Question about planted vs not planted

[ciph3ro]

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is wildly debated or not, but can a planted tank like mine (attached) sustain more fish than if it was not planted?

Obviously the question implies same care and amount of water changes.

I'm just wondering whether I should follow aqadvisor's stocking tool and how many fish it tells me I should have in here. It is a 29 gal tall.

Thank you.

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[Old Scales]

First off, welcome to AA Ciph.
Your tank is beautiful, well done. Plants in the aquarium do not add much to it's carrying capacity. Maybe by a couple of small fish. Plants' benefits are mainly giving the fish a more natural, thus stress free environment and improving their health and longevity. The other benefit is to the fish keeper, as he can pursue a whole different realm of the hobby. They do absorb some nitrates but not enough to eliminate water changes.
I have found that Aquadvisor is conservative by about 20% for a well-established, planted tank. Good luck, OS.

 

[BBradbury]

Fish Stocking Question

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is wildly debated or not, but can a planted tank like mine (attached) sustain more fish than if it was not planted?

Obviously the question implies same care and amount of water changes.

I'm just wondering whether I should follow aqadvisor's stocking tool and how many fish it tells me I should have in here. It is a 29 gal tall.

Thank you.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Hello ciph...

If you're willing to commit to changing half the tank water every week, then you can certainly have a few more small fish. Heavily planting your tank will certainly help maintain a healthy oxygen level and a stable water chemistry. The weekly large water changes remove harmful forms of nitrogen like ammonia and nitrite before they build up and hurt your fish. The water changes also maintain healthy mineral levels for your plants. You can't go wrong with large, frequent water changes.

B

 

[ciph3ro]

Thank you. It took about a year to grow everything and I had to bring the plants from far away as choices here are sparse in both fish and plants.

That's perfect as aqadvisor shows my tank at 120% with the 3 yoyo loaches I want to add in.

I'm also switching the filter to a Fluval 305 or 405 in the next few days.

I started a little Fluval 7.9 gallon cube tank as well (attached) but the driftwood in it was bad and started rooting so I'm starting over with it. Should be almost cycled by now.

I have no clue how to plant a tank that small. The plants keep getting uprooted and float. Now the light died on it as well after only a month, but replacing it today.

Any suggestions? Plant weights of some sort or something? The tank has 5 white clouds and will have 5 very shrimp. I tried my betta in there but he's too aggressive.

Apologies for the huge post...

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[ciph3ro]

Hello ciph...

If you're willing to commit to changing half the tank water every week, then you can certainly have a few more small fish. Heavily planting your tank will certainly help maintain a healthy oxygen level and a stable water chemistry. The weekly large water changes remove harmful forms of nitrogen like ammonia and nitrite before they build up and hurt your fish. The water changes also maintain healthy mineral levels for your plants. You can't go wrong with large, frequent water changes.

B

That's true. Every couple of months I do a few water changes a week just to make sure the tank gets a refresh. Plus the weekly ones...

I have a higher profile job so it can be a challenge sometimes to do water changes on time because work gets extremely demanding.

I'm saving money for a house (which means mortgage for a million around here), then I plan to get a bigger tank, develop a cheap water change control system based on an embedded control board. I have been wanting to do that and a smartphone app for it forever now.



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