My 72gal bowfront is only 62gal! where did the 10gal go??!!

[sushiray]

Wow, this is happening a lot lately. A fellow member on this site, Zbbal? From South Carolina I think, was also sold a tank that was advertised 10 gallons more than what she received. She was told the tank was an 45 gallon and it ended up being only 35. What a shame.....*smh*. Sorry to hear that you were a victim of such deception, whether it was intentional or not.

thing is - I wasn't deceived by the seller. this is a standard bow with the standard dimensions. it's what the industry takes as a standard to measuring tank volume. there is some consistency among them using outside dimensions but there are exceptions who use inside glass dimensions even by the same manufacturer (i.e. someone quoted aqueon does)

so there in lies the deception.
:uhoh:

 

[LeahK]

This article discusses why most tanks contain much less water than advertised. According to it, a standard 55 only contains 47 gallons, before gravel and deco are added.
http://www.bestfish.com/tips/052198.html

 

[sushiray]

Well, then I don't know what's up! My tanks are just the regular rectangle glass ones. They all measure out to their stated gallons. I got most of them used and had to measure them to just know what size they were. The outside vs. inside glass can knock off a gallon or two, it's never exactly perfect, but I've just never seen such a discrepancy.

I'd call the manufacturer and try to ask one of their technicians the same questions, and find out why it does not seem to hold as much water as it should.

Does it have an overflow box built into the corner? The overflow might not be draining during water changes, and for a 72G, I could see the overflow tower holding about 10G. If it doesn't have one, then I guess the best bet would be to contact the manufacturer.

no overflow box. agree inside outside shouldn't be a major difference. when you had your tanks filled did you measure or relied on the fact the measurements were as they state for your size tank.

see, I actually filled & measured not expecting I would be short so much. I measured because I was timing myself how fast I can fill it up.

I can expect when I call each manufacturer of bows - they will tell me the same exact measurements & that it will equate to 72 gal. as per their operating manual or SOP or spec sheets or whatever they will use.

But I will see if they will actually have their production dept fill it up to verify. I doubt I will get anywhere since they have been in mass production with no complaints & I am just a figure of 1 - insignificant.


:shakehead:

 

[andyjones99]

That's kind of frustrating
But as i know their are UK gallons and Us gallons, We hope that some day in the future Americans and British will try a new thing called A Liter which is standard all over the world and really reliable
And even more when you get their you may give a try to meters and centimeters as well

cheers :cheers:

The EU tried to ban our Pubs/Bars/Resteraunts from using Pints as a measurement, so we defined 568ml and "1 Grad" and 'officially' use that as a metric unit instead

Relevant to the thread though, 72 us gallons = 60.8 imperial gallons, maybe this is where the extra volume went (if the tank was test filled before adding gravel/ornaments/fish etc.

 

[sushiray]

That was a used item though, the maker of the tank didn't make these claims, the seller did.

but I don't blame the seller. that is what they bought & when I checked the dimensions that is what is posted on the company's specs sheet site.

so let's get this clear - I am just questioning the labeling of tanks & their corresponding measurements - which is probably standard amongst all companies & also using online calculator conversions.

but in actually in my case in my experience (not opinion not estimation not guestimation) I am short 10gal.

so to summarize - I filled up with 1gal jugs x 62x's

on W/C - I marked hi water line - I removed siphon out 12gal - marked low water line - measure the distance in inches of displacement - refilled replaced 12gal - reaches same hi water line. with the measurement of displacement I then measure same units on the tank from top to bottom & lo n behold I count 5units.

so 5units x 12gal = 60gal. then filling to the brim another 2gal therefore I get 62gal.

now that's an actual scientific experiment - almost precise with a standard deviation of +/- .5 & margin of error of 2%, bla bla bla.

