How Do I Measure A Bowfront Aquarium?

[KRamgren89]

alright so ive been having some controversy on whether or not i have enough room for my 5 angelfish, 6 rummy nose that we want to up to 12, 6 cherry barbs, 4 bronze cory, 1 sterbai, 1 upside down catfish (will eventually be trading the catfish and remaining sterbai to the LFS for more bronze cory) and a common pleco (that will be traded for a bushy or bristle nose)

If i measure without the bow in the front it is
36inches long
21 inches high
12.6 inches wide

with the bow
37.5 across the bow
21 inches high
16 inches from back of the tank to the front of the bow.

so the difference im getting is without the bow it says its a 41 gallon/ 155 liter
with the bow it says 55 gallon 206 liter

can someone tell me WHICH is correct.

 

[Lufbramatt]

I'd estimate it as 36x21x14.3 (average of 12.6 and 16)

which gives 10811 cubic inches

= 177 litres or 46.8 US gallons

 

[matt_storey]

Use google, type in the name of the tank, find a retailer, look at the tank specification, voila!

 

[coldcazzie]

Without doing any maths I'd guess at between 45 and 50, so go for 47.5 ish. Bear in mind gravel and decor reduces the amount of water and external filters increase it. But yeah, I'd estimate at about that.

I think you could up your rummys to twelve, but with everything else you've got/are planning I wouldn't go much more than that. You could perhaps push it to 15, but I'd be happier with that number if you had an external filter rather than in internal. What filter is it?

 

[minnnt]

It will more than likely be 180 litres.

 

[coldcazzie]

Actually, reading it again, if you upped the rummy noses to 12, you could perhaps up the cherry barbs to 8 or 10, and that would be better tban more rummys. Again though, would be better with an external filter.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I have a 46 gallon bowfront and it measures out very similar to that.

 

[dbanner]

Sounds like a juwel vision 180 to me. I had 1 and pretty sure that was the measurements of mine. If so then it's 180 litres which I think is 46 gallons

 

[cwa]

Bowfronts are in 16, 26, 36, 46 gallons and such.

 

[KRamgren89]

ok yea that makes sense. i looked up bow front aquariums and the 46 gallon measures out.

currently have 4-5 inches of substrate on the bottom of my tank. planted with silk and plastic plants. external aquatech power filter 30-60 gallon with stocking as seen in my sig. so with currently having 6 rummy nose, 6 cherry barb, 4 bronze cory, (misc sterbai, upside down) common pleco and 5 angles is this ok... honestly considering once i get rid of this fungal infection or whatever is going on with the angels bringing a few back to the pet store but then again ive read that angels should be in groups of 6 plus so any advice as to what i should do?? once this sickness is gone i will be trading my remaining sterbai and upside down cat fish for 2 more bronze corys to put their numbers at 6 so they are happy. i'll be switching out my common pleco for a busy nose or brisle nose once i find one that isnt 2 inches long XD but im just nervous about having enough room for 5 fish that will get 6+ inches long!

 

[dbanner]

4-5 inches of substrate seems a lot. I have around an inch

With fiteration your looking to get around x4 your tank volume so you would be ideally be looking for a filter that turns over around 800 lph+ (litres per hour)

Angels are ok as single or groups of 6. Even though your tank is ok height wise for them I don't think it's big enough overall for 6.

Iv missed something here but what are the 5 fish that will get 6 inch+?

 

[KRamgren89]

yea we realize we have ALOT of substrate and are planning on taking it down eventually. and my 5 angels are the fish that are gonna get 6 inches + i added the plus cuz ive gotten mixed reviews as to how big they will get fins and all ect. but that problem will be solved after we are done treating for a fungal infection the two new babies i bough (that are getting picked on alot right now) will be going back to my trusty LFS lady who has kept angels for 'alot of years' she's gonna take them home with her, so that will leave me with 3 who all get along right now. and as i said we plan to take a few inches of substrate out.

dbanner: how do i figure out how many LPH my filter pushes out?

all this confuses me lol. i am hoping with rehoming my two new angels that we can up our numbers of rummy noses to 12, cherry barbs to maybe 8-10 and up our bronze corys to 6+ ((and get a different damned pleco XD))

NOTE: i JUST went up to the TFF calculater, typed in 36X16X21 and it told me my tank is a 52 gallon. **sigh** is it so hard to just want to know the right size of my tank! LMAO!

 

[dbanner]

It will be 46 gallon. It is saying 52 because you've said it's 16 inches wide but 16 is the widest part of the tank. I think you'll find that the narrowest part of the tank is 12 inches front to back. Making it 46 gallons I used to have the same tank from what you've said.

I'm not sure how to work out the lph on filters but a lot if not all will state it on the box it comes in. Or you could look up your filter online to check.

Angels get around 12 inch top to bottom of I remember rightly although not 100% so maybe someone else can give a definite answer on this.

Although a lot of substrate won't hurt, taking some out and leaving around an inch in depth = more water in the tank

 

[KRamgren89]

thank you for the clarification on our tank size
we dont have the filter box but i'll look it up. but what did you mean "With fiteration your looking to get around x4 your tank volume so you would be ideally be looking for a filter that turns over around 800 lph+ (litres per hour)"

kind of a scary thought that angels get that big... really kinda glad we are rehoming the two babies we just bought due to aggression issues of the larger ones. and now contemplating if we have enough room for 3 XD

and we will probably take it down to 2-3 inches. i have some seriously ODD bronze corys (or pleco, or upside down not sure who does it) but we have a log ornament in our tank that has some pretty leafy silk plants attached to it and someone likes to burrow all the substrate out from underneath there and make it into a little cave. XD

 

[dbanner]

What I meant by the filtration was because your tank is 180 litres you will need a filter that pumps around 4 times that amount per hour, so say 200 (litres of water) x 4 = 800. Giving you 800 litres per hour.

As an example the latest filter iv looked at for a friend is the tetratec ex1200, it's suitable for a tank from 300-500 litres and pumps around 1200 lph (litres per hour)

This amount drops to around 950 litres per hour when you take into account the media stored inside the filter (sponges and so on)