Tank Fill Level

[leongreenway]

This may seem a silly question, but how far should you fill up your tank, mines 24 inches tall ??

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I fill mine up to around one half to three quarters of an inch from the top. The water line is about halfway up the plastic molding but below the lip that the hood sits on.

 

[Angry_Platy]

I fill mine up so it is touching the top tank lids then drain it back until it just isn't....

If that makes sense

 

[nc_nutcase]

I agree with the previous response of 1/2 way up the plastic lip, then I refill if it evaporates below the plastic lip before water change day.

 

[colegamby]

i try to keep my tank filled just up to the plastic lip. then i add alittle everyday to keep it at that level.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

eh, my community tank's a 24 incher as well, but i really only fill it to within 3 inches of the top edge. this really increases the agitation where the water falls out of the HOB filter, which assists with aeration. its ok for your tank to be less than absolutely full, you just want to make certain that your filtration works and your heater is completely covered with water and that neither of these conditions can be affected by evaporative losses.

it does make it a lot noiser to have the water level down.

of course, i mostly own lower-level fish and then guppies. vertical space means less to them.

 

[guppygirl]

Yep, I just completed a water change on my 29 gallon because my brother was complaining about the noise.
Also make sure the heater is covered if you do have the water level down! I fill mine till it's almost touching the cover under the light.

 

[Tolak]

Depends on the tank. Most of them I fill to around the middle of the top trim. A couple of used 20's leak when I fill them past the edge, so they stay a little low. The 65 in the living room gets filled all the way to the top, to cut down on noise.

Tolak

 

[steelhealr]

Hi..good point by guppygirl. You don't want your heater busting up if the level is too low. Most heaters have a water level marking on them. I fill my tank to just a little above the bottom of the black rim on top. Makes it very easy to tell what kind of evaporation you have when it drops below it. Although you don't have to fill your tank all the way top, why lose one or two gallons that will help 'buffering' your tank against any chemical spikes?More volume is a good thing. Good luck. SH

 

[Inchworm]

With heaters, it's not just that they might crack if the water level is too low; if it is below the fill line, the thermostat will be reading the temperature of the room and not the water in the tank. This means if the room is cool the heater will stay on and overheat the water.

I fill my tanks up as much as possible without having the water touch the glass lids.

 

[CFC]

Water level can depend greatly on the fish you are keeping, since most of my tanks have some kind of surface orientated predator in them i tend to keep the water level at least 4 inches from the top of the tank to keep the fish at a easily viewable height and give them some hunting space. Also labyrinth fish like gouramis, snakeheads and climbing perches and other air breathing fish like bichirs and Corydoras naturally come from very shallow waters and need to be able to access the waters surface quickly and easily so should be kept with a lower water level (no more than 18 inches). Remember that the height of a tank has no affect on its stocking capabilites and a 4x2x2 (LxWxH) tank can still only hold as many fish as a 4x2x1 tank.

The majority of modern heaters are fully submergable so water level should not be a issue for these however if you are using HOB style filtration or have a over flow to a sump you will need to make sure the tank is filled to its minimum level for these to work.

 

[Shnookina]

i leave a 1 inch gap from the top of the tank

 

[steelhealr]

Remember that the height of a tank has no affect on its stocking capabilites and a 4x2x2 (LxWxH) tank can still only hold as many fish as a 4x2x1 tank.

CFC..how can that be? If my calculations are correct, one foot less is 4 x 2 x1 less water which is 8 cubic feet of water or effectively 50% less water than the tank holds. How can that NOT affect stocking cababilities? Am I missing something here?? SH

 

[MyDogIsJealousOfMyFish]

I keep mine about 2 inches from the top. I used to have it higher but the corys keep banging into the glass top when the rocketed up and down the tank!!

 

[CFC]

Remember that the height of a tank has no affect on its stocking capabilites and a 4x2x2 (LxWxH) tank can still only hold as many fish as a 4x2x1 tank.

CFC..how can that be? If my calculations are correct, one foot less is 4 x 2 x1 less water which is 8 cubic feet of water or effectively 50% less water than the tank holds. How can that NOT affect stocking cababilities? Am I missing something here?? SH

The ammount of fish a tank can support is not governed by its volume but by the surface area, the more surface area a tank has the faster gas exchange can take place and the more oxygen can enter the tank.
A 30 gallon hexagonal tank that is 3 feet tall and a foot wide can only support the same number of fish as a 10g tank with the same surface area.