I was recently asked a question and was hoping someone could give me a yes or no answer to. Can you have too few fish in a tank? A friend asked as he lost most of his fish due to a faulty heater and has ended up with two small fish in his 100gal tank. He’s getting a lot of rubbish landing on his live rock and was wondering if he should add a few more fish to pick over the rocks. I’m not sure how to answer this as I know you can definitely overstock but not sure what under stocking would do.
hi and welcome.. I think the yes or no answer would be No. if the rocks are getting a layer of detritus then the problem is more likely not enough flow, not enough clean up crew or both.
I had a wp40 on a 4ft x 30 inch deep tank and it was easily able to send a wave back and forwards through the whole depth of the tank leaving no dead spots, so I would’ve thought 2 x wp25’s should be enough, especially as people seem to rate them for their ability to shift a lot of water. What I did notice with my wp40 was that it needed to be cleaned regularly, once a month, or it’s performance would start to drop off quite significantly. Maybe they just need a clean, repositioning slightly or a change of the settings.
one question I would ask is, where is all this crud coming from ?
It really sounds like bad housekeeping, does your mate ever blow down the rockwork to get the detritus into the water column? That needs doing every now and then as part of the general cleaning of the tank. A good turkey baster would be the thing or a powerhead with a perspex pipe on it as I used to use on my last tank. Once it was in the water column it mostly goes over the weir into filter socks or floss for removal, the rest of it should be cleaned up by the CUC then ideally the CUC would be able to keep on top of it, if not then you probably need more.
All that said, it is detritus not flatworms, dinos, cyano or anything else is it?
I really hadn’t thought it could be a maintenance issue as my cleaning schedule is strictly adhered too but not everyone has OCD about their tank😊. I’ll speak to him later and ask what his maintenance routine is. Thank you for the suggestions I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of this dilemma eventually.
Arborists are specialized in taking care of individual trees. They are knowledgeable about the needs of trees as well as trained and equipped to provide proper care. Hiring an arborist is a decision that should not be taken in a hurry. Proper tree care is an investment that leads to substantial returns in the future. Poorly maintained trees may result in significant loss and liability.