Stocking plan w/ automatic water changes @ "183% stocking level"

[fish4phil]

Hello all!

I have a 36g bowfront tropical community tank. Will be planted with a bonsai tree, some stones, and various plants. Black sand substrate.

The water changes are completely 100% automated (filter maintenance and gravel vac manually). I can set up the tank to change any % of water any # of times a week. I have a reservoir tank in the basement, heated, with air stones and a circulating filter, plumbed to my display tank upstairs. Drained water goes to a house drain. Love this set up Currently it's set up to do 30% water changes automatically twice a week.

Numbers are consistently 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5-10 nitrates.

Tanks been set up about 3 months. Filter is FX4 on a spray bar.

I also have a quarantine tank cycled and ready.

Current fish stock:
- 6 guppies
- 1 bristlenose pleco
- 3 mickey mouse platies

Next steps:
- Aquascape with live plants
- Then, buy more fish!

With the automatic water changes, how overstocked can I be?

I'm trying to get fish in all the stratas of course.

Link: Current flsh plan on AqAdvisor

What, if anything, would you suggest changing?

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
How much water is in the sump/ reservoir tank in the basement?
I'm assuming the sump and main tank are connected and the water simply flows through both tanks continuously.

-------------------

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

-------------------

Common livebearers like guppies, platies, swordtails and mollies that come out of fish farms are usually infested with intestinal worms like Camallanus. It's a good idea to deworm these fish before adding them to a display tank, or if you already have some, deworm the main display tank.

Are you planning on breeding the guppies and platies?
If yes, then the tank might already be about right for stocking and the extra space will be taken up by the babies as they grow.

 

[ColdKoi]

You’re really only limited in any tank to the physical capacity of the fish you put into it. Maintaining the water quality is a question of how much work you want to do

You definitely have enough filter capacity that excessive maintenance there isn’t an issue and automated water changes handle that end of it. So you’re really just down to the question of what’s going to physically fit into the tank without all the tank mates ramming into each other just trying to swim around.

What is the water capacity of your sump?