This thread was started to just highlight my current stock change in my 360. Everything went swimmingly, my old fish are settling in at their new home, and I thought that I wouldn't really need to revisit this thread....but....something has happened which is well worth a mention to highlight the changes that can happen in your tank when you add to, or reduce your stocking levels. I was well aware what was going to happen when I parted with my stock, but just didn't expect such a drastic change. I'm referring to bioload.
I had a crazy water change schedule in my 360. Fin level every 2 days to keep nitrates from going past 20-30ppm. I knew that by letting those five fish go that my water change schedule would improve dramatically and that my nitrate creep would be a little slower. "Improve dramatically" is the understatement of the century, lol.
Last Sunday was when I netted them out and I performed a water change at the same time. This morning, pretty much a week later, my nitrate is only very light orange, probably around the 10ppm mark i'd say! I did a water change today anyway, nothing to do with my nitrate as they're low, but the tannins from that large piece of wood I put in have stained the water considerably.
I honestly reckon I could be looking at a water change schedule of once every two weeks on my 360 now, the nitrate creep is that low. Yes, my current stock will continue to grow, and I have some other fish in quarantine which will be added, and of course bio load will gradually increase as a result of their addition too.
Obviously this is a change for the good, especially for me on the water change front, but the other side of the coin is when you add stock, especially big fish, because the bio load then goes the other way, which can, if not monitored, cause problems.
I've already mentioned to
Fishman Dave
that, if he hasn't already, he will need to keep an eye on his ponds parameters, as those five fish he took are obviously putting out an incredible amount of bio load.