bioload

[brer]

I'm wondering if there's a formula for how many fish one can have in a reef tank. Should I just follow nitrate levels? Do the inverts, eg. shrimp, starfish, cukes and soft corals add to the bioload?
I keep finding wonderful little reef safe fish that I'd love to add, but am afraid of overloading the system. Any way to know other than trial and error?

 

[Anonymous]

it is honestly too vast of a hobby to make governing rules like that.

the inverts such as shrimp and hermits certainly do add to biolaod, although the actions they perform help in the breakdown of tank pollutants, thus their load is a bit "lighter".

inverts such as corals utilize buffers and calcium but as far as nitrate production i believe they are actually in the negative.

the best advice i can give is to check out the concensus here before purchase. this board's knowledge is massive.

 

[investigator1]

I was told once that it should be one fish for every 3 gallons. I don't know how true that is though. I was also told that it depends where the fish swim in your tank. Examples would be: Blennies stay on the sand...Tangs swim in the middle......etc. So obviously you would not want 50 blennies in any tank because they would be crouded on the sand. Moral of the story: Mix it up. Think of your tank as the sky. All the planes need to be at different altitude to not crash together. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

some food for thought:

it isn't really inches of fish that matter when quoting stocking 'rules'. it is the bioload that fish's inch represents :wink:

example-

take an inch of clownfish, and an inch of grouper, and compare how much body mass is in those respective inches. :wink:


there are also other things to be taken into consideration- territory needs, swimming space, etc.

it gets kinda complex, after a while :wink:

a fair rule of thumb for beginners would be, imho, an inch of fish to 5 gal of water-when talking of fish similiar in proportion to a percula clown.

this only deals with the load issue, though, not the territory/compatability/ swimming space issues. :wink:

and when in doubt, it's always better to understock :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

the above post doesn't even deal w/how filtration methods affect stocking issues :wink: