barterking85
Aquarium Advice Addict
1st off most manufacturers overrate their filters and water pumps by anywhere from 25 to 40 %...some say higher. Plus their filter size recommendations are strictly based on flow rate...they have no idea what you have in the tank.... so their recommendations are useless.
Lets go back to the old stocking rate guide of 1'' per gallon....lets say you had 10 neons ...10'' of fish....in a 10 gallon and the appropriate sized filter for that 10 gallon....you would be over filtered like crazy as the neons don't give off squat...ammonia or feces wise. You could turn the water over 10 times per hour and see no difference, Now put a 10'' Oscar in the 10 gallon...what happens....you're severely under filtered...that one large fish is putting out more crud and NH3 in one day than the 10 neons would in a year...same filter rated for a 10 gallons tank, even if the turn over is 20 times per hour the filter won't be able to handle it....if you put a 10'' koi in there he'd be dead in days...complete pollution.
When you stock a tank you have to look at the number of fish, the species, their potential metabolism...how much do they eat in the run of a day...everyone knows that goldfish and koi are probably the dirtiest of the ornamantals...where as pip squeaks like neons, cards, danioes are the least. Their are formulas for working out turn over rates, NH3 produced based on amounts fed and protein content etc .. Stock you tanks based on the species of fish and not some manufacturer marketing or some hobbyist guide lines...as in 1'' per 1 gallon.
Bottom line ...NH3 should always be 0.0ppm, NO2 should always be 0.0ppm and NO3 should be as low as possible. KH should generally be above 80ppm and if you want to get techy ORP should be 300mV+
98% of the stocking rules are crap and lots of people blindly follow them and don't have a clue why.... go by the size of the fish, numbers of those fish, the amount that you're feeding and then have high turn over rates for the tank and regular cleanings of the mechanical section of the filter , lots of bio and change water often
Never trust the life's of you fish solely to aqadvisor.com it has improved some but if your that stumped that's why this wonderful site called Aquarium Advice exists.
Eco23 (Mr.Modest)
The best tools you can use for stocking are common sense and AA. As well as some other factors...the big requirements IMO are filtration (including bio-filtration), commitment to pwc's and aquarium maintenance, water parameters (how quickly no3 climbs) and swim room. If you have good filtration, your tank is stable and established and there is plenty of room in the tank...more fish may be acceptable. For example, if you have top level swimmers, and some mid level schoolers but no bottom dwellers...as long as the tank is well filtered, you are on top of weekly pwcs and have a healthy bio-filter...adding some bottom level like fish (like Corys) ,if compatible, may be an acceptable decision. Again, common sense...if your tank appears nearly stocked...its probably already overstocked.
Just thought it may stop some stocking questions hope it helps cheers
Ryan Peddle
Lets go back to the old stocking rate guide of 1'' per gallon....lets say you had 10 neons ...10'' of fish....in a 10 gallon and the appropriate sized filter for that 10 gallon....you would be over filtered like crazy as the neons don't give off squat...ammonia or feces wise. You could turn the water over 10 times per hour and see no difference, Now put a 10'' Oscar in the 10 gallon...what happens....you're severely under filtered...that one large fish is putting out more crud and NH3 in one day than the 10 neons would in a year...same filter rated for a 10 gallons tank, even if the turn over is 20 times per hour the filter won't be able to handle it....if you put a 10'' koi in there he'd be dead in days...complete pollution.
When you stock a tank you have to look at the number of fish, the species, their potential metabolism...how much do they eat in the run of a day...everyone knows that goldfish and koi are probably the dirtiest of the ornamantals...where as pip squeaks like neons, cards, danioes are the least. Their are formulas for working out turn over rates, NH3 produced based on amounts fed and protein content etc .. Stock you tanks based on the species of fish and not some manufacturer marketing or some hobbyist guide lines...as in 1'' per 1 gallon.
Bottom line ...NH3 should always be 0.0ppm, NO2 should always be 0.0ppm and NO3 should be as low as possible. KH should generally be above 80ppm and if you want to get techy ORP should be 300mV+
98% of the stocking rules are crap and lots of people blindly follow them and don't have a clue why.... go by the size of the fish, numbers of those fish, the amount that you're feeding and then have high turn over rates for the tank and regular cleanings of the mechanical section of the filter , lots of bio and change water often
Never trust the life's of you fish solely to aqadvisor.com it has improved some but if your that stumped that's why this wonderful site called Aquarium Advice exists.
Eco23 (Mr.Modest)
The best tools you can use for stocking are common sense and AA. As well as some other factors...the big requirements IMO are filtration (including bio-filtration), commitment to pwc's and aquarium maintenance, water parameters (how quickly no3 climbs) and swim room. If you have good filtration, your tank is stable and established and there is plenty of room in the tank...more fish may be acceptable. For example, if you have top level swimmers, and some mid level schoolers but no bottom dwellers...as long as the tank is well filtered, you are on top of weekly pwcs and have a healthy bio-filter...adding some bottom level like fish (like Corys) ,if compatible, may be an acceptable decision. Again, common sense...if your tank appears nearly stocked...its probably already overstocked.
Just thought it may stop some stocking questions hope it helps cheers
Ryan Peddle
