Frustrating advice for newcomers to the fish world

[Deleted member 149562]

Some manufacturers name a tank with a number corresponding to the volume (eg Juwel's Rio 125) while others use a number in the name corresponding to the length of the tank. Your Ciano tank is an example of this as it's 80 cm long. How many necomers to the hobby will realise this?

I doubt many newcomers realise it....and I have to wonder how many experienced fishkeepers have been caught out by it.

I mean I had to read the box twice...saw the "80", initially thought 80 litres before finding the "80" actually meant its length and not volume.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Taking the Juwel Rio 125 as an example, and again looking at various sources for information on this tank, the only reference to 125 being in litres and as the capacity is tucked away with the size dimensions of the tank and, even then, it is listed as ca.125 litres, with the 'ca.' being an abbreviation of circa, or 'about'.
'

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Actually...just to throw a spanner into the works...my Aqua 80 has a unit infront of it which is 80cm long. The aquarium is in reality 79.5cm long...but I guess the box would look weird with Ciano Aqua 79.5 on it, wouldn't it?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Taking the Juwel Rio 125 as an example, and again looking at various sources for information on this tank, the only reference to 125 being in litres and as the capacity is tucked away with the size dimensions of the tank and, even then, it is listed as ca.125 litres, with the 'ca.' being an abbreviation of circa, or 'about'.
'

So is the 125 litres as a bare bottom and they are covering their bases (no pun intended) by saying its an around about 125 litres maximum (but is likely to be less than that depending of scaping)?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

So is the 125 litres as a bare bottom and they are covering their bases (no pun intended) by saying its an around about 125 litres maximum (but is likely to be less than that depending of scaping)?

They're simply avoiding stating that their tank holds exactly 125 litres, so as to avoid any Trade Descriptions hassle.
I'm sure that if the litre was used as the unit of measurement, every tank would match. If they used the centilitre to measure capacity, there'd probably be some small variation, which would grow if the tank's volume was measured in milliltres.

The tank may well hold 125 litres, but that could be 125 litres of water, or sand, or gravel, or a combination of those items. That's 125 litres-ish.
If anyone buys a 125 litre tank and fills it up with substrate, rocks and an assortment of pottery toys and then expects to be able to get 125 litres of water in as well, then I'm sorry, but there are a few butties short of the proverbial picnic.

 

[Colin_T]

So basically there is no chance of anyone ever getting the right dosage of anything into their aquarium is there?

You can get pretty close to it with the following information.

Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

There's a point in setting up a tank when I'm finally ready to add the water.
At that stage, I use a bucket of known volume and pay attention as to how much water I need to add, to get to 1" below the top rim of the tank.
I write it down.
Sorted.

 

[Ichthys]

This method is extremely accurate.

Water...
I calculate the volume and divide by the height to give a volume per inch.
eg - a 6x2x2 is (approx) 6.5 gallons per inch (UK).

Substrate and Decor... simple. Just do what Archimedes would have done. Add it when you have some water in the tank and measure how much the water level rises. If you add new decor later, just note the rise in the water level.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

This method is extremely accurate.

Water...
I calculate the volume and divide by the height to give a volume per inch.
eg - a 6x2x2 is (approx) 6.5 gallons per inch (UK).

Substrate and Decor... simple. Just do what Archimedes would have done. Add it when you have some water in the tank and measure how much the water level rises. If you add new decor later, just note the rise in the water level.

And don't forget to shout "Eureka!" at random intervals.

 

[FishHobby99]

The most frustrating thing on this forum is people not having the following in their signatures.
A/ Tap water DH/KH/PPM/PH
B/ Tank dimensions/capacity (if one or two only)
C/ Tank temp.
D/ Tank occupants.

Itd certainly save a lot of too and froing in emergency threads.

There seems a reluctance to do this by both regulars and newcomers alike. I can only surmise this is because a lot more posters are keeping fish in unsuitable circumstances than are prepared to admit it.

There. I’ve said it.

It’s more fun 4me to quote Bob Dylan
Worshipped the man all my life as did my parents & even grandparents. One song has a fish reference

 

[Tannie]

Ok, I'm in a Covid-19 lock down and have time to think.
Tell us what is the most frustrating advice you get off this forum site. Hopefully that will help us so called experts or experienced fish keepers some idea of how to help those new to the hobby to become more confident and more informed. I think sometimes we become to long winded and give way to much detail rather than sticking to the basics.
What do the new to the world of fish keeping want to here from us.

When you give sound, solid, tried and true advise and the very next post is: OH no don't do that it will kill all your fish! So do you jump back in and start a back and forth argument on the merits of melafix or just let it go?

 

[YewBush]

Well, once I asked what type of plant I had in my aquarium because I forgot to ask at the fish store (I know I should do research first, but it was a good price) and somebody told me it was not an aquatic plant. I am glad that person tried to help at all, though.

 

[itiwhetu]

When you give sound, solid, tried and true advise and the very next post is: OH no don't do that it will kill all your fish! So do you jump back in and start a back and forth argument on the merits of melafix or just let it go?

Let it go

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

The most frustrating thing on this forum is people not having the following in their signatures.
A/ Tap water DH/KH/PPM/PH
B/ Tank dimensions/capacity (if one or two only)
C/ Tank temp.
D/ Tank occupants.

Itd certainly save a lot of too and froing in emergency threads.

There seems a reluctance to do this by both regulars and newcomers alike. I can only surmise this is because a lot more posters are keeping fish in unsuitable circumstances than are prepared to admit it.

There. I’ve said it.

i need to get better about that

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ok, I'm in a Covid-19 lock down and have time to think.
Tell us what is the most frustrating advice you get off this forum site. Hopefully that will help us so called experts or experienced fish keepers some idea of how to help those new to the hobby to become more confident and more informed. I think sometimes we become to long winded and give way to much detail rather than sticking to the basics.
What do the new to the world of fish keeping want to here from us.

The absolutely most frustrating is contradicting advice on compatibility. For instance, bettas can be housed with blah, blah. Fish X is only aggressive during breeding season, and so on. Newbies often don’t know what to believe.
The second most confounding is super in depthq explanations that seem like a lecture from a college class of advanced chemistry. I was a foreign language major, not chemistry. Simple explanations, even with diagrams, for visual learners would be very helpful.
Thanks.