Tank Stocking

[jarednsteph]

Hi,

Due to some misinformation or lack of information fullstop from our LFS, my partner and I have found ourselves well over stocked.

We currently have a 90litre stocked with: (I know, way, way, way overstocked but we are trying to remedy it urgently)

2 x silver dollars - have been advised minimum of 5 required
2 x clown loach - have been advised minimum of 5 required
1 x dwarf gourami
2 x cobalt blue gourami
2 x platinum angels
1 x tiger panaque

We have had to go out and invest in a new 417 litre (110 US gallon) tank which we are trying to set up immediately to give our fish a better quality of life...

While adding another 3 each of the dollars and loach to make up the minimum schoal requirements, will we still be within safe stocking levels for our new tank or are we best to just wing it and hope the pairs we have will be ok?

The fact that our LFS still sold us all the fish we have despite us giving them our current stock levels just blows my mind...so any and all advise will be greatly received.

It's worthwhile noting that our 90L tank is extremely overfiltered (currently running a filter that turns over 250litres + per hour) and we have had no problems with illness/death except for 1 dwarf gourami casualty due to DGIV in over 6 months of running

 

[esKii]

This is a pretty helpful site- don't think it's entirely accurate when using the basic size presets as it works on a fully grown max scale but if you take the time to add the sizes in manually it's pretty good. Also gives advice on compatibility of species as well as water parameters, PWC frequency and filtration. Hope it helps.

http/##150###.com/

Sorry- dunno why iPhone pasted that URL like that. The site is

##150###.com

##150### . Com

##150###

 

[Tizer]

check out http/www.serioulyfish.com/ the knowledge base is by far one of the best out there. check out temperature range, water hardness, minimum school sizes etc. 400 odd litres is a good size tank and will easily house the fish you have for now. You might also want to upgrade your filtration for that tank, chuck your current filter in there and add a big external filter capable of turning over the tank volume at least 5 times an hour. i.e. 2000 lph.

Your current filter in a 90 litre tank is NOT extremely over filtered, in fact its only just good enough.

 

[esKii]

From what I've gathered adding extra filters or having larger ones doesn't make your tank "extra filtered" it just means that you have maximum filtration for the volume if water.

And I don't know why that link wasn't working. The forum must block it for some reason

 

[ZoddyZod]

it terms of filtration, 4x the volume of water per hour is recommended, going somewhere near 10x for a full on planted tank....so as Tizer states, your currently filter is just about sufficient.

In terms of the advice from LFS, sadly it's all too common for some to mis-sell fish for inadequate tanks......they are there to make a profit after all. Some are much less money focused than others, so I'm not taring all with the same brush.

once you get the new tank set up, don't rush to get new fish. I presume you are familiar with the cycling process for new tanks?

 

[jarednsteph]

Thanks for the info...wow, when we were sold the filter we were told we were way over filtering it! To find out it is only just sufficient is a shock! The new tank we brought came with a Eheim 2080 and from the research I've done it turns over 1015 litres per hour so going by what you've told me, it's still not enough?!

I don't plan on stocking straight away, and am well aware of the cycling process, learnt that the hard way

You say current fish, that would mean I can't add to my schoal of silver dollars or clown loaches? I think I might just stick with what I've got until the worse happens (touch wood) or sometime in the very distant future we get a bigger tank again..not really in a hurry to spend another $2000 odd

 

[OldMan47]

A 1015 litre per hour filter on a 90 litre tank is gross overkill in most situations. Some high tech planted tank people do run higher flows to avoid too much algae growth in their nutrient rich soups. Adding more filter flow simply moves around a bunch of water, which helps in the planted tanks by evening out the flow in the tank. If your filter volume is big enough to hold the biomedia for your fish stocking, it will process their wastes at 0.5X flows. When I started in the hobby, fish stayed healthy while being filtered using nothing but external filters that promoted flow using an air pump and air lift system, and yes we grew lots of plants back then too. The main difference is that we did not try to provide so much fertilizer that we needed to do 50% weekly water changes like they do with an EI dosing just to reset the tank for the next week. We also did not clobber a tank with 20 ppm of CO2.

BTW you will sometimes come across a common mistaken concept that you can increase your population by increasing filter flow. I can't call that what I would like to here on a family oriented forum but suffice to say it is untrue.

 

[jarednsteph]

1015 litre per hour filter isn't for the 90 litre. It's for my new 400 litre tank Although from what I've read here I'll have to invest another $500 odd as this still won't be enough

 

[OldMan47]

If you have a light fish population, that thousand litre per hour filter will be plenty for a much larger tank jared. I have used a Rena XP3 as the only filter in my 120 gallon, 450 litres, tank for about 10 years now. It cost me much less than you are citing in terms of filter costs. It was less than $200 US. I have no idea the present exchange rate but over 500 sounds very high to me.

 

[jarednsteph]

If you have a light fish population, that thousand litre per hour filter will be plenty for a much larger tank jared. I have used a Rena XP3 as the only filter in my 120 gallon, 450 litres, tank for about 10 years now. It cost me much less than you are citing in terms of filter costs. It was less than $200 US. I have no idea the present exchange rate but over 500 sounds very high to me.

Eheim filters are ridiculously overpriced here in New Zealand. It's a Eheim Professional 2 and I have not been quoted anything lower than $499...I would opt for another brand but none except the Eheim have seemed to impress my very brand nazi fiance...although I must admit I have a strong preference for them aswell so I can't blame him entirely!

 

[tmiller]

If you have a light fish population, that thousand litre per hour filter will be plenty for a much larger tank jared. I have used a Rena XP3 as the only filter in my 120 gallon, 450 litres, tank for about 10 years now. It cost me much less than you are citing in terms of filter costs. It was less than $200 US. I have no idea the present exchange rate but over 500 sounds very high to me.

Eheim filters are ridiculously overpriced here in New Zealand. It's a Eheim Professional 2 and I have not been quoted anything lower than $499...I would opt for another brand but none except the Eheim have seemed to impress my very brand nazi fiance...although I must admit I have a strong preference for them aswell so I can't blame him entirely!

Is that the Thermofilter line?
If so they are expensive here too about $250 to $400ish for the 2xxx series.
Exchange and or isolation may easily account for the price increase. Australia / New Zealand is Approximate distance as the crow flies in miles from Denver United States to Auckland New Zealand is 7364 and another 1k from where "Old man" hails from.
I do trust his Conservative views on keeping of stock and he is well versed as such, I am purely clarifying the comment " I have no idea the present exchange rate but over 500 sounds very high to me. " to include relevant geographical info.
New Zealand is quite Isolated.
Even distance from country of manufacture (used to Be Germany but no longer) Haikou China (random city, china is huge) is well over 5000 miles and I'm certain that New Zealand is not a huge import area.
Reshipping may not be an option but worth looking at.
I LOVE my Eheims but have only experience with a pair of classic 2215's.
The one thing that lack on these models of mine are no "trays" I have looked at the mesh bags for my media though..

 

[jarednsteph]

My pet peeve! We are running a 2213 filter in our smaller tank and I have the same problem with the absence of trays, especially when it comes to changing the course blue sponge, having to remove, contain and then refill with those little brown balls is a nightmare! The pro 2 is awesome though, each item has it's own tray, sooo much easier!