Large Bioload Increase at Once

[Pow3rful]

I have a tank that was setup two months ago, currently there are 4 fish in the system. In ~2 months I will be adding 4 fish in simultaneously doubling the bioload.

System will be 4 months old with some cycled rock, but a good amount of high surface area bricks and media in the sump.

How concerned should I be about this bio load increase?

Is there anything I can do ahead of time to artificially inflate the bioload? Overfeeding two weeks out?

I have some turbostart 900 left from the initial cycle. Should I dose that when I add the fish or will that outcompete the other bacteria I am building up for long term stability?

Any dosing chemicals I should have on hand if an ammonia spike hits?

 

[betareef]

In the past I have done things, such as added local fish (live bait fish) to bring the numbers up, then remove them just before you add the new fish.

Another method is to add new live rock at the same time.

Also, you could just monitor the nitrates after adding the new fish, and do a few water changes until it settles.

 

[EnterName]

I sure hope you know what you are doing because adding many fish at once to a young tank can be dangerous (also depending on tank size of course).

If you want to simulate the bio-load you can start ammonia dosing: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-for-low-nitrate-systems.987087/
This way you don't have all the detritus from overfeeding in your tank once the new fishes arrive. Natural nitrogen soueces can't be simply "turned off" so just stopping ammonia dosing is arguably the best option.

The thing is: I don't know how much ammonia each hour would be realistic for these 4 fish.

Regarding ammonia spikes: As far as I have heard, bacteria products and ammonia adsorbers aren't really keeping what they promise, so once you get significant ammonia readings you will need to change a lot of water to keep your fish safe.

If possible I really recommend adding fishes slowly, one after another over the course of weeks.

 

[Pow3rful]

Yes, I understand the ideal method but that won't be an option.

Syatem volume is around 80 gallons.

Ammonia dosing ahead of time is a good suggestion.

Sump has refugium to deal with nutrient export, but it's just the bacteria to get it to that stage.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[BoaConservationist]

a trick is to use stop ammo, it will give you a 14 -15 day buffer where that ammo/nitrate doesn't harm them, a botanical biological magic trick ;) its 1 ampoule per like 25 gallons , lasts for 2 weeks . (this is something we use alot of in the field to quickly remove ammo/detox safely, and at scale, 250G+ tanks all the way down to tiny quarantine bins, works effortlessly and should also be used on any fish intake, just a tiny drip when acclimating can make that fishes whole life different, it also buys you time to verify your filtrations proper and you have proper microbes going

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO adding 4 fish at once into an established 80 is fine. I wouldn't do anything different than you normally do when adding fish. I would not overfeed or add ammonia or add any bottled stuff, there's no need IMO, keep it natural, the tank will handle it fine.

 

[BoaConservationist]

IMO adding 4 fish at once into an established 80 is fine. I wouldn't do anything different than you normally do when adding fish. I would not overfeed or add ammonia or add any bottled stuff, there's no need IMO, keep it natural, the tank will handle it fine.

what 4 fish we talkin :)