# Am i over stocked?



## Huds21 (Sep 10, 2013)

Ok I have a fifty five gallon tank and am wondering if I have enough fish, to many, or can get a couple more. I have a marineland penguin 350 plus a sponge filter. In the tank there are some live plants, some driftwood, and a couple caves. The fish that are in there are two tiger barbs, two albino tiger barbs, two green tiger barbs, three Odessa barbs, three golden barbs, two julli cory cats, two zebra loaches, and one L001 pleco. I was doing about a 25% water change once a week but have now split that to two smaller ones a week.


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

aquaadvisor.com

That site states your @ 60% capacity. 

It also has some recommendations.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You could easily increase 6-8 more, but I would also increase to 50% water changed per week if you did so. The amount of water changed weekly should incrementally increase with the stocking level. Choose from the same family of fish you have currently. Most of those you list do better with larger schools/shoals.


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## Huds21 (Sep 10, 2013)

now how accurate is that site ?


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Huds21 said:


> now how accurate is that site ?


It's a decent reference,but not the bible for knowledgable keepers.
If your new I would follow all they say as they are on the safe side,and you can see how your keeping skills progress.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Not suggested to do smaller changes twice a week as opposed to one larger one each week. Your not diluting the toxins enough that way.


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## Huds21 (Sep 10, 2013)

Ok so I should just stick to the larger once a week water change then huh


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Removing as much water at one time removes more of the nutrients and replaces more volume with fresh water.If you were supposed to do 50% a week and wanted to "split " it into two changes thenI would do at least 35-40% X2.It's just not worth doing anything less than 33% and that is a minimum(I never do less even if it is my third time in the same week).


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## Huds21 (Sep 10, 2013)

alright so I should definitely increase my water change of 25% as it is not enough for my tank and population is what your saying correct. whether it is once a week or a couple times a week.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Believe it!The best thing you can do for your fish (and wallet) is simply change water.The cleaner your water the less your filter will need service($),the less the chances of disease and need for meds($),and the faster your fish will grow and be happy.


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

If your nitrate level goes up (as an example) 10 ppm per week and you do a 50% wc once per week your NO3 will vary between 10 and 20 as the week goes on. If you do a 25% wc twice a week then your NO3 will vary between 15.3 and 20.4. More work, and your NO3 levels are higher.

For those that are curious the same rise rate of NO3 with a once weekly 25% wc would leave levels moving between 30 and 40. Twice weekly changes of 50% would put NO3 between 5.3 and 10.5 PPM.

Of course there is a lot more to changing water than just managing NO3 levels.


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

Huds21 said:


> Ok I have a fifty five gallon tank and am wondering if I have enough fish, to many, or can get a couple more. I have a marineland penguin 350 plus a sponge filter. In the tank there are some live plants, some driftwood, and a couple caves. The fish that are in there are two tiger barbs, two albino tiger barbs, two green tiger barbs, three Odessa barbs, three golden barbs, two julli cory cats, two zebra loaches, and one L001 pleco. I was doing about a 25% water change once a week but have now split that to two smaller ones a week.


You've got room for more fish. Cory cats prefer to be kept in groups...that rule is sort of a must for long term cory cat success. Watching a shoal of cory's play is one of the very best parts of having a FW aquarium IMO. I'd stick with the same subspecies and get 3-4 more Julii's, always keeping them in a group of 5-6. They can live for many years. I'd probably get another loach too, maybe a couple. Your pleco may require a larger tank someday as they can grow quite large. After adding corys and a loach you'd still have room for a small number of fish depending on what you want. What's on your fish wish list?


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## Huds21 (Sep 10, 2013)

if I did end up gettingg more I would defiantly get some more corydoras and or loaches


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