I stared at the screen. My eyes were bloodshot. It was 3:14 AM. The blue lively from my laptop reflected off the glass of my empty 55-gallon rimless tank. upon the screen, a red warning flashed. "Warning: Your stocking level is 112%." Most people would stop there. Most people would delete a few Zebra Danios from the list. Not me. I wanted to know what happened past the math stopped making sense. This is my experience from pushing the limits in the manner of a fish tank increase calculator and the chaotic, beautiful, and slightly damp journey that followed.

Calculators are supposed to be the voice of reason. They are the digital gatekeepers of determine aquarium gallons stocking levels. You plug in your dimensions. You select your filter. Then, you begin adjunct fish. It feels in the same way as a video game. But instead of tall scores, you are managing bioload management and nitrogen cycles. I used to be a purist. I followed the one-inch-per-gallon adjudicate religiously. after that I realized that decide is garbage. It doesn't account for the width of a fish or its metabolic rate. So, I turned to the internets favorite tool. I wanted to look if I could outsmart the algorithm.

The need started later a single Pearl Gourami. It looked lonely. My fish tank capacity was supposedly at its zenith according to the software.