4Ft Boaded Tank ?

[shadow1200]

Hey im a new user here seems like a nice place

i was just wondering i have a 4ft rena boad tank
i can upload pics if needed
i have shown the tank two a few of my family and they say its 6ft because its boad

i do not believe this because a 4ft tank is 4ft i thought

can some one explain ? i fix cars for a living so fish - cars lol
There is a pic of it on my profile

 

[nurglespuss]

Hi there welcome to the forum.

First off, to avoid confusion its 'bowed' not 'boad' (if your reffering to the shape

Basically, you can turn the shape into a kind of trapezoid to work out the volume, but it depends where the 4ft is measure from, I presume its the largest distance between parallell straight sides?

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Shadow.
A slight bow on a tank that looks like the one in your profile will not increase the volume by much more than about 20%. For practical purposes, you can treat it as the same volume as a straight rectangle of the same length and maybe a depth from front to back of a bit more than the end's depth. The x-foot long thing seems to be a rating that is only seen in the UK. Everywhere else tanks are rated pretty much by water volume. You will see them in litres or gallons in most threads. In the US, a 4 foot tank can be anywhere from the 40 gallon long that I have to a 120 gallon tall tank. Obviously the stocking of these tanks will be quite different. The 4 foot long is only about 12 inches from front to back while the 120 gallon is 18 inches in that dimension and is much taller than my 40 gallon tank.
Why do you care what to call the tank? Are you trying to work out stocking levels or fish compatibilities? If you are working on stocking numbers, use your best estimate of volume and talk to people in the general discussion area. If you are worried about what fish you can place in the tank, the 4 foot dimension will become limiting. Most large fish require more swimming room and that bow front will give not an inch more of swimming room than a simple rectangle would.