Severely overstocked ATM

[Chris.d514]

With my tank as overstocked as it is (about 3 inches of fish per gallon). Is there anything I should be majorly worried about until I get my daughters tank cycled and move her stock back over? I have been close to this amount in my tank for almost the entire time it has been set up. It cycled with close to these numbers.

[eklikewhoa]

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[SunnyHouTX]

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+1 )

[Chris.d514]

Guessing not too overstocked by those remarks. I was just going by the general 1 inch per gallon thing.

[eklikewhoa]

I updated my sig earlier today... refer to it below.

[SunnyHouTX]

IF you have proper filtration, you can do anything you want.

[LooksLater]

Do you still have ammonia and nitrite readings in that tank? If not, I'd say you're cool as long as you have good filtration, keep an eye on the nitrates and do enough water changes to keep that down to a healthy level. Inches per gallon is a good rule of thumb for most people, but like any rule it can be bent or outright pulverized if you understand the reasoning behind it and come up with an alternative way to do the same thing- keep clean water.

[tbui1178]

+1 on the filtration. But if you're worried, just do more water changes to keep the yucky stuff (ammonia) down.

[Totenkampf]

Just do the special EK 98% water changes! seriously though, monitor NH3 / NO2 and do more frequesnt water changes and / or add more filtration. I always got good results with biowheels on the outputs of canisters that are doing the mechanical filtration. Specifically a pair of Marineland Magnum 350 Pros with Eheim substrat in the media container on an overstocked rainbowfish planted 75 gallon.

[Complexity]

I'll take it one step further. The inches per gallon rule is absolutely useless. You can put two identical tanks side by side, with one tank having 10X the "inches" of fish and be safer than the other. What matters is whether the tank is cycled, the filtration, the tank size, which fish (some poop much more than others), whether planted or not, as well as other incidentals, such as feeding habits. With so many variables involved, the inches per gallon is only a minor factor in the whole scheme of things—in fact, so minor that it's virtually meaningless.

What matters are the water parameters. Once the tank is cycled and registers 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites on a regular basis, then all that's left is regular maintenance to keep the nitrates down.

However, if ammonia and/or nitrites are not 0 and there are fish in the tank, then extra water changes are necessary, even if that means performing water changes every single day.

Think of it as if you are a manual a/c thermostat. Your job is to test the water, and any time the parameters are out of range, perform water changes to bring it back into range. That means testing the water, doing a water change, then retesting. Then repeating the next day (or sooner, if necessary). Keep in mind that you will want to change the water before the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are already too high. So if you're right on the upper edge of the parameters and you won't have time to mess with it again later that day, then do the water change now because you know the parameters will rise above acceptable parameters before you can get your next chance.

So forget the inches per gallon rule and let the water parameters be your guide. Test and retest and retest until the water parameters are stable. That's the only way to know for sure.

[TonyO]

With my tank as overstocked as it is (about 3 inches of fish per gallon). Is there anything I should be majorly worried about until I get my daughters tank cycled and move her stock back over? I have been close to this amount in my tank for almost the entire time it has been set up. It cycled with close to these numbers.

Maybe everyone else knows what you have, but I don't. What's the tank size and the type, quantity, and current size of fish? I'll check the forum to see if it is posted somewhere. How about we start there, and then start working on other issues?

[Chris.d514]

Ammonia still present but dropping at .25 now. I did dunk my filter media from the move established tank in the new one a couple of times to hopefully move some bacteria. When I pulled the media out of my filter I found all the crs that I thought the ram had eaten apparently they are living in the filter now.

[Chris.d514]

14 gallon tank 2 dwarf gouramis(2.5-3" each), 5 emerald green corys(2 are 3" and 3 are 1-2"), 7 formerly painted glass tetras (1.5" each losing color just spots now), 8 zebras, 4 endlers, 3 ghost shrimp and now 6 crs that have been living in the filter.

[Complexity]

Ammonia still present but dropping at .25 now.

If ammonia is dropping without a water change, it would indicate that the bacteria is converting it to nitrites. That means you're tank is cycling, but it's not done yet. Generally, at this point, it's common to have a nitrite spike which is very deadly for fish. So you'll want to keep testing every day. Keep a close eye on the ammonia and nitrites. The ammonia should go down to 0 while the nitrites spike. The nitrite spike can sometimes happen very quickly so keep a close eye on them and perform water changes as dictated by the water parameters.

I did dunk my filter media from the move established tank in the new one a couple of times to hopefully move some bacteria.

Unfortunately, a dunk or two like this won't be of much help. What would be better is if you could put a dirty filter pad from an established healthy tank in your filter. The dirty filter is loaded with bacteria.

When I pulled the media out of my filter I found all the crs that I thought the ram had eaten apparently they are living in the filter now.

You can put a sponge prefilter on your intake tube to prevent them from getting sucked in.

[Chris.d514]

I'm ok with the crs living there cause the gourami chase them trying to eat them and I figured them all dead weeks ago.