Gauging sustainable Bioload in a Reef Aquarium

[Timothy Tom]

I have a 26 month old 150 gallon reef aquarium. I have accumulated
multiple SPS, LPS, fish, invertebrates, and cleaning snails/crabs
over the life of the tank, which appear to be healthy. I still come
across a coral /fish which I find beautiful, and have a desire to add
it to the tank, however I am becoming worried that at some point the
tank will have too much Bioload and become susceptible to a rapid
crash. Is there some way of gauging that perhaps a tank is becoming
overpopulated other than by monitoring Nitrates, Phosphates, and the
general appearance of the life in the tank? Currently the tank has
zero nitrates, zero phosphates, a pH range between 8.13-8.30. Sps
corals are growing in the tank.

[Jimmy Chen]

> I have a 26 month old 150 gallon reef aquarium.

> Is there some way of gauging that perhaps a tank is becoming
> overpopulated other than by monitoring Nitrates, Phosphates, and the
> general appearance of the life in the tank?

Generally speaking, a tank should be out of room for you to add any more
corals after 26 months of healthy growth. ;p

jc

[Stan Peterson]

Doesn't that assume that you've been adding as much as you can as often
as you can from the beginning? Would there be any problems by having,
say 1/2 of your room for adding stuff left at 26 months, or are you
saying that no matter what you have in your tank, after 26 months it
should have grown enough to be at tank capacity?



Jimmy Chen wrote:
e life in the tank?
>
>
> Generally speaking, a tank should be out of room for you to add any more
> corals after 26 months of healthy growth. ;p
>
> jc
>
>

[Jimmy Chen]

> Doesn't that assume that you've been adding as much as you can as often
> as you can from the beginning?

The assumption I made and stated was "after 26 months of healthy growth."
.... ;p

> Would there be any problems by having,
> say 1/2 of your room for adding stuff left at 26 months, or are you
> saying that no matter what you have in your tank, after 26 months it
> should have grown enough to be at tank capacity?

Other then LPS, the statement generally holds true in a healthy tank. Since
Tim indicated SPS and LPS, its safe to assume his tank should be pretty much
out of room by now, unless he only recently added the SPS corals. Many SPS
that started from frags can have a span of more then 8" after 12-18 months.
This kind of grow rate in a healthy tank is also common for a softie setup.
LPS is about the only group that will not display this kind of fast growth.

jc

[Timothy Tom]

I have only had a significant number of SPS frags in my tank for a
couple of months (since I installed a 250 watt HQI MH). I have no
doubt that in another 26 months the tank will indeed be out of space
for further additions.

[Jimmy Chen]

> I have only had a significant number of SPS frags in my tank for a
> couple of months

Then I highly suggest you sit back, relax and give your wallet a rest. Just
keep an eye on your pH/alk/Ca and the also important PO4 level. Keep the PO4
at below 0.03ppm and you will have a tank full of SPS within 12 months.

jc