Growth Rate Tank Size Or Water Volume?

[steve2000]

hi does anyone know the answer to my question. Is it the size of tank that matters or the
volume of water.
The reason i ask is i have just built a tank and divided it into 4 sections for keeping my fry in.
One section is used for heating, areation and filtering and 3 are for the fry.
each section is 16" x 8" x8" which holds 18 liters which is obviously not much,
but all the sections flow through eachother so the total water volume is 72 liters.

So back to my original question What affects the growth rate?

Thanks Steve

 

[Tolak]

Tank size & volume of water are only part of the equation of growing out fry. Water changes, feeding, tank temperature and more have to be taken into account. It also differs from species to species.

What species are you growing out?

 

[MHunt]

Generally the largest volume of water you can have the better. This is why many marine setups cetainly use a large sump, it doesn't increase the size of the main tank, but the larger volume water means the tank is more stable and generally better for the fish.

I must admit it's a big setup just for growing on fry but good luck, I think i'm using a big tank with a 5 gal!

 

[thegnu]

actually i thought it did increase the volume/ size of the main tank. size/volume are the same i suppose. if you have a sump that holds say 5 gallons of water and you prime it with your tank water the water level has now gone down by 5 gallons so you have to top up your main tank with 5 gallons of water so increasing your tank by 5 gallons

 

[steve2000]

Hi thanks for the fast replies.
Firstly i have 70 fry consisting of ,yellow labs, marbled convicts, Nannacara anomala, greyshaki, trewervasae and some afra cobue. these are in a tank of 18 liters and i feel that before long they will be over crowded,thay are only about 1/2 inch at the momment.
About water changes and regular feeding ,yes doing all that very regularly, just wondered about the tank size.

 

[MHunt]

actually i thought it did increase the volume/ size of the main tank. size/volume are the same i suppose. if you have a sump that holds say 5 gallons of water and you prime it with your tank water the water level has now gone down by 5 gallons so you have to top up your main tank with 5 gallons of water so increasing your tank by 5 gallons

Yeah, the system holds an extra 5 gals, so it owuld have gone up from 20 gals to 25 gals for example. Even so the physical size of the tank where the fish are doesn't increase, only the water quality does. You can also use the sump to hold the tank hardware too, so the filter, some live rock if you want, skimmer etc can sit in the sump, leaving more space in the tank for the fish.

 

[Tolak]

Many people get by with growing out fry in smaller tanks with more frequent & larger water changes. A larger tank with a larger volume of water is always the best, but not everyone has the space or money for huge growout tanks. Fry can be stocked more heavily due to the lack of aggression issues when younger, but water quality has to be maintained. That 18l tank will be too small if not already, mooving them to a larger tank is a good idea, unless you like daily 50% water changes.