# over filtration, stocking and cycling



## margolow (Sep 2, 2010)

a friend of mine is cycling his 75gallon this week.
it's a freshwater tank with the following:

Rena Xp3 = fine and coarse pads, nitrozorb and activated carbon
Aquaclear110 = Yellow foam and ceramic rings
Emperor 400 = bio wheel and whatever media the box comes with
undergravel filter.
he is planning to put 2 10" oscars and 3 9" ID sharks
also thinking about adding red parrots, balas and plecos.
any comments about this set-up


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Your friend is very ambitious. But a bigger tank would have been better off than too many filters.
The undergravel filter and possibly the Aquaclear 100 can go. It's kind of an overkill. No amount of filtration is going to keep the water clean forever, so regular water change is important. Other than that, he should be pretty safe with what he has. The only thing that I might see in the future is that some of the fish may out grow the tank.

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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

That tank would be at capacity with the 2 Oscars. Some would say that would be pushing it. The filtration ( crazy amount) might work to keep ammonia and nitrite at zero but the nitrate load would be very high if all those fish were added. That would mean large frequent water changes, if it was even possible. The UG filter would probably be negated by the oscars digging. 
I'm sure others will have opinions about this, but it does demonstrate the problem with the term "over filtering". No amount of filtration will reduce ammonia and nitrite below zero. The bioload on the tank determines how much and how often water needs to be changed. Whether this is in fact practical would need to be determined by the owner of the tank. However, adding more filtration will not change this.
Aside from all that, there are other reasons besides filtration for not adding too many fish to a tank. Again, others will have opinions about the stocking, but 75 gals is about the minimum tank size for 2 adult oscars.


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

Several ID sharks in a 75 gal is a bad idea. That tank is good for the oscars and maybe a few accessory fish but a 75 gal is no monster tank.


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

I agree even 75 is a little small for a pair of oscars unless they are little . Id sharks can grow to 4 ft.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Overfiltered or not, ID Sharks do not belong in a 75 gallon tank. There are much more suitible very similar catfish.

Oscars don't always get along together, especially in a tank as tiny as 75 gallons, and if they decide to breed, they wont tolerate the rest of the fish.


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## bcarlos (Nov 19, 2009)

I'm not a firm believer in over-filtration, but for the investment he put into all these filters, why not appropriate those funds into buying a larger tank? I would definitely axe those ID sharks. I would also recommend he add whatever fish he's going to add slowly. Over-filtered or not, adding that many fish at once is going to cause the tank to re-cycle.


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

The ID and the Bala sharks will be very skittish and they will damage their noses

So, take out the sharks, add like 10 Parrots..

Add more filtration, it'd be best if your friend can add in a sump.

Tell him to do a JDM tank  IT's AWESOME!

This is what a JDM tank looks like 

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305488&ref=nf


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

I don't find that impressive, it's bordering on animal abuse. Right off the bat, I saw some sunken stomach. It's almost like the Metro zoo cichlid aquarium. Sorry, all I see in that tank is unhealthy suffering fish.

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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Zebrapl3co said:


> I don't find that impressive, it's bordering on animal abuse. Right off the bat, I saw some sunken stomach. It's almost like the Metro zoo cichlid aquarium. Sorry, all I see in that tank is unhealthy suffering fish.


Which photos were you looking at... all I saw were fat cichla and obese polys.


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

bigfishy said:


> The ID and the Bala sharks will be very skittish and they will damage their noses
> 
> So, take out the sharks, add like 10 Parrots..
> 
> ...


Are you talking Jack dempseys.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

JDM = "Japanese Domestic Market"

I think it's American Slang for the Overstocked Monsterfish-Only tanks that are popular in some Asian Countries. So a JDM tank is mimicking those.


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Will Hayward said:


> JDM = "Japanese Domestic Market"
> 
> I think it's American Slang for the Overstocked Monsterfish-Only tanks that are popular in some Asian Countries. So a JDM tank is mimicking those.


OH got it lol


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Frankly your friend has not done any research maybe you should get him to do some before he buys anything, also why dont you just give him some used media and then he does not have to worry about buying ammonia and waiting all that time.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Will Hayward said:


> Which photos were you looking at... all I saw were fat cichla and obese polys.






























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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Those fish are immaculate. What do you see wrong? Those fish aren't emaciated.


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## margolow (Sep 2, 2010)

pat3612 said:


> Frankly your friend has not done any research maybe you should get him to do some before he buys anything,


Asking me to ask the experts here in GTAA is part of his research.



pat3612 said:


> also why dont you just give him some used media and then he does not have to worry about buying ammonia and waiting all that time.


WOW!, if you put it that way, i just felt like a good-for-nothing-pal  LOL!

It was offered to him (some gravel in a fishnet, my bio-wheel, my driftwood and plants) but he wanted tp go this route.

I am there for him as well to give my opinion and advise but I am not an expert by any means and we wanted to leverage the combined knowledge and experience of our co-aquarists here.

I also asked him to create his own GTAA account so he can make his own posts 

g'day!


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