Too many fish???

[kui loach]

I have a 58 gallon tank with one yellow tang; 2 oscellaris; 1 goby; 1 green chromis; hermit crab; snails; 2 peppermint shrimp with 4 different coral species and an anemone. 2 weeks ago I added a lawnmower blenny to help with the algae. Did I tilt the ship with the addition of the 3" blenny? Started tank in October. My yellow tang was picking at the blenny with every move he made for awhile and then that stopped. Is there stress on the fish with that many? My water values are fine so far. I

[rickm]

Certainly a good skimmer and a fuge full of Macro Algae will help with the bio load. Live Sand and LR will also help with Nitrogen cycle. Weekly water changes will also help. So as you can see there are many factors involved as to whether you can get by with X amount of fish in your tank.There's a rule of thumb as to so many inches of fish per gallon, but I'm not so sure about that guideline working. I have a Yellow Tang, 2 False Percs, 1 Fire Goby, 2 Banngai Cardinals and I wish it would go away Sixline Wrasse.I Peppermint Shrimp, 1 Cleaner Shrimp a couple of Emerald Crabs and some Hermits and a hole bunch of Corals. So far no detectable Nitrates or Phosphates in my 55 gl.Does this help.

[kui loach]

i have an ecosystem 60 with caulerpa and I do not need a protein skimmer per the store that I purchased from. Weekly water changes that sounds worse than a freshwater tank. I think I am going to return the lawnmower blenny; there are just too many fish in that tank. One question; would a protein skimmer decrease and detritus in the tank. Would it decrease the brown algae that I have in the tank? My nitrate is 12.5 My ph is always 7.9 I add reef builder to increase the KH to 12-13 and I add marine buffer but my ph at the end of the day always reverts back to 7.9. What would cause that? Thanks for your input

[rickm]

Ph typically drops at night when the lights go out. If you have a tight house than you may have a lot of carbon dioxide, which drives your ph down. Also without the water changes and protein skimming you may be building up waste which is breaking down also pulling your ph down. I blow the detritus off the rocks and vacuum down about a 1/4" off the sand bed every week with my water change. I'm surprised your LFS says you don't need a protein skimmer, if you don't like changing your water or using a protein skimmer than you may be limited to what you can keep in your tank. There are people who don't use protein skimmers and have success but I'm not one of them.

[kui loach]

what brand name of a protein skimmer would you recommend? Cost range? for a 58 gallon tank? I may get one of them. I still have not gotrid of my lawnmower blenny He is really doing a great job of getting rid of the algae so far. Ill start changing h20 every 2 wks. Thanks for your info.

[Whoyah]

A skimmer would help with both your nitrates and the algae problem. I personnel have a AquaC EV-120 Skimmer however there is several other brands such as ASM that come highly recommended by folks here on CR.

[rickm]

I have a EuroReef, I have no complaints with it's performance. It seems to work very well as I'm always having to clean it.

[kui loach]

Thanks for your input.