Tank Sizes, say they hold so much

[turbotiber]

Ok I'm thoroughly confused.

I've been to a few places asking what was their 20 liter tank size. Well the all point out to this tiny thing... honestly, it looks like it could hold between 4-8 liters, max 10 , yet 4 different people and 4 different places said the same thing.

So when they say 20 liter tank, is that the capacity, like the actucally amount of water that it can hold cause it sure doesn't look like it. Or is it referring to something else?

 

[The-Wolf]

I belive the capacity stated is the total volume of air
that the container can hold, this doesn't translate as the
volume of water that can be kept in it.
HTH

 

[Joviella]

Just a little example here: A juwel rekord 60litre only actually holds 54 litres of water.

 

[Doggfather]

Another thing is when you fill up the tank, the water level will be 1 or so inch from the top, so even small things like that need to be taken into account when calculating the volume.

Have a go at using this handy calculator

http/www.drhelm.com/aquarium/areajava.html

HTH

 

[Ben]

maybe youre confused with 20 gallons?

20 litres is preety small

 

[toggle]

20 litres is 5 gallons, i should know i got one

 

[Nekukurai]

I've been reading a few posts lately where there has been confusion because of the units of measurement used....and then it occured to me, why is it that the U.S. teaches their kids to use units of measurement that hardly anyone else does? Doesn't make much sense, does it? They teach conversion, sure, but why not just teach what it's being converted to in the first place?

 

[Barday]

Thanks for the link Doggfather - I just discovered my tank is 28Gal and not 20!!!

Yea, why is a U.S Gallon smaller than a normal one

 

[clutterydrawer]

metric and imperial

i think its the that US still uses imperial because they forgot to keep up with the rest of the known world or it might be the other way round...

 

[CFC]

The US does not use Imperial gallons, they have a gallon measurement all of their own

The standard unit used here on this forum is the US gallon, why i do not know but it always has been and for the time being will stay that way. 4 litres=1 US gallon

 

[Slyspy]

UK gallon is the imperial measure. Not sure why the US gallon is different. Try http/convert.french-property.co.uk/ for easy to use conversions.

 

[turbotiber]

I belive the capacity stated is the total volume of air
that the container can hold, this doesn't translate as the
volume of water that can be kept in it.
HTH

Oooooh that makes tons of sense as to why it would not possibly hold that amount of water. For example, you know those big containers of water that you turn upside down onto a water cooler or water dispenser, well those are 20 liters/5 gallons. These places that state this tiny little tank is 20 liters or 5 gallons, looks like it could hold half of that. Is that the same as 20 liters cubed because someone said that's different to 20 liters of water.

So when I decide to get a 5 gallon tank, should I get the tank that actually HOLDS 5 gallons/20 liters of water, or the one that is said to be 5g/20 liters? Which is the true 5g?

 

[The-Wolf]

So when I decide to get a 5 gallon tank, should I get the tank that actually HOLDS 5 gallons/20 liters of water, or the one that is said to be 5g/20 liters? Which is the true 5g?

Personally I'd get the biggest tank I can afford and house
then i'd worry about how much it holds.

To answer your question though, the first bit...
a tank that acually holds 5 gallons. it will proberble be
labled 6.5 gallon tank or close to that anyway.

A side note you also need to tak into acout the displacement of substrate,
filters and decorations, and to a lesser degree the actual fish.

 

[canarsie11]

So when I decide to get a 5 gallon tank, should I get the tank that actually HOLDS 5 gallons/20 liters of water, or the one that is said to be 5g/20 liters? Which is the true 5g?

Personally I'd get the biggest tank I can afford and house
then i'd worry about how much it holds.

To answer your question though, the first bit...
a tank that acually holds 5 gallons. it will proberble be
labled 6.5 gallon tank or close to that anyway.

A side note you also need to tak into acout the displacement of substrate,
filters and decorations, and to a lesser degree the actual fish.

That is very good point, did not think about gravel and things, taking away from volume.

seems so obvious now

 

[turbotiber]

Personally I'd get the biggest tank I can afford and house
then i'd worry about how much it holds.

To answer your question though, the first bit...
a tank that acually holds 5 gallons. it will proberble be
labled 6.5 gallon tank or close to that anyway.

A side note you also need to tak into acout the displacement of substrate,
filters and decorations, and to a lesser degree the actual fish.

Aaa-ha! Good point! I will do that, thanks a bunch!

Yeah I never thought about the gravel, decorations, filter and fish taking up volume either.. little things like that that sometimes we don't think about that are pretty important!

Oh and that link to find out how many gallons your tank is is also a really great tool, thanks!