Having the most accurate estimate of the water volume in your aquarium is important for proper dosing of additives. Knowing water volume and surface area are important for determining fish capacity.
BlueChromis can calculate aquarium water volumes and surface areas for almost any shape aquarium, as well as plenums, protein skimmers, sumps and other equipment that hold water. Water displacement from substrate, rocks, and glass thickness is accounted for in the water volume calculations. Porosity of substrate and rocks is also taken into account.
BlueChromis calculations can handle almost any shape aquarium.
The Aquarium Settings window can be resized horizontally, if needed.
What Is An Aquarium?
BlueChromis considers an Aquarium to be a set of interconnected tanks. To BlueChromis a tank is anything that holds water. In the example at the top of this page, the Aquarium has the following tanks:
Main Tank (90 Gallon Reef Tank)
Protein Skimmer
2 Canister Filters
Each row on the Capacity page is a tank in a BlueChromis Aquarium.
Data Entry Area
In addition to the main tank, the Aquarium may include rows for a sump, a plenum, protein skimmer, etc. All of these components contain water. As such, they all add to the water capacity of the aquarium. Substrate, rocks and glass thickness displace water, which reduces water capacity.
Editing
The Tank, Tank Shape, Glass Type, Substrate Type and Rock Type columns have auto complete and drop down lists to pick from.
Right clicking in the any row or column will display a context menu with edit options.
Tank
Tank Shape
Choose a Tank