Over Population and Over Filtration.

[BlazinNano]

This is not towards a certain tank or fish. In freshwater we tend to over stock tanks due to stop aggression or just because we want lots of fish. Now most people who over stock also have filtration the is double or triple what would be normal. Now what do people think about over stocking saltwater tanks, not talking about a tang in 20 gallon that is a size issue. Would you ever overstock, appropriately sized, and just have extra filtration?

 

[brandon429]

There is no degree of practical bioload you can keep in a reef tank that will outpace only rocks and sand. Extra surface area isn’t required in reefing.


adding too many fish will kill by disease or aggression it won’t kill by free ammonia, and free ammonia is why people stack on tons of extra surface area as a freshwater carryover habit. Api .25 stuck readings (all false) also drive this practice. Rocks and sand are all you need to convert ammonia (well just rocks, actually says bare bottom owners)

Special threads exist nowadays where we test taking surface area down to the lowest possible levels while keeping lots of fish; that is why we know no reef tanks on this site are lacking surface area as they sit right now.

 

[Zar]

In my experience, Fish capacity usually centers around space and bio-load. If fish aren't getting into territorial squabbles constantly and you are able to handle the bio load without nutrient swings then I would say everything is good. Just need to ensure the fish have plenty of space to play, eat, sleep, and hide from one another without competition. You may run into issues as some of the fish continue to grow and mature. For filtration, everyone has their own ways of doing things. I like to run oversize skimmer on top of oversize scrubber, and on top a oversize uv sterilizer.