trust autocorrect.

Think about that for a bit.

[Jmunroe]

Originally Posted by ddodad

For my current one I am not worried about its a 20 gallon with a few platys, 2 Otos, 2 drawf frogs and 4 tetras and a dwarf gourami

My new one I'm setting up is:
10 Harlequin Rasbora(already in)
1 platy ( my daughters gift)
1 butterfly pleco (already in)
1 pearl gourami
3 spotted hillstream loach
5 Boesemani Rainbow
5 Sterbai Cory or 1 smaller type of pleco
A few Malaysian trumpet snails for the sand (already in)

In a 60 gallon

It does sound like quite a bit of stock for both tanks to be honest.

[ddodad]

Oh I agree the 20 is "overstocked" but all parameters are always perfect ( I do 50% pwc a week)

For the 60 I'm slowly stocking it says I'm at 105% with everything. My lfs was saying I could add quite a bit more but I didn't think so. Hence the reason I checked out aqadvisor and was asking the question

[Jmunroe]

Fish tanks are so much more enjoyable understocked than overstocked. Don't listen to your LFS they want to sell as much as they can. I bet they tell you to change your filter media once a week too and don't forget to buy 1 of every medication they sell. Lol. if you don't buy your own water test kit, you could take ditch water to them and they would say its great you need more fish.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by ddodad

Oh I agree the 20 is "overstocked" but all parameters are always perfect ( I do 50% pwc a week)

For the 60 I'm slowly stocking it says I'm at 105% with everything. My lfs was saying I could add quite a bit more but I didn't think so. Hence the reason I checked out aqadvisor and was asking the question

105% overstocked is nothing at all. With my 29g I was approaching 180% stocking on Aqadvisor and didn't have a single problem for quite a while. Even then I only lost a German Blue Ram. Although I did have a very good filter to handle the bio load.

[laur94x]

Mine says I'm 95% stocked with
5 male guppies
5 small albino cories
1 bristlenose pleco
+ 1 pearl gourami in a 36 gallon long with 2 filters.
I'm never sure how much to trust it. It tells me i'm about 76% stocked with just the guppies and cories and my tank looks empty lol, they have loads of room

[ddodad]

Both my tanks have over 250% more filtration then needed. I figure they aqAvisor is a good start but I'm just going to use it as a recommendation. I'll just keep testing the water and add my new stock slowly. As for the lfs we all know they just want to sell as much stuff as possible, they sometimes have good ideas at least the one I frequent. We just need to take what they say with a grain of salt

[NYgiantsRP]

I am going to stand up for LOCAL FISH STORES. I go to 3 in my area. Two of them are very knowledgable, and do not try to sale me anything. If you try to buy a guppy, then ask about oscars, they will not sell me it. Also whenever you try to purchase a non-beginner fish they will ask you how big your tank is, and what is in it. The third one is more of a all around pet store, and they don't have much knowledge about the fish.

I would say both of your tank are a little overstocked, but so are my 20 and 65 haha. As long *** you test your water every other week for the first 6 months and do your water changes, and there isn't any large fluctuations you are all set. Oh ya, and the fish aren't going after each other liked a bunch of crazed dogs.

[Coyne]

AqAdvisor has separate percentages for stock and filtration, so it's taking more than just bio-load into consideration. I suspect it's also factoring a recommended amount of physical space based on the fish in questions adult size and activity level. Probably to keep people from cramming as many fish as they can in their tank like they see at the LFS.
The person/people seem to have put some thought into it as it not only will let you know if you might have a species conflict, but also other things like if a species is prone to jumping out of the tank (it advises you to make sure you have a lid on you tank).

At the end of the day it's called AqAdvisor, not AqThisIsTheLaw. So use it at your own discretion.