Lizzietheloach Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 (edited) Hi I have a Fluval 32 gallon with 10 zebra danios and 8 kuhli loaches. They all get along fine (with the exception of the zebrafish always trying to steal the loaches' food) and my nitrates are barely at 10 ppm when I do water changes every two weeks. Ammonia and nitrites always 0 and PH is steady. I was planning to get 8 more loaches, because I love them and their bioload is so small, but according to Aqadvisor that's way overstocked. That seems wrong, so I figured I'd check here. Thank you! Edited July 4 by Lizzietheloach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 (edited) I’m wondering if you meant zebra danios instead of zebra fish. Danios being way smaller nope, that wasn’t it. Only lists 1 zebra fish. Danio rerio Edited July 4 by Tony s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 I just went and played with it. 10 zebra danios with 16 kuhli’s only brought me to 94% stocked. For a standard 30g tank. I’d go ahead and wouldn’t even think twice about it The only thing I would be concerned about is with a Flex, you lose about 10% of total capacity with those baffles. I have 2 of the 15’s. I wish I would have realized that before getting them. How are you doing with the kuhlis behind the baffles. I spent a good 4 hrs getting them out after the first week. Then I cut sponges to cover the inlets 😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzietheloach Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 On 7/3/2024 at 10:28 PM, Tony s said: I’m wondering if you meant zebra danios instead of zebra fish. Danios being way smaller Yes, sorry. I meant zebra danios. Thanks for catching that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 It didn’t matter. I thought maybe they had something else called zebra fish, but, nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzietheloach Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 On 7/3/2024 at 10:36 PM, Tony s said: I just went and played with it. 10 zebra danios with 16 kuhli’s only brought me to 94% stocked. For a standard 30g tank. I’d go ahead and wouldn’t even think twice about it The only thing I would be concerned about is with a Flex, you lose about 10% of total capacity with those baffles. I have 2 of the 15’s. I wish I would have realized that before getting them. How are you doing with the kuhlis behind the baffles. I spent a good 4 hrs getting them out after the first week. Then I cut sponges to cover the inlets 😂 Oh, that's a relief! I suspect user error was involved in my calculation. I was going to add the 8 loaches and then maybe get some amano shrimp or hillstream loaches, but I don't want to mess up my tank. It's only 6 months old, so I'd like to be careful haha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 ultimately stocking levels come down to how much maintenance you want to do. the more heavily stocked, the more water changes etc. id would suggest if unsure work your way up slowly. you want 8 kuhli's but arent 100% sure, try starting with 4, and if its not an issue you can always add more down the road. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzietheloach Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 On 7/3/2024 at 10:55 PM, lefty o said: ultimately stocking levels come down to how much maintenance you want to do. the more heavily stocked, the more water changes etc. id would suggest if unsure work your way up slowly. you want 8 kuhli's but arent 100% sure, try starting with 4, and if its not an issue you can always add more down the road. I think you're right. Thank you! On 7/3/2024 at 10:36 PM, Tony s said: I just went and played with it. 10 zebra danios with 16 kuhli’s only brought me to 94% stocked. For a standard 30g tank. I’d go ahead and wouldn’t even think twice about it The only thing I would be concerned about is with a Flex, you lose about 10% of total capacity with those baffles. I have 2 of the 15’s. I wish I would have realized that before getting them. How are you doing with the kuhlis behind the baffles. I spent a good 4 hrs getting them out after the first week. Then I cut sponges to cover the inlets 😂 I feel silly asking this, but what part are the baffles? Are they the intake screens? So far I've been lucky enough that none of the loaches have made their way to the back 🤞 They're pretty chunky, so that might be why. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 On 7/3/2024 at 11:14 PM, Lizzietheloach said: but what part are the baffles Ok, I assumed you have the 32g flex tank. Possibly not? The baffle is what hold the flex filter and hides the heater and pump. It’s got the top and bottom slotted intakes. My kuhlis decided they didn’t like the front of the tank and decided they were going to live in the back. 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzietheloach Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 On 7/3/2024 at 11:23 PM, Tony s said: Ok, I assumed you have the 32g flex tank. Possibly not? The baffle is what hold the flex filter and hides the heater and pump. It’s got the top and bottom slotted intakes. My kuhlis decided they didn’t like the front of the tank and decided they were going to live in the back. 🤣 Yes! I do have that one. I like it pretty well. I may not do the curved front next time. Thankfully, our loaches haven't gone to the back yet. I think maybe they're too big to fit 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D191 Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 (edited) Filtration determines your stock levels. With the 32 flex you can load up biological media in the middle section of filter area. Get bio balls, put them in mesh bags for easy removal. Additionally you can go on Etsy and find special planters that will fit into that middle section. Many houseplants you can then grow right out of the top of the filter with roots sucking up nutrients from the water column. Edited July 5 by D191 Forgot 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzietheloach Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 On 7/5/2024 at 3:52 AM, D191 said: Filtration determines your stock levels. With the 32 flex you can load up biological media in the middle section of filter area. Get bio balls, put them in mesh bags for easy removal. Additionally you can go on Etsy and find special planters that will fit into that middle section. Many houseplants you can then grow right out of the top of the filter with roots sucking up nutrients from the water column. Oh cool! I've been slowing adding more and more live plants for that reason, but mostly easy, slow-growing ones like anubias and bucephalandra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 The other thing about the flex and aqadvisor. I'm not sure they have anything in the filter section for the estimate. I believe that pump is kinda proprietary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzietheloach Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 On 7/5/2024 at 2:45 PM, Tony s said: The other thing about the flex and aqadvisor. I'm not sure they have anything in the filter section for the estimate. I believe that pump is kinda proprietary Oh, what do you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 when you plug in a filter to that, it's usually a named brand filter. not sure the flex pump has a designation for that. or did you see the space to put in your filter size. I think for whatever fish you put in there, you should be good. The knock on the flex has been that in some ways the filter is too strong. I know it's way too strong for bettas and has to be dampened down a bit of course there's always the user defined gallons per minute. you could add in your filter there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 That may make a difference on whether it says you're overstocked or not. I have a hard time believing it says 16 kuhlis and 10 zebras are in any way overstocked for a 32g. I have 12 in my 15g. had 1 betta with them, but no longer. and maybe your kuhlis would come out more in a large school Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzietheloach Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 On 7/5/2024 at 3:38 PM, Tony s said: That may make a difference on whether it says you're overstocked or not. I have a hard time believing it says 16 kuhlis and 10 zebras are in any way overstocked for a 32g. I have 12 in my 15g. had 1 betta with them, but no longer. and maybe your kuhlis would come out more in a large school So it turns out I made a poor calculation. I had the right name of my tank in there, but I had the dimensions of my old tank, so AqAdvisor thought that it was too small. I adjusted and it's good now. I feel silly, but I'm relieved. Thank you so much for your help! I think I'm still going to go slow with continuing to add fish, just in case, because I haven't been in the hobby long enough to feel confident about it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 On 7/5/2024 at 4:59 PM, Lizzietheloach said: I think I'm still going to go slow with continuing to add fish, just in case, because I haven't been in the hobby long enough to feel confident about it. Going slow always makes things easier. This is a hobby for the patient! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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