How many soft corals can I keep?

[DrC]

Hi there,

I wondered if anyone can help me with this question: I have a 30G
aquarium. I have 3 small fish, a 3" mushroom, a 4" diameter rock
covered in white star xenia and a small ricordia. 10kg of living rock.
All water parameters are excellent, the tank is skimmed and I use
carbon, most of the time. I do ~15% weekly water changes.

The tank looks a little sparse soft coral wise so I was wanting to add
some more, another mushroom, pulsing xenia and maybe a couple of other
similar specimens. The problem is I am struggling to find any info on
stocking levels. I can find plenty on how many fish-inches you can
have, and there are loads of photos showing tanks absolutely full of
soft corals but no specific information on this setup.

Any advice gratefully received.

David

[Wayne Sallee]

Corals don't add much to the bioload, as they actualy take
up nutrients. You can think of them being a lot like
plants, as long as they have plenty of light, and water
flowing around them they are fine. They also relice some
protines when they bloom out, and pull in, and this gets
caought by the protine skimmer. So it makes for a good
nutrient export that way. Infact you will find that your
protine skimmer will foam more in the morning just after
lights on, and at night just after lights off.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



DrC wrote on 1/12/2006 9:01 AM:
> Hi there,
>
> I wondered if anyone can help me with this question: I have a 30G
> aquarium. I have 3 small fish, a 3" mushroom, a 4" diameter rock
> covered in white star xenia and a small ricordia. 10kg of living rock.
> All water parameters are excellent, the tank is skimmed and I use
> carbon, most of the time. I do ~15% weekly water changes.
>
> The tank looks a little sparse soft coral wise so I was wanting to add
> some more, another mushroom, pulsing xenia and maybe a couple of other
> similar specimens. The problem is I am struggling to find any info on
> stocking levels. I can find plenty on how many fish-inches you can
> have, and there are loads of photos showing tanks absolutely full of
> soft corals but no specific information on this setup.
>
> Any advice gratefully received.
>
> David
>

[DrC]

Thanks Wayne, interesting comment about the skimming - I'll look out
for that.

David