Theoretical Gallons or Actual

Impudence12

Impudence12

Broke Aquarist
Jul 3, 2007
300
1
0
Charlotte, NC
I have a 20x10x18 tank. Just starting out really, but I'm relatively comfortable with starting up. I've read alot, on the internet and in books. I just have a slight nuance I need to have clarified. The tank can hold 15.6 gallons of water based on the volume. When I filled it, I really didn't put more than 10-11 gallons of water in it. As far as the standard numbers for things, like on filters or the amount of space a fish needs from books, is it a 15 gallon tank or is it a 10 gallon tank?
 
You must keep in mind that your substrate will fill a portion of the tank. When choosing a filter, do not go by the "recommended" number for tanks. I have heard that the standard rule for filters is that the gal/hr. should be 10x the capacity of the tank. This puts you at about 100 gph. It is always better to be on the safe side so look for something around 130 maybe. With fish, it really isn't about the number of gallons, rather it's the footprint, or area at the bottom of the tank.

btw, welcome to AC!
 
jpappy789 said:
With fish, it really isn't about the number of gallons, rather it's the footprint, or area at the bottom of the tank.
Click to expand...

:lol: that has to be some of the worst info i have ever read. its all about gallons AND space, the more gallons you have the more stable the water perameters will stay. the more fish or larger the fish the more gallons you need to be able to properly maintain your water. when people talk about footprint, they arent talking about space at the bottom of the tank, but more length times width. take an arowana for example, that fish needs a tank with a large "footprint" but usually will never spend any time at the bottom of the tank.

as far as your filter question goes, go for a filter with around 50-75 gph.
130gph on a 10g would be like toilet flushing, and im shure whatever fish that can fit in a 15 or 10g usually cant handle that much current.
 
geez...harsh. Well I didn't mean that footprint literally meant the bottom. I phrased it wrong. The area at the bottom is usually the same throughout the entire tank anyways so its not completely dumb sounding. I was just warning impudence that when most people think that stocking has to solely do with gallons they immediately go right to the "inch per gallon" rule. For example, a 30x10x12 will allow more lateral space for schooling fish compared to a 20x10x18. 15 gallons is hard to explain with because there aren't many reasonable variations with dimensions but it still helps make a point. A difference in 4 gallons won't make the water params any harder to stabilize so I don't see your point in this situation.

Good catch with the filter. Wow it is way too late for me to be giving out info anyways. I don't really know what I'm typing.
 
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The footprint, or area, that is important is surface area. It has to do both with the gas exchange as well as the swimming/territory space. A good example of this iw a 20 gal. tank. In general you can have more fish in a 20 long than the standard 20 gal.- same volumes, different footprints. This doesnt mean height can be ignored- a pair of angels can be kept in a 20 but not in a 20L.

As for filtration, media volume is as important, if not more so than flow rate. The choice of flow rates is also a function of the fish. Some thrive on current while others don't.

When it comes to fishkeeping, there are very few hard and fast rules.
 
The only way to truely find out many gallons a tank holds is to measure it AFTER all substrate, rocks and any other decorations are in the tank. This becomes more critical when dosing ferts for plants. Just fill it up with something of known volume and multiply by how many it takes to fill the tank.
 
So for important measurements like salt, fert, medicince, etc. The actual Volume is the important thing.
 
Yes to your last post, What kind of filter do you have now ?. An AC-30 or a Penguin 150 would be suficiant on your 15......:)
 
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I bought the filter before doing any real research on them. I got a 20 dollar 20i Whisper in the tank one. I've got a limited fish fund atm so unless all my fish are goners if I don't upgrade then I'll have to leave it at that until fall. It actually was blowing my plants and fish around until I added something to change the flow and interrupt the stream a bit. I was worried it was too much until I started reading this forum in regards to filters.

I've currently got 2 longfinned rosy barbs and a goldfish (Girlfriend loved it, wasn't going to argue) as well as 3 ghost shrimp. The tank is something like a week old. I'm fishy cycling since it was the first way I heard to do it. I have 20 watts of florescent bulbs. I have a java fern, a itailan vallis, hornwort, and some watersprite. I've been hunting Java moss, but no store has it stocked.

Ideally I plan to get 3 more Rosy Barbs, the short finned ones, then later as many White Cloud minnows as I could support I was expecting 5-6 tops since the tank is not very big (Relatively anyway, it seems pretty big to me) Is that overstocked for the tank I have? If so is there anything I could change to make it work?
 
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