 

[sushiray]

That's kind of frustrating
But as i know their are UK gallons and Us gallons, We hope that some day in the future Americans and British will try a new thing called A Liter which is standard all over the world and really reliable
And even more when you get their you may give a try to meters and centimeters as well

cheers :cheers:

I agree whole heartedly & with a yankee cheer or is that a bronx cheer! either way I agree we should be on the metric decimal based system for all things measurable!

but let's put that into another thread in the lounge! all our products now show metric besides US but we can seem to commit!

 

[sushiray]

Oh, I see......I thought Ray had got the bowfront off of Craigslist (CL). Ray, you said there was no labels or manufacturer's information right?

yes, true. I am relying on what the seller thought he had bought as which I was not disputing. because the dimensions pan out when one searches on line (someone gave me the aqueon link) & it's dead on for a 72gal BF

so no issues on seller, or deception or what. relying on actual physical heart pumping fill em upper death by milk jug!

if you can imagine the fireman contests where they run buckets of water pass along trying not to spill a drop. that was me solo from kitchen to tank a distance of 20'

:lol2:

 

[sushiray]

We tried that about 30 yrs ago. Then gave up I guess? Probably because someone didn't give someone in the gov enough money to keep it going. Thats how things get done over here, in case you didn't know.

Now we have to buy two sets of tools to work on anything, and guess which bolt might be what. Fun, fun!

ditto that sentiment! & I remember 30yrs ago too!!

:dance2:

 

[sushiray]

Are you truly sure about this? I ask because I did an experiment just like yours. Like you I thought 'Hey the jugs I get my distilled water in will be perfect' but I decided to measure them first. I actually found that they were just a little less then a gallon (which ticks me off that I have been buying 'gallons' of water all this time but not been getting a full gallon). This of course wo
uld actually make your situation even worse though. But not unexpected, for me at least. I know that the measurement is suppose to be a hypothetical number with the water filled even with the top, but my last two tanks haven't been anywhere close. My 38 gallon fell short by almost 10 gallons. :headshake2:

Of course I should say that there is always a chance that I totally screwed something, but look at my tank level after a 10 gallon water change and tell me what you think.

well this is another topic related to shrinkage & weight b-4 transporting that manufacturers rely on hide behind.

if you notice not only spring water bottles but all liquid drinks (i.e. 2L soda bottles you can see the differences not withstanding they are on a slant or not - side by side you can see a subtle diff. maybe a 1/2 oz or an 1oz. who will catch them?)

NOTICE SHRINKAGE IN ALL PRODUCTS - PRODUCT VOLUME DECREASES SO THE PRICE CAN REMAIN THE SAME! 1ST TO GET CAUGHT & FINED WAS GERBER BABY FOOD A FEW DECADES AGO. NOW THEY ALL DO IT AS A MATTER OF PRACTICE (SAVES THEM MONEY TO COVER INCREASING COSTS - NO ARGUMENTS THERE).

now back to my issue - I fill my jugs to the top & they are true 1gal as measured with a measuring cup.

 

[sushiray]

Thinking about this . . .

48" x 18" for the base. If you have 2 inches of gravel or sand on the bottom, if we pretend that is equivalent to water, the guesstimate would be:

48 x 18 x 2 = 1728

1728 / 231 = 7.48

It's not exact, but 2 inches of substrate would take away the space to hold about 7+ gallons of water. If you've got a little more substrate than that in the tank, a heater, some decorations, some plants, etc . . . at 10 gallons of displaced water pretty quickly.

OK I SHOULD REPEAT MYSELF. BARE BOTTOM DISCUS TANK. 1SPONGE FILTER 1 DECORATIVE ORNAMENT 1DRIFTWOOD 1HEATER - LET'S GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE & THIS ALL DISPLACES 1GAL - OK EVERYONE??
:wall:

SO MAYBE I AM AT 63GAL. HMMMM!! I FEEL BETTER ALREADY! I'M GAINING!!

& I AM KEEPING A NICE POLITE DISPOSITION ON SOME OF THE FEEDBACK I AM GETTING, OK?
:welcome: