Stocking Levels/ Ideas For 37 Gallon

[blackers92]

Seeing as though my tank is cycling i thought i would have a serious look at what fish i wanted to get

i basically wanted
6-8 neon tetras (so they will hopefully shoal)
4 Yoyo loach
2 Bristlenose
2 Keyhole of some sort of dwarf cichlid

but since adding 4 zebra danios ( i know fish in cycle is terrible i am ashamed) I have really started to love them, for there toughness and playful attitude

so i decided i will have 8 zebra danios insted, i also thought this would be a good idea as i have read that many people reccomend adding neon's 6 months after a tank has been running.

I put the fish into AqAdvisor and got 100% stocking level with everything but the 2 cichlids

i couldnt put my filter into it because it is built in and couldnt find any specs, would the filter affect how many fish can go in? i really hope so

they look quite simple to keep together with a temp of 25 celcius and pH of 6-7.8

Do you think that this would make a good community aquarium?

 

[plecostomus-mad]

hi,

first off the filter plays a big part in stocking. if you have a good lph ( litre per hour )turnover you can stock slightly more than normal. if you can find out the specs of your current filter it would be helpful. i would say with a filter that churns out 1000 lph you could stock all that you wanted and have 12-15 danios instead of 8.maybe even another cichlid or 2.

im sure the guys here will give there input and advise as best they can.

oh, and dont beat yourself up over the fish in cycle, i also did a fish in cycle, some think its cruel, some dont. dont forget, before the fish-less cycle thats all people did. the fish-less cycle hasn't been around that long.

mark

 

[blackers92]

thanks mark, well 15 danios would be amazing

ok i have my flow rate? i presume it is the same it is 1100L/Hr

is that good

 

[plecostomus-mad]

thanks mark, well 15 danios would be amazing

ok i have my flow rate? i presume it is the same it is 1100L/Hr

is that good

thats not bad, external im guessing?

i have danios....see my sig below. they are very active little fish and im going to mix with some neons very soon. shoaling fish will shoal better with larger numbers, mine kinda do there own thing until feeding time, then they are shoaling together looking for food.lol

 

[blackers92]

oh wow i just realised that my filter has a regulator and that is has been on low the whole time

does this mean it will cycle faster if more water is flowing throgh

i feel so dumb

no its internal, its apart of the hood

 

[Shelby]

I'm not sure about cycling faster or not. You could ask your lfs for some mature media from one of their tanks that will spead up your cycling if you can get any. Also, there is a list on here of users willing to donate media depending on where you are located if your lfs won't give you any

Standard advice from TFF users:
Make sure you do your water changes
Get a liquid test kit so you can check water parameters

Shelby

 

[waterdrop]

The small adjustments to flow rate you can make with filters won't be a significant factor in colony growth rate when cycling. The bacteria just need some sort of steady flow of ammonia and oxygenated water to have their basics.

Filters are quite interesting things and, being perhaps the most complicated and pivotal piece of equipment in the freshwater hobby, can hide rather a lot of detail, waiting for the hobbyist to slowly learn more and more about them. I mean, in one sense they can be seen as a simple powerful tool that can do good work for many who understand little about them and have been doing that in the hobby since I guess just after the turn of the previous century in large numbers, but there are also things there to learn if one goes looking.

For instance, flow rate is really a different parameter than media volume. Both media volume and flow rate can be factors at play with bioload (the load of living things producing ammonia, nitrite, debris, etc. for the filter to deal with.) Flow rate is different than circulation. Volume of the media box directly plays on flow rate within the media, which is different than flow rate numbers for the filter overall. Volume of the biomedia is of course different than overall media volume if mechanical and/or chemical media share the box! Real flow rates are often cited separately by manufacturers than what their advertising people use for "recommended tank size" (in other words a given filter usually really handles less tank than you would be led to believe.) Yet another significant factor is how often you clean out your external filter hoses. Flow rate drops fast as hoses become speckled with biofilms, algae and debris!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[blackers92]

waterdrop i am truly impressed, if you wrote that out of pure knowledge that is amazing. I sent an email to the filters manufacter and they responded saying. "The regulator can control the amount of water flowing through your filter" The most basic explanation ever. Now i cant say that i can fully comprehend everything single thing you wrote but the majority of it made sense.

It is good to know that it wont make that much of a difference to bacterial growth which makes me feel better as it has been set low for so long.

i will definatly keep an eye out on my external filters hose as i do not want the filtration rate to decline.

I really appreciate the advice

 

[waterdrop]

There have been a lot of really experienced members posting in the hardware section over the years. I've learned a lot from them since I've been here and I've also mined their old posts in there to learn things. Years ago when I was a kid with this hobby I read every book I could get my hands but there was almost nobody to share the hobby with except one old guy at my fish store. When I came back and discovered how the sharing in forums had changed things in the hobby I vindicated to finally get to truly ask all those questions that had been unanswered and to delve in with more detail. Getting down to the nitty-gritty of things is half the fun of a hobby I sometimes think, I mean, where else are you going to get to do that very much?

~~waterdrop~~