is my tank overstocked?

Schplitter · 01/12/2007, 01:20 AM

I set up a 75 gallon reef tank about 3 months ago. I have roughly 100LB of live rock and a 14 gal sump. Coralife super skimmer 125. Mag 12 pump for main filtration and 3 100gph powerheads. I made the tank and sump myself out of acrilick. I'll add pictures soon. It is a corner tank and the sump is L shaped. The tank is 30 inches tall and the live rock is about 5 inches away from the water line. I have some coral: 3 leathers, 1 abae anemone, torch coral, muchroms, open neon brain, sun coral, Orange plating montipora and a couple more odd balls... The sump is loaded with spaghety algae. ...

I think I got everything. Now to the problem. I think my tank may be overstocked. I have the following fish in the tank.

2 chromis
1 blue demsel
1 3 stripe demsel
1 foxface Lo
1 Yelow Tang
1 fire fish
1 watchman goby
1 maroon clown
snails and crabs all over.

I have almost no hair algae since the yelow tang and the foxface are eating nothing but that. However I do have cyanobacteria all over the sand bed. I have been fighting it for the past week but I can't seem to win the fight. I feed the coral about once per week and the fish get some of that food also. I stopped feeding flake roughly one month ago.

All my levels seem fine except for nitrates seem to never fall below 20 ppm. As soon as they hit 30 ppm i do a water change and they go down a bit...

What do you guys think? How do I kill the cyano? What do I do about the Nitrates?

Thank you for all your help,

BK

bertoni · 01/12/2007, 01:31 AM

To Reef Central

That's on the heavy side for stocking, I think, since the tank has a refugium. If most of the fish are small, the tank should be fine for a while.

I would target around 750 gph total flow through the tank as a minimum. Are the powerheads 100gph or 1000 gph?

How much and what is being fed? Just the coral food?

Growing and harvesting a macroalga might help a lot.

popimp06 · 01/12/2007, 01:55 AM

i only got 4 in my tank and i think thats about max for my 75

webbstock · 01/12/2007, 11:38 AM

I would say that you are nearthe upper limit of stocking. Your nitrates suggest this if you aren't overfeeding as the tank can't keep up as well with the waste. I would drop the 2 damsels first just b/c they aren't my favorite fish and can become nippy

Shagsbeard · 01/12/2007, 12:13 PM

Cyano break out at 3 months is a very common occurance. In my case it just went away on it's own. Clean it out when you can, but don't panic over it and start putting a bunch of chemicals in your tank. Give it a few more months before considering it a "problem".

I'd never have put that many fish in a three month old tank... but that's just me. My tank is 7 months old and I'm thinking about adding a second fish. I've had 5 total at one time... one jumped, two died of ich/stress and one was healthy, but just vanished one day. I'm down to just the butterfly, but he's doing really well.

SpektralerSpeer · 01/12/2007, 02:32 PM

Hello Schplitter,

in my opinion it is quite overstocked, particularly as it is only a couple of months old. Also remember that the yellow tang and the foxface get quite big and in a short time. In my opinion you tank is too small for either of these fish.

Paul

01/12/2007, 01:20 AM	#1
Schplitter Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Oakville, MO Posts: 3,767	is my tank overstocked? I set up a 75 gallon reef tank about 3 months ago. I have roughly 100LB of live rock and a 14 gal sump. Coralife super skimmer 125. Mag 12 pump for main filtration and 3 100gph powerheads. I made the tank and sump myself out of acrilick. I'll add pictures soon. It is a corner tank and the sump is L shaped. The tank is 30 inches tall and the live rock is about 5 inches away from the water line. I have some coral: 3 leathers, 1 abae anemone, torch coral, muchroms, open neon brain, sun coral, Orange plating montipora and a couple more odd balls... The sump is loaded with spaghety algae. ... I think I got everything. Now to the problem. I think my tank may be overstocked. I have the following fish in the tank. 2 chromis 1 blue demsel 1 3 stripe demsel 1 foxface Lo 1 Yelow Tang 1 fire fish 1 watchman goby 1 maroon clown snails and crabs all over. I have almost no hair algae since the yelow tang and the foxface are eating nothing but that. However I do have cyanobacteria all over the sand bed. I have been fighting it for the past week but I can't seem to win the fight. I feed the coral about once per week and the fish get some of that food also. I stopped feeding flake roughly one month ago. All my levels seem fine except for nitrates seem to never fall below 20 ppm. As soon as they hit 30 ppm i do a water change and they go down a bit... What do you guys think? How do I kill the cyano? What do I do about the Nitrates? Thank you for all your help, BK

01/12/2007, 01:31 AM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	*To Reef Central* That's on the heavy side for stocking, I think, since the tank has a refugium. If most of the fish are small, the tank should be fine for a while. I would target around 750 gph total flow through the tank as a minimum. Are the powerheads 100gph or 1000 gph? How much and what is being fed? Just the coral food? Growing and harvesting a macroalga might help a lot. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

01/12/2007, 01:55 AM	#3
popimp06 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: the hood Posts: 386	i only got 4 in my tank and i think thats about max for my 75 __________________ what it do Current Tank Info: 75 aga. 80lbs fiji live rock 45lbs live sand 3 t5s.

01/12/2007, 02:32 PM	#6
SpektralerSpeer Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Munich, Germany Posts: 178	Hello Schplitter, in my opinion it is quite overstocked, particularly as it is only a couple of months old. Also remember that the yellow tang and the foxface get quite big and in a short time. In my opinion you tank is too small for either of these fish. Paul __________________ Tomorrow Shine Current Tank Info: 1,300 l (340 g) reef: lighting 4 × 400 W metal halide; 8 × 56 W T5; flow 20,000 l/h + Tunze Wavebox; temp. 26 deg. C; den. 1.0240; pH 8.15; alk. 10 dKH; Ca 410 mg/l; Mg 1,300 mg/l

01/12/2007, 11:38 AM	#4
webbstock Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Washington DC area Posts: 436	I would say that you are nearthe upper limit of stocking. Your nitrates suggest this if you aren't overfeeding as the tank can't keep up as well with the waste. I would drop the 2 damsels first just b/c they aren't my favorite fish and can become nippy

01/12/2007, 12:13 PM	#5
Shagsbeard Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Morro Bay, CA Posts: 2,143	Cyano break out at 3 months is a very common occurance. In my case it just went away on it's own. Clean it out when you can, but don't panic over it and start putting a bunch of chemicals in your tank. Give it a few more months before considering it a "problem". I'd never have put that many fish in a three month old tank... but that's just me. My tank is 7 months old and I'm thinking about adding a second fish. I've had 5 total at one time... one jumped, two died of ich/stress and one was healthy, but just vanished one day. I'm down to just the butterfly, but he's doing really well.