Is my tank overstocked? Please help!

[drew123451]

Hey everyone! So, about 4 months ago I set up a Red Sea 20g Max Nano. It’s been an awesome tank but my concern is that it might be overstocked. I know 4-5 is typically the max on fish but if they are juvenile you can possibly get away with more. I know opinions vary on that. Anyways I currently have 6 fish in the tank along with an anemone, war coral frags, hammer frag and some various zoas all of which have been doing very well with the 2ish months I’ve had them in there. I also have 5 tiny hermit crabs (not even the size of my pinky nail), a very small emerald crab and a relatively small cleaner shrimp. But I’m more concerned about the fish. The fish I have go as follows, 2 clown fish (very small juveniles, almost a half inch), yellow watchmen goby (around an inch and a half, probably less), banggai cardinal (about an inch), purple fire fish (around 2 inches) and then a pipe fish which is tiny in every sense, probably about the size of a toothpick. I feed everything about once every day or two and also have a large population of copepods and rotifers. I’m also in the process of setting up a refugium with chaeto algae. I have noticed the water is a little bit cloudy and doesn’t seem to settle. I can physically see the little white particles floating around and idk what it is. I’m thinking it could possibly be that it’s overstocked but I don’t know? It’s been that way for a few days before I added the watchmen, pipe and banggai. Lmk what you guys think. Here’s a pic of the tank before everything was added so you get an idea of how the rocks and substrate are set up.

My water levels are
Calcium: 430
Magnesium: 1440
Alkalinity: 10.4
Ammonia: 0
Salinity: 1.025

 

[drew123451]

Hey everyone! So, about 4 months ago I set up a Red Sea 20g Max Nano. It’s been an awesome tank but my concern is that it might be overstocked. I know 4-5 is typically the max on fish but if they are juvenile you can possibly get away with more. I know opinions vary on that. Anyways I currently have 6 fish in the tank along with an anemone, war coral frags, hammer frag and some various zoas all of which have been doing very well with the 2ish months I’ve had them in there. I also have 5 tiny hermit crabs (not even the size of my pinky nail), a very small emerald crab and a relatively small cleaner shrimp. But I’m more concerned about the fish. The fish I have go as follows, 2 clown fish (very small juveniles, almost a half inch), yellow watchmen goby (around an inch and a half, probably less), banggai cardinal (about an inch), purple fire fish (around 2 inches) and then a pipe fish which is tiny in every sense, probably about the size of a toothpick. I feed everything about once every day or two and also have a large population of copepods and rotifers. I’m also in the process of setting up a refugium with chaeto algae. I have noticed the water is a little bit cloudy and doesn’t seem to settle. I can physically see the little white particles floating around and idk what it is. I’m thinking it could possibly be that it’s overstocked but I don’t know? It’s been that way for a few days before I added the watchmen, pipe and banggai. Lmk what you guys think. Here’s a pic of the tank before everything was added so you get an idea of how the rocks and substrate are set up.

My water levels are
Calcium: 430
Magnesium: 1440
Alkalinity: 10.4
Ammonia: 0
Salinity: 1.025

Forgot to say also, I keep my water at 78 degrees and Im running red seas light which from what I heard is a good light‍. Also forgot to say, in the concern of an overstocked tank I tried to sell my fire fish since he’s the biggest of the bunch but couldn’t catch the sucker for the life of me!

 

[Rjmul]

If the fish aren't fighting, and your nutrients aren't wildly out of control, or your ammonia isn't spiking, the tanks not overstocked.

 

[drew123451]

If the fish aren't fighting, and your nutrients aren't wildly out of control, or your ammonia isn't spiking, the tanks not overstocked.

Yeah that is what I was thinking. Although the the 3 new fish have only been in there for a little over a week, the ammonia and so forth has stayed steady. The only reason I put the amount of fish I did was because of the size. Having them almost all be juvenile (except the fire fish) I think I can get away with it. I also haven’t noticed any fighting. The fire fish took a little nip at the pipe fish when I first added him but I haven’t seen that behavior since.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Agree with Rjmul, if everyone is happy and healthy and you are keeping no3/po4 at good levels then go with it.

