mling January 4, 2009 Share January 4, 2009 I belive there is a general rule on how many inches of fish you should have per gallon of tank. What is this inch to gallon ratio ? I am trying to decide how many more fishes I can get for my 156. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhcorals January 4, 2009 Share January 4, 2009 How many and what fish do you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rascal January 4, 2009 Share January 4, 2009 I belive there is a general rule on how many inches of fish you should have per gallon of tank.What is this inch to gallon ratio ? I am trying to decide how many more fishes I can get for my 156. I think it depends a lot on the fish and how much room they need, how much they eat and poop, how much open space and hiding/sleeping spots you have, your nutrient processing and export capability, the overall system volume, refugium, etc. . . how aggressive/territorial the fish are . . . . In other words, much like the watts/gallon, lbs liver rock / gallon, general rules like that are only helpful to a point. Anyway, I have a 5'x2'x2' 150gallon, and here is my fish load: 3 occelaris clowns 4 tangs (hippo, tomini, yellow, powder brown) 1 flame angel 1 royal gramma 4 lyretail anthias 2 pijama cardinals 1 cleaner wrasse 1 yw goby Need to get/replace: copperband butterfly; 6-line wrasse. Possibly add, 1 or two more anthias So that will be about 18-21 fish with a total expected size of 80-110 inches, give or take. No idea how this comports with the inches per gallon rule, but it works for me in my system. Everyone gets along, and when I keep up on maintenance nutrient levels stay low and sps do well. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak January 4, 2009 Share January 4, 2009 its a decent measure for newbies but it's only the most basic of rules, go figure an adult pacific blue tank/hippo tang/dory gets to be about 15" on average now add up say a school of 5 bangaii cardinals at roughly 3" a piece makes 15" would still put off less bio load than that single tang by a pretty wide margin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling January 4, 2009 Author Share January 4, 2009 How many and what fish do you have. I currently have the following 5 year old Black Ocellaris 2.5" 5 year old Pajama Cardinalfish 2" 2 year old Maroon Clown 2.5" 2 year old Flame Anglefish 2" 2 year old Bicolor Blenny 2" Sailfin Tang 4" Pacific Blue Tang 4" Firefish 2" Sixline wrasse 1.5" Royal Gramma 1.5" Knowing that the Sailfin and blue tang will get huge, I have stopped getting new fishes for now. Considering another large fish like a power brown tang. Would that be one too many large fishes ? Should I stop and just maybe get a few more little guys ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevearlen January 4, 2009 Share January 4, 2009 Knowing that the Sailfin and blue tang will get huge, I have stopped getting new fishes for now. I think that is wise move Considering another large fish like a power brown tang. Would that be one too many large fishes ? Yes, IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Reefer January 4, 2009 Share January 4, 2009 Microalgae can become a problem for you if your phosphate levels rise above 0.03 ppm. Nitrates levels should be kept below 0.2 ppm for a tank with sps in it. These are the major factors in deciding how many fish you will want to add to a reef system. You should buy good quality phosphate and nitrate test kits for readings at low levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling January 5, 2009 Author Share January 5, 2009 Microalgae can become a problem for you if your phosphate levels rise above 0.03 ppm. Nitrates levels should be kept below 0.2 ppm for a tank with sps in it. These are the major factors in deciding how many fish you will want to add to a reef system. You should buy good quality phosphate and nitrate test kits for readings at low levels. I use Sailfert test kits. Is this about as good a test kit u can get for readings at low levels ? Would my Deltec 600 skimmer allow me more live stock than normal ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grav January 6, 2009 Share January 6, 2009 If only it were as simple as inches per gallon. Consider the type of skimmer, coral intended, fuge (have one or not?) size, frequency of water changes, amount of rock, sand, other filtration.... all these factors are more relevant than total # of gallons. The best system IMHO is to test nitrates and if they are lower than needed for the types of coral you have, and accounting for the growth of current fish, then you can consider adding more fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 6, 2009 Share January 6, 2009 I belive there is a general rule on how many inches of fish you should have per gallon of tank.What is this inch to gallon ratio ? I am trying to decide how many more fishes I can get for my 156. If you want to go FOWLR, you can have more. If you want to stick with a reef, you may want to be more cautious in adding more livestock. Like Grav said, look at the health, coloration, and growth of your corals, and your water parameters and let those tell you whether or not there's more capacity to take on additional bioload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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