Bio Load

[aaronfeeney]

I understand why we don't want to add too many fish at once. But what affects on the bio load and bacteria colony do the corals have. I wonder how much coral, ie. zoos and mushrooms a guy would want to add per week? or 2 ? so as not to overload the bacteria and crash the tank.

 

[TJL]

Good question Aaron, but all depends on types and mass of said corals ie: some LPS corals like chalice,acans, brains etc... that are fed regulary definately have a greater bio-load than SPS or zoanthids/palys do. Then like any other introduction it also depends on overall system volume. So taking an educated guess I'd have to say matching the overall mass to LPS = Fish, SPS x10 or 15 ??? = Fish, Zoanthids x 3-5 = Fish. ???
My .02, Todd

 

[Krish]

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that corals use up calcium and all those other goodies we may dose for so if you add too many corals in at once, it may knock your parameters out of whack and may be a bit harder to get your levels back in check. You add them in slowly and it is a much easier to adjust your doses for the new additions.

Just a thought

 

[TJL]

Krish, thanks for adding on to this as I forgot to bring up this point and nearly crashed my system this spring doing exactly that. After 10+ yrs of keeping my tank primarily softies I decided (with temporary retirement) to go back to a mixed reef once again. I knowingly added way to many calcium consuming SPS to my system in to short a time then nearly paid dearly for it. Even after 28 years of keeping a reeftank the coral trading bug was just to much for me to resist. Fortunately I was able to stabalize everything with frequent water changes, testing and dosing before things turned ugly. Only lost one Monti cap colony.

Todd

 

[aaronfeeney]

very well, this helps a lot.