 

[davidcalgary29]

I'm impressed that you've been able to keep a pipefish with aggressive tankmates like clownfish. Bravo!

 

[DonTavo27]

Do you have filter socks, or filter floss in the filtration chambers? That and some Chemi Pure would help clear up your water, and a good protein Skimmer to go along with it.

 

[drew123451]

Do you have filter socks, or filter floss in the filtration chambers? That and some Chemi Pure would help clear up your water, and a good protein Skimmer to go along with it.

Thanks for the reply! Yes I do have a filter sock and a skimmer. Both just from the AIO system from Red Sea. Considering the price I paid for a 20g AIO I’m assuming the skimmer is some what good? I could definitely try some Chemi Pure, I didn’t think of that. If you have any other recommendations I’m open to them. Also, is chemi pure similar to carbon? Because I already have red seas reef spec carbon in my sump and just realized I haven’t replaced it since I got the tank set up.

 

[ZoWhat]

There's always room for one more

 

[drew123451]

Thanks for the reply! Yes I do have a filter sock and a skimmer. Both just from the AIO system from Red Sea. Considering the price I paid for a 20g AIO I’m assuming the skimmer is some what good? I could definitely try some Chemi Pure, I didn’t think of that. If you have any other recommendations I’m open to them. Also, is chemi pure similar to carbon? Because I already have red seas reef spec carbon in my sump and just realized I haven’t replaced it since I got the tank set up.

I’m thinking not replacing the carbon could be the issue?

 

[Dkmoo]

as they get bigger, eventually you will see aggression as i don't see a ton of different rock features to really alleviate the territorial disputes that'll happen. Hopefully by then you'll already have upgraded to a 40G.

in a 20G, as adults, the 2 clown plus the YWG and maybe 1 more fish would be max

its less about keeping the waste down with fancy skimmers and refugium/maintain parameters, its more about keeping the fish happy and stress free, which will be difficult as your current 6 fish all start to grow.

 

[drew123451]

Hahaha!

 

[drew123451]

as they get bigger, eventually you will see aggression as i don't see a ton of different rock features to really alleviate the territorial disputes that'll happen. Hopefully by then you'll already have upgraded to a 40G.

in a 20G, as adults, the 2 clown plus the YWG and maybe 1 more fish would be max

its less about keeping the waste down with fancy skimmers and refugium/maintain parameters, its more about keeping the fish happy and stress free, which will be difficult as your current 6 fish all start to grow.

Yeah the plan was never to keep them in there long term. I might even still take the fire fish out if I can catch him. I’ll be upgrading in a year but they might be getting too big before then. So like I said, I’ll start off loading if I’m running into issues.

 

[drew123451]

I'm impressed that you've been able to keep a pipefish with aggressive tankmates like clownfish. Bravo!

Thanks! I’ve yet to notice any aggression towards the little guy. He swims past the clowns all the time and they don’t seem to mind him. It could be because the clowns tend to hangout up front with the anemone while the pipe fish stays in the substrates and around the back of the tank.

 

[hikermike]

You could probably add more in the future...just watch the ammonia and nitrates. as the tank ages it can balance better. I bet the cloudiness is the ywg churning up the sand every night. That's what happens in my tank. Look at the environment. The ywg probably has his little spot as does the clownfish. The Bengai is a slow swimmer and the firefish minds his own business. Could maybe add one tank swimmer like a wrasse or something but It might upset the balance of space for the others. You could add some shrimp or crabs without adding to bioload. An emerald crab will help keep things clean,. an arrow crab will help with worms but even though the body is small they occupy a lot of space and grow quickly and dominate the tank. Shrimp add color. and are very interesting and fun. Most importantly...add slowly...give a lot of time for tank to age and adapt.