I do believe I am overstocked

[val1]

After spending weeks on this and other forums I think my tank is overstocked. So i thought I would ask the pro's what they think, please be gentle.

Here we go:
240 gallon 8x2x2
60 gallon refugium/sump (refugium is 45 gallons)
300 pounds of live rock
200 pounds of sand
1x5" black dog face puffer
1x3" dog face puffer
1x3" unicorn tang
1x4" naso tang
1x3" harliquine tusk
1x3" yellow tang
1x2" clown
7x1" damsels
1x1.5" dragon goby
1x1.5" hawk fish

Thats it, let me know what you all think.
Thanks
Drew

[justinpsmith]

I dont think your overstocked at all...

[crazedpuffer]

Now your not but when those fish grow there might be a problem.

[mwood]

How are your nitrates and how is the aggression? If you can't keep the trates down or fish that don't like each other keep running to each other than you are overstocked.

CP is right. You also have to allow for growth.

[val1]

As far as my water quality goes here they are:
no3 - less than 20
no2 - 0
ph - 8.0
ammonia - 0
salinty - 1.024
There is no aggression to speak of all the boys and girls seem to get along really well. BTW what does CP stand for.

[Deyoe1118]

ive seen worse...much worse

[bsagecko]

it looks ok in the future if you have any "overstocking" problems just go to your lfs and see if they will trade you one of your big fish for a smaller size of the same fish ?

my lfs already agreed to do this and the owner is willing to give me a smaller size of the same fish and he will give me a lil store credit.

so ask...?

but for right now the tank looks fine...maybe do a bigger water change?

[mwood]

Originally posted by val1
As far as my water quality goes here they are:
no3 - less than 20
no2 - 0
ph - 8.0
ammonia - 0
salinty - 1.024
There is no aggression to speak of all the boys and girls seem to get along really well. BTW what does CP stand for.

I'm lazy CP=crazedpuffer

[jonathanws]

sounds fine to me. pic of the tank?

[sean48183]

Your fine with all them. You still have room for more in my opinion providing your running a large fuge.

[sean48183]

I see you have a 45g fuge so I say your fine. I am suprised with a fuge that large your nitrates get so high. Might need more powerful lights.

[thor32766]

yeah lets see a pic~

[val1]

More powerful lights? That must be the one thing that keeps me awake at night. So many to choose from and so many different options. Some say 5 w/g some halides some pc and some say homedepot shop lights. What should I use? Right now I have 4x110w vho and have had them for about a year.
I will get some good pics in the next week or so and post them.

[Sharkbait74]

In my opinion, within 2-3yrs a puffer and the unicorn tang will have to go. Don't unicorn tangs get up to a foot or more?

I noticed you did something though that I am about to do in approximate same sized tank. I'm planning on adding 5 - 7 blue yellow-tail damsels as dither fish for Picasso Trigger, Harlequin Tusk, Mag Foxface, Yellow Tang, and Emperor Angel... How's it working out for you?

[LisaD]

I disagree about a puffer having to go from this 240 gallon system. Dogface puffers won't get over 13" max (unlike so many popular ones that get 18" to 2+ feet!).

The unicorn tang will outgrow the tank. See the link to the article below, which discusses the species in the family and their adult size and tank requirements. I have seen unicorn tangs in public aquaria, and they were around 2 to 3 feet, and very active swimmers. Really not suitable as adults for home aquaria.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/naso.htm

Is your tank 6 feet or 8? I think a Naso tang would do best in an 8 foot tank, but I have seen them do fine in 6 foot tanks. I think they get about 18 inches as adults, and are active swimmers, so the Naso may be in a gray area as far as whether it can stay in your tank for life. If it acts happy and stays healthy, keep it. You can tell easily when they are stressed from not enough space.

If it were my tank, over time, I'd replace the unicorn tang with smaller or less active tangs (mimic, hippo). I'd try and keep the Naso tang if it did well, and I'd plan to keep everything else. Maybe add a mellowish, smaller trigger like a Hawaiian pinktail or Indian (or a pair of blue throats).

Sounds like you have a nice, well thought out tank.

[val1]

To LisaD and Sharkbait74 my tank is 8' long and the unicorn is still small at 3" long. In 1 or 2 years I am planning an upgrade from my current tank to a bigger system 500-750 gallons (still working on the plans and the wife). So I am not really worried about the size that the fish will get as they will have lots of space to swim around in the near future.
Sharkbait74 the damsels were not planned by no means, I had them in there for cycling my tank in the beginning and when it came time to remove them, I was not willing to break down my tank for 7 little fish. I thought they would became fish food but they seem to have made good friends with all my other fish and I have no problem with them and the other fish.
LisaD no more triggers for me I had a niger about 4 months ago and it went on a rampage and was bitting and eating everything in sight. Left a few of my fish with some nasty scares.

[LisaD]

In an 8 foot 240, I think your unicorn should be happy for a good long while, and the Naso should be fine for life.

I understand about triggers, sorry about your experience. Nigers, IMO are the most unpredictable "nice" triggers - you can pretty much count on an undulated or a clown to get kind of nasty over time. and you can pretty much count on a blue throat to stay cool. there are others, like Nigers and pink tails, that are less predictable.

your puffers should be fine, dogfaces are pretty mellow.

BTW, where'd you get the little HT? I almost never see them under 6 inches.

sounds like a really nice system. could you post pictures?

[val1]

Well here you go I hope it is all you were expecting. I am still working on it.

Well I guess that never worked give me a minute

[val1]

There we go.
As far as the HT goes, I made friends with the caretaker of the fish at my lfs and if I want somethiong I ask him to get it for me. He was a great price to Aussie HT for $24.99

[LisaD]

thanks, nice tank. the fish look happy.

$24.99 for an Australian HT!!! I think I hate you. j/k

[Snapper66]

You could add more if you Wanted plenty of Room nice looking Tank there