DBT85
Fish Fanatic
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2012
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If I remember correctly the general rule here is that once your tank can filter out 4ppm Ammonia in about 12 hours you are good to go with dropping some fish in your tank for the first time. However a thought occured to me the other day that I wanted to clear up.
Lets just say for now that 1ml of Ammonia solution will make 10l of water to 4ppm Ammonia. To make a 100l tank 4ppm I'd need to add 10ml Ammonia, to make a 200l tank 4ppm I'd need to add 20ml Ammonia.
What that means is that the larger your tank, the larger the actual dose of Ammonia you need to put in to reach that 4ppm number. This in turn is going to mean that a fully cycled filter in a 200l tank is much more able to filter Ammonia than one in a 60l tank. The ratio that it is filtering out is the same, but the actual quantity is higher.
Where am I going with this?
If you bought a new 120l tank and a new 240l tank today and they were both magically cycled and working fine, would you put similar quantities and types of fish in as your starting fish? Or would you put more fish into the larger tank because its larger?
The reason I ask is that a 120l tank that can filter 4ppm Ammonia in 12 hours and a 240l tank that can filter 2ppm Ammonia in 12 hours can both filter out the same quantity of Ammonia. If you were depositing identical fish at identical sizes you shouldn't have to wait for your larger tank to build up a bacteria colony twice as large as the 120l or four times as large as a 60l. If 6 fish produce (using this example) 12ml of ammonia every 12 hours then the water quality in the 120l and the 240l would be identical even if the 240l had been cycled to 2ppm and the 120l had been cycled to 4ppm.
Obviously if you are putting in more fish to begin with then your filter needs to be able to handle more which is why I wanted to ask.
Would you put the same kind and quantity fish into a brand new 120l tank as you would in a 240l tank? After that, would you add new fish in at the same rate/quantity in the larger tank or would you do about the same (eg 3 new fish every 2 weeks)?
Lets just say for now that 1ml of Ammonia solution will make 10l of water to 4ppm Ammonia. To make a 100l tank 4ppm I'd need to add 10ml Ammonia, to make a 200l tank 4ppm I'd need to add 20ml Ammonia.
What that means is that the larger your tank, the larger the actual dose of Ammonia you need to put in to reach that 4ppm number. This in turn is going to mean that a fully cycled filter in a 200l tank is much more able to filter Ammonia than one in a 60l tank. The ratio that it is filtering out is the same, but the actual quantity is higher.
Where am I going with this?
If you bought a new 120l tank and a new 240l tank today and they were both magically cycled and working fine, would you put similar quantities and types of fish in as your starting fish? Or would you put more fish into the larger tank because its larger?
The reason I ask is that a 120l tank that can filter 4ppm Ammonia in 12 hours and a 240l tank that can filter 2ppm Ammonia in 12 hours can both filter out the same quantity of Ammonia. If you were depositing identical fish at identical sizes you shouldn't have to wait for your larger tank to build up a bacteria colony twice as large as the 120l or four times as large as a 60l. If 6 fish produce (using this example) 12ml of ammonia every 12 hours then the water quality in the 120l and the 240l would be identical even if the 240l had been cycled to 2ppm and the 120l had been cycled to 4ppm.
Obviously if you are putting in more fish to begin with then your filter needs to be able to handle more which is why I wanted to ask.
Would you put the same kind and quantity fish into a brand new 120l tank as you would in a 240l tank? After that, would you add new fish in at the same rate/quantity in the larger tank or would you do about the same (eg 3 new fish every 2 weeks)?
