Stock Limit?

[dch2206]

I have a 95l tank which has been running for about 5/6 months. I have x6 tiger barbs, x7 Red Eyed Tetras and a Bristlenosed Pleco. Everything is fine but do i have room for x2 corys as i could do with some fish to help keep substrate tidier and I have always liked corys.
My filter is coping fine water tests are spot on, any thoughts.

 

[Tizer]

Corys should be kept in large numbers, ideally a group of 6. I would not put any corys in a tank with tiger barbs, they will be fin nipped. Corys don't keep the substrate tidy, they simply eat the foods that sink to the bottom and in turn, crap it out making it even more dirty. if you want to try and stop the mess from settling on the bottom, chuck a power head in the tank, give it more flow so nothing settles.

 

[dch2206]

Thanks tizer, i had heard corys might get nipped. If i dont get corys, do you still think Im up to my stock limit for this tank?. Im having to clean the sand every four days at the moment which isnt an issue but wondered if there was a way in keeping the substrate tidier for longer. I have the lights on for about 8 hours a day, but still get a build up of algae on the sands surface, the rest of the tank stays clean.

 

[Tizer]

8 hours is too much really, try reduce it to 5 hours then slowly up it to 6/7 over the course of a couple of months.

If its silica sand in there, then yeah, brown diatoms often appear. What filter do you have in there? As i said, a small hydor nano 900 litres per hour powerhead would probably help eliminate the algae along with reduced light.

I would say yes, you are quite close to your stock limit but i don't see why you couldn't up the Tigers and Red eyes to 8 of each. All plecs are messy, even the BNs, but more flow will push the poo around and towards the filter.

 

[dch2206]

Thanks Tizer. The filter is a Marina S20 which states on max it will filter over 200l per hour. This filter came with the tank as a kit. I have an air stone running through an ornament as well. I will look into the power head side of things and cut my lighting hours down.
Thanks again.

 

[Tizer]

you might want to look at a filter upgrade too then, if the tank is 95, its probably around 80 if you take away the substrate, decor etc. which means its only turning over 2.5 times an hour, which for the stocking, i would say is below par. I would be looking for something that can do about 400lph and that extra flow might also eliminate the need for a power head.