you may be right about the not a random thing part, but you'll see why in the reading homework i just gave you.
if you feel i am way overstock then cool. i don't see it as so. if you have a goldfish in a 180gal your overstocked to some. it is all opinion and everyone has one. they were 17-18" and 8months old, not subadults yet. they are close to, but imo they aren't subadult aros till they transition from length to girth as a primary growth. that seems to be at the 1.5yr mark for most.
as for bio-load. bio-load is not determined by your gallons/volume alone, but your filtration size in relation to it. if you have a grater filtration system your able to attain a higher bio-load per gallon due to the increase in biological bacteria, as well as said bacteria's access to fresh water(flow rate). then combine that with hydroponics to fully complete the nitrogen cycle you have the ability to achieve a larger stock then the average hob filtered tank. i have on this tank a fx5 filled with ceramics, an odassy 700gph filter filled with sponges and with a built in uv light(though i am not impressed by this filter it still handles the task) and an emperor 400 that is filled with bamboo and pothoes. with this exact bio-load and bi weekly wc of 75% i rarely saw above 20ppm on nitrates and 0 for all the ammo and nitrites. now, explain to me how this tested system that has run this way for, i don't know the last 4 years under similar bio load(and more) is a time bomb in a fragile state as you seem to view it.
me not knowing the limits of my tanks filtration system and monitoring it daily would cause such an accusation. i fail to see how you not knowing what i have for filtration on this tank can justly though me into the "poor fish keeping" category you have put me in. every tank in the world is overstock and some of the greatest displays in the world involve a lot of fish mass into a smaller area. take any public aquarium. they all have to much bio-load per gallon of volume. yet they seem to have no one questioning their displays as being overstocked and their fish are/will be "dropping like flies". the only fish to die were the 5 aros and 4 catfish. considering my total stock to be some were in the in the neighborhood of 6-10 times that amount both in fish and price in my various overstocked tanks. i seem to be doing fairly well, and i am experienced and i happen to know what i am doing. i will admit i am new to some fish(aros and big cats are not one of them) and was new to salt, but got board with that so i discontinued my salt project. i am constantly learning and making some mistakes along the way, this however is not one of them. the only way this is a result of myself is if tonight i find a dryer sheet in my filter that i will be cleaning. otherwise it is the pesticide that my apartment DID spray around my door. i found out the reason for the delay of death from it(if there was not a dryer sheet to be found). that was that my catfish hit the intake of my hob hydroponics system causing it not to flow into the tank. then after a few days i noticed it and fixed it. the following morning the deaths came in. my brother reminded me of this filter fix i did, through all the anger i had the last few days my mind has been alittle cloudy on the events just prior to it. now my pothoes have been affected by this also. they have all turned brown and died over the coarse of this incident so now i am leaning on the pesticide as the cause at a 90% at this point.
my point is don't accuse people of something that your not sure on and you base your judgement on your own opinion, instead of facts. a properly filtered system that get regular maintenance has just about no limit to what you can do with it. 90% of the people out there are just plain under filtered for what they are trying to do and thats were you can take the leap to poor fish keeping.
