How much is to much ?

[prison police]

I need your opinions ( good or bad) I have a 24g nano with 50/50 lights (came with unit) I have basically made it a "pair" only tank and will have pics soon. Does the Bio load only affected by lots of fish or lots of corals or both? I currently have (1)pair of Clarkii clowns,(1) pair of neon gobys,(1) pair of Coral Banded shrimp,with leathers,a brain,mushrooms,small colt,small frags of zoos and a Chili coral all doing great! All been in for a week. Please give me your opinions.I need to fix before problems occur. Is it possible to place a pair of small jawfish in and more small zoo frags and then STOP! Thanks

PS.... How often should I do a water change?????

 

[sir_dudeguy]

well as far as filtering capabilities (breaking down amonia) the bioload is only affected by stuff thats actually making waste, which would be fish, and very little from shrimp and snails and stuff (imo, i wouldnt even bother counting snails like astreas and ceriths...i've got 60 of them in my tank and i never seen any poo from them layin around, nor have i seen any of them poo. I'm sure they do, but its just so little, you know what i mean?) I would count stuff like turbos tho, cuz they poo a lot.

But corals dont make waste (at least none of the ones i've seen do). Corals DO, however, take up the trace elements, so if you're counting that into your "bioload" then yes, corals will...but they only take those up, in which case you can just either dose them, or restore them w/water changes.

So imo, corals dont count towards bioload

 

[Illuminati]

When you say "All been in a week" you didn't put all the fish in at one time did you? If so you are in for a world of trouble.

Also the Chili and Leather will get huge on you, I personally would not have either.

 

[prison police]

No the fish was not placed in all at one time. I have a 75g I will place what ever gets big on me into it. I was just wondering how often would you do water changes. Or I also have Liquid Calcium,Iodine,and etc for it also. I know that smaller the tank,the more I need to keep up on. Thanks guys.Keep the opinions coming you guys/gals are great!

 

[Illuminati]

Gotcha, I didn't notice your signature until just now

I do weekly 5 gallon water changes on mine. When I do the waterchange I replace my filter floss in chamber 1 (or clean the black sponge if you use that). That is a major nitrate trap back there.

 

[Jordan55]

The jawfish pair probably will not will work in that size tank (24 gallon) because they need a 12-24 inches of space between burrows. Even if the tank is that long, that means they would have to make a burrow end to end, which is risky. Why not try a pair of burrowing gobies like watchmans, randalls, orange spots, pink bars. etc?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

ya i agree w/jordan. I've read that each jawfish needs a 2 ft square to call their own before considering adding another jawfish. So the minimum for 2 jawfish would be 4 sq ft. Now you can have one jawfish in a smaller tank, and then have OTHER fish, just not another jawfish.

 

[jasutton]

i dont think you should anymore fish to the tank at all, you already have four fish in there. Anymore and i think thats too many

 

[prison police]

I do not have any jawfish at all.I am asking if a pair of jaws would be ok?

 

[reefbuzz]

Jawfish also need at least a 6 inch sandbed, usually more, and bigger grain size sand to make burrows.

 

[jasutton]

i know you dont have any jawfish, but you have four fish without the jawfish. I think that is plenty...any more and you will be crowding and significantly adding to your bioload, which in a nano, can cause erratic swings in chemistry.

 

[prison police]

Thanks everyone for your info and opinions. I will let well enough alone and sit back and enjoy. Thanks agian!

 

[jasutton]

strong work, i have a hard time with self restraint...