What is considered a low bio-load?
- Thread starter MrCaveman
- Start date
guidedbyechoes
New member
There is no real hard and fast rule. It really depend on the size and number of fish you have.
It's hard to say without an idea of the fish in it.
One thing I will say though, most people forget when choosing fish stock that their sand, rock and corals take up a significant amount of liter/gallon space. Depending on how much you have, you may have as little as 100g water space to play with.
One thing I will say though, most people forget when choosing fish stock that their sand, rock and corals take up a significant amount of liter/gallon space. Depending on how much you have, you may have as little as 100g water space to play with.
MrCaveman
New member
True about the rock using available swimming space. I really like the minimalistic look. Plan is around 100-150lbs of rock for 2-3 islands. Prospective large fish would include acanthurus tenneti, 2x paracanthurus hepatus and blue throat trigger, plus smaller fish like clowns and few smaller wrasses, of course this is subject to change. I just feel like with the more swimming room and less fish to share territory, they will display more natural behaviors with less stress. This at least true with my snakes showing much more activity and natural behaviors when moved to a large enclosure. Plus I just like seeing the large fish swim unimpededly.
I personally wouldn't consider that low stock. If you take the general rule of thumb 1" of fish per 10g of water then you're pretty much full up. I work in metric so unfortunately don't know of any other guideline with US Gs.
acanthurus tenneti fully grown 11"
paracanthurus hepatus fully grown 12" x2 = 24"
Xanthichthys auromarginatus fully grown 11.8" (let's call it 12")
with just your larger fish (which, as I understand are all likely to fight each other) you have already used 47" which, by that general guideline would mean needing a 470g tank.
acanthurus tenneti fully grown 11"
paracanthurus hepatus fully grown 12" x2 = 24"
Xanthichthys auromarginatus fully grown 11.8" (let's call it 12")
with just your larger fish (which, as I understand are all likely to fight each other) you have already used 47" which, by that general guideline would mean needing a 470g tank.
Actually, in salt water there is no inches per gallon guideline. However if you put large fish in a short tank, it will look disproportionate and your fish may perceive that the tank is too small and "pace" back and forth driving them (and potentially you) nuts. And as MrCaveman above says, smaller fish in a larger tank will show more natural behavior. Now bioload is rarely the binding constraint on what you can put in a tank; it is almost always fish behavior and interaction. The smaller a tank (length more than gallons), the fewer members of the same ecological niche you can have. The other issue, is that some fish, such as tangs or angels, when they feel crowded, eliminate the crowded feeding by killing tank mates. Just FYI.
It is an old carryover from fresh water days. Not relevant to salt water.
