Stupid question alert No.3 - Stocking levels

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Jeff
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Right I have been doing some googling (not the dodgy kind) about stocking levels, and 1 website says that I can have 49 inches (4ft) of fish. Now what hell does that mean in practical terms?

I have a 180L tank and I currently have:
5 endler guppies
5 black orange mollies
2 Cory Panda
10 Neon tetra
4 danios
5 yellow tetra thingy's

Now taking into account that some of them will grow, can I add anymore fish? Or have I overstocked all ready?
AshLawson
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49” of fish (depending how the calculator is set up) I believe means that the total length of all the adult size fish added together totalling about 49” is about what you can handle.
The size however, is only one aspect! The amount of bio waste produced by different species needs to be taken into consideration along with your filtration. Depending on what the calculator actually takes into account that figure maybe spot on or totally off!
Which website gave you that info and did it give you a % value of how well stocked you are with those numbers?
200l 1000x500 planted Amazonian, 24 x Paracheirodon innesi, 10 x Hyphessobrycon megalopterus, 6 x Corydoras Sterbai, 1 x BNP. Still to add a pair of Angels
2 x Fluval U4 internal
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Ric
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...plus, what did you put in for "Yellow Tetra Thingy"? Its not a species I have come across before ROFL
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Stephen
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Hi Jeff

If you have the original 600L/h Juwel filter pump then I would say your fully stocked based on the filtration.
If you have upgraded the filter pump to the Juwel 1000L/h then you are around 70-75% stocked based on the aquarium size.
Stocking is based not only on the aquarium size but also the ability to safely filter the stocking level (bioload).

Hope it helsp
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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Danmassey
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There's a good website someone on these forums told me about called aqadvisor. You plug in your tank dimensions and filter specifications and then the fish you have. It will tell you your stocking levels, info on water changes and any incompatibility with the fish
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plankton
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You need at least 4 more panda corys, they are gregarious and need a group. ;)
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Martinspuddle
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Ric wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 16:08 pm ...plus, what did you put in for "Yellow Tetra Thingy"? Its not a species I have come across before ROFL
That be 'Yellow Piranhas' @Ric :grin:
WARNING - DO NOT BREED, FEED OR PET THE PUDDLE! :dodgy2:
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Jeff
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OK, I am currently waiitng for the post lady to deliver my 1.5kg of bio gravel from www.filterpro.co.uk, as after watching his video on youtube last week he showed how to set up a juwel filter properly, so once that has all cycled for a few weeks, I could potentially add a few more, on a side note my water levels have been the following
Date Ammonia NH3 - NH4 Nitrate N03 Nitrite N02
16 June 2020 0.25 10 0.5
18 June 2020 0.25 20 0.25
20 June 2020 0.25 5 0.25
22 June 2020 0.25 2.5 0
23 June 2020 0.25 5 0
24 June 2020 0.25 5 0
27 June 2020 0.25 5 0
30 June 2020 0.25 0 0
12 July 2020 0.25 5 0
17 July 2020 0.25 5 0
26 July 2020 0.25 10 0
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Stephen
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Jeff wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:58 pm OK, I am currently waiitng for the post lady to deliver my 1.5kg of bio gravel from www.filterpro.co.uk, as after watching his video on youtube last week he showed how to set up a juwel filter properly
Hi Jeff

Richard aka Pondguru (the owner of filterpro.co.uk) has not shown you how to set up a Juwel internal filter properly.
What he has done is shown you how to remove the manufacturers media and replace it with his own media although he kept the foams.
Nearly all his videos are for selling his products, many of his youtube videos are titles "Pimp my Filter", all done to sell his products.
In principle his "pimp" videos are fine.
I often "pimp" external filters and post my images/drawings on this forum.

Pondguru youtube Pimp My Filter (Juwel) video

I do not like the way he runs down the Eheim Pro4 600 and the design (see Pimp My Filter Eheim Pro 4 600 Here).
I have the Eheim Pro3 600 & the Eheim Pro4 600 and both filters are superb.
He then replaced all the media (except the pre-filter) with his own foams and biological media. He is selling his stuff, that's what he does.
pondguru/filterpro.co.uk wrote:"I expected something that fitted together properly" , "I am struggling to find anything positive.. this is one I cannot recommend at all", "It's not a good filter at all".
I find it strange that he recommends using Eheim Mech (not the pro) in some of his latest videos and says how good it is.
I also find it strange that he has created his "bio gravel" based on Eheim's Substratpro.
I have had my Eheim Pro3 600 for several years now and have no issues whatsoever, hence I bought the Eheim Pro4 version.
They are damn good filters, I won't use anything else for a large aquarium.

I also find it somewhat strange that he states that the Juwel filter M is suitable for aquarium of around 150L (based on using his media) and no mention that the pump head can be/should be upgraded.
As you have a 180L aquarium with the Juwel M filter, I wrote (and quote)
Stephen wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 16:25 pm If you have the original 600L/h Juwel filter pump then I would say your fully stocked based on the filtration.
If you have upgraded the filter pump to the Juwel 1000L/h then you are around 70-75% stocked based on the aquarium size.
Stocking is based not only on the aquarium size but also the ability to safely filter the stocking level (bioload).
Hope it helps
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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Jeff
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Erm not really :D

Well its a fair point about him flogging his own products (which I took into account) but he also mentioned a few things that has been mentioned on this forum i.e. swapping the foam media about, also when I had an aquarium many years ago it was always stressed to add more media balls, so I thought lets give a go, and I had to buy the media from somewhere.

As I had already bought some juwel media stuff (white rock thingy's) I have left that inside the tank and will leave it in there for a few weeks so as not to deprive my tank of any bacteria that has built up over the lasrt few weeks.

In effect I have only removed 1 essential foam pad (Fine Blue) and 1 optional (Green Nitrax) one, so I am expecting a slight dip in water quality over the next couple of weeks but then hopefully it should be better. ::thumbu::

Now whats the benefit of buying the bigger pump? As at the moment I have to position my outflow spout quite carefully already otherwise I get a big depression in the gravel, with a bigger one I am thininking it will be even worse.
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