Bio laod

Anyone know how to calculate the bio laod for a tank.

 

If you mean fish stocking - its generally 1 inch of fish for every 5 US gallons of salt water or there abouts

its a general principle and a number of factors will influence this equation equalling a light/ medium or heavy bioload

water quality is key IME providing you can maintain paramemeters within acceptable limits then its fair to say your tank is not over stocked in terms of bioload (fish swimming space etc is a different matter and that principle should be kept in mind irrespective of current bioload, stocking capacity and water quality)

no 2 tanks are perfectly identical - equipment varies as do the inhabitants stocked
but basically if you can keep control of nitrate, phosphate and at same time ensure there is adequate dissolved oxygen in the system for the inhabitants and you have margin for error in case of power out or equipment failure (IEG heater sticking or chiller breakdown = Warmer water and less oxygen)

then you tank is within safe limits in terms of bioload

Steve

 

Thanks Steve I have a 225 gallon with 1 Niger,1 Queen,1 Pinktail and 1 Durgeon Trigger a 3" LSB 18 watt UV a wet/dry that has bio-balls(which filled and Instant Ocean bucket)my skimmer is Pro-Clear Aquatics 250 my return is a Mag12 my Nitrate runs 20-40ppm what do I need to do to add a Clown Trigeer Golden Puffer and a Lionfish and keep the Nitrates a little lower or would that put me overstocked.

 

Pretty much 25-35% weekly water changes since all of those animals will get big and have heavy waste.

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What are your Ammonia and Nitrite readings? I had a long term problem with nitrates. The way I got them under control was by changing my sump setup to allow adding a refugium.

 

ammonia 0ppm nitrite 0ppm without changing sumps I have 9"x10"x 24" space for a better skimmer any suggestions

 

Nitrate between 20 and 40ppm is not overly excessive for a FOWLR tank

do you periodically rinse of those bioballs
or do you have something like a filter sock or filter pads between the exit from overflow and the bioballs? it may be a simple case of sediment build up on the bioballs or on the base of the sump under the bioballs, that is breaking down and creating those nitrates

I would focus my attention on that area 1st
I would remove but keep wet, the bioballs in some tank water at next water change
rinse them (shake them about) in the old tank water and then replace

check your nitrates a week after doing this, and hopefully they will be lower
if you dont have anything between the overflow and bioballs, the addition of a filter sock, which you can remove, clean and replace on a weekly basis, will then help to prevent the detrius build up for future and you wont have to clean those bioballs

try this 1st as it should combined with water changes reduce your nitrates and then you can consider further stocking
Steve

 

Thanks Steve yes I have two sponges in my prefilter which I rinse every other day.There is a 100 micron pad on drip plate(now) bought a used Magnum 350 and modified it to remove 1/4" of sediment under bio-ball section.+k for you thanks again.