Overstocked tank, will this help?

[armystud0911]

Ok, I have a 55gal tank that I have been cycling and stocking for 4 months now.
Here is what I have-
4 Glow light tetras
3 Blue tetras
10 Jumbo neon tetras
3 Pineapple swordtails (1 male, two female)
3 Mickey mouse platies
9 Various guppies
1 Ghost catfish
2 Bamboo fan shrimp
6 Gold mystery snails
1 Albino pleco

Obviously this is stretching it, unfortunately I stocked it under the advice of the lfs and some of the books I have read. Right now I am reading 0ppm amonia and .1ppm nitrite. I have a penguin bio wheel 330 filter with the extra filter cartridges filled with activated carbon. The tank also came with a protein skimmer (I got it at a garage sale) which I am using to add a little more O2, and biological and chemical filtration as I have some more activated carbon in its return bin. Is this still acceptable or should I get another 10gal or something to hold a few of these guys? I'd rather not spend any more money at this time but if you think this is really way to much I guess I can do it.

 

[Buggieboy]

Hi and welcome, I'd remove the carbon and replace with chramic { not sure on spelling} to help remove amonia from the tank. The only time I add carbon to any of my tanks {24} is to remove meds from the water. I like the crushe chramic. I use it in my african tank to help with amoni removal for it's over stocked to keep aggrasion down. I've never really been a beleaver in if a tank over stocked or not. As long as ther's enought filtrations and it's cleaned on a regular bases.
I'd say for a 55g tank your close to being over stocked. I'm not sure on if it.s 1 fish per 3inches of space or if it's 1 for ever 2inches of space. Never really looked at that part of it. But I would remove the carbon and replace with crush churamic to help with amonia that will cause your nitrites to go up do to a heavly stocked tank. keep the carbon around incase you need to remove med from the tank.

 

[armystud0911]

Actually, the stuff I have in my tank is called ammo-carb, its a little different than pure activated carbon. I have a link to it here

 

[Star_Rider]

it does appear that you are stretching the load limit of the tank a bit.


normally , I don't run carbon. but I was reading an article in a recent aquarium magazine. the author was talking about filters/filtration..and recommended the use of carbon in some intances.
your case would have been one of those instances. the idea is that carbon removes some pollutants from the tank(how long depends on several factors) but in an overstocked tank(slightly) the use of carbon can help removes some of those pollutants between water changes. the author did go on to recommend atleast 20% weekly water changes.

I'm curious tho..it appears you may still be cycling ot experiencing mini spikes. normally a 4 month old tank shouldhave completed the cycle.

the use of ammo/carb may have inhibited your cycle.

so it's up to you to decide..more ceramic rings for bio filter or add carbon to help reduce pollutants in the tank.
but definately keep an eye on that nitrite

 

[Hound]

I have to agree that the ammo carb is probably slowing the cycle to a degree, but it's also keeping his fish alive durring the cycle. Your filter should be able to handle that bio load on it's own, however if it does have media baskets it may be a good idea to add some bio media in one of them.

Now then my honest opinion here would be to go ahead and get a 10g or 20g tank set up and move the guppies and platies to that tank. You can get 10g set ups from various sources for $50 and just add substrate. Since the ammo carb thing seems to be working for you you can put some in a nylon bag and place it in the filter. I just think in the long run having 2 tanks instead of one overloaded would be better. If having 2 tanks is not your thing have you asked the lfs if you could return some of the fish?

At least you know to test your water parameters. You said you had ammonia 0ppm, nitrite .1ppm, but have you been testing for nitrate also?

 

[jm1212]

i would go ahead and get a 20 gallon for the platies, 1/2 of the guppies, and the swordtails, and then you could get a couple more blue tetras to even out the school

 

[armystud0911]

I think I will do that, a couple of girls in my house were wanting me to set up a tank in one of the common areas of the house, I saw a 12 gallon bowfront on sale at my lfs for $60 with lighting, I think I'll pick one of those up and be done with it. BTW, I got an aquaclear 110/500 filter today, how long do you think I should leave the bio-wheels from my penguin 330 in the media bin?

*Edit my nitrite is .01ppm not .1 sorry bout that typo. The reason why I am still having mini spikes is because I just added my last batch of fish. I did a fishy cycle and just took my sweet time, slowly adding a fish or so every week or two.

Also, how do fish stores keep overstocked tanks? Do they just loose a lot of fish or what?

 

[dorkfish]

Also, how do fish stores keep overstocked tanks? Do they just loose a lot of fish or what?

LFS tanks are merely for keeping the fish alive until you or someone else buys the fish, they are not meant for long term care of the fish.

If it weren't for the pleco in there, I'd personally say your not really overstocked, but still pushing it.

 

[plah831]

armystud, I second the vote to move some of the smaller, hardier fish to another tank. Ghost catfish, or glass catfish Kryptopterus minor, are very sensitive and require a school of at least 5 to remain healthy. Keeping them alone will drastically shorten their lifespan due to stress. I have a relatively small school of 5, and they're much happier than when I even had 3.

 

[Rain_302]

[/QUOTE]Also, how do fish stores keep overstocked tanks? Do they just loose a lot of fish or what?[/QUOTE]

The tanks are overstocked as far as space goes, but do you know the kind of filtration that is going on the back room? I work at a large pet store and people say that all the time (our tanks are overcrowded), but what they don't know is we are running a filtration system that is able to do what we need it to do and keep the water levels in perfect shape. All of our tanks are connected to our main filtration unit, so we are running over 2000 gal. through those tanks with many many types of filtration. I hope this helps it seem a little more humane and bring some more understanding to why they are like that.