heavily stocked and filtration question.

[piao liang yu]

I try to use aqadvisor as a guideline, but mainly go by what folks on here have to say for the most part and most of y'all say it is ok to go above the aqadvisor stocking level provided one does their due diligence on weekly maintenance etc. According to aqadvisor I am stocked at 114% capacity for my 60 gallon 48"x13"x24". The 24" is top to bottom. My filter is the AquaClear 110. The following is my stock

15 neon tetras
13 cherry barbs
10 guppies all males
4 otocinclus
3 Angelicus Botia aka kubotai botia aka polka-dot loach
2 red wag platies
1 Dwarf Gourami
4 red cherry shrimp, (I know the shrimp could possibly be in danger from the loaches, but so far I still have all of them) They have too many places to hide for me to catch and put into a separate tank.

Anyway, according to aqadvisor I am slightly overstocked, but I am ok with that as I test every couple days or so and am very diligent about my weekly pwc's. The aqadvisor does say I am right at capacity on filtration. As stated, I currently have the AC110. I am considering adding an AC70 just to add some redundancy/fault tolerance. Would the current be too much? I understand that the AC's have the ability to regulate their flow, but I have tried to adjust it on the 110 and it really does not work. It seems to have the same output either way. I am fine with that, I just want to make sure the fish will be ok with the added water movement?

Do any of y'all have two good sized HOB's on a 60 gallon or similar setup and if so how do your fish do with it? How will I know if there is too much current for them?

 

[Sharpchick]

I don't have a tank as large as yours. But on my 29 high, and my 20 long, I have multiple filters. For the 29 high, I have 3 filters, because that's my goldfish tank.

On the 20 long, it is for redundancy. If one of the filters goes out, I don't have to freak out.

If it's one on the goldfish tank, I have a couple of days before I have to freak out.

 

[Zippo1313]

I don't know about the ac110 yet but I have 2 ac50 and a ac70 and a sump with a return of 500gph on my 55 with convicts and a silver dollar with no problems the fish love it my ac's adjust a lil bit I have a ac110 just have to get some parts then it will be on there to

 

[CrashCourse]

Over filtration is great, especially if you're fully/over stocked. if you're worried about too much flow, you can find a way to soften it. Both plastic water bottles cut in half length-wise, and sponge filters (zimanski's suggestion) slit to cover the outflow work well. I use both on different kinds of filters, some fit better due to the shape of the filter itself. Personally, I like the foam block on aquaclear filters. I have some sort of current beaker on all of my filters, and both tanks run at least two.
With the bottles, cut the top and bottom part off, and just use the flat side of the bottle.
Plus, more filters means more surface area for your BB to grow, and will help keep your water parameters in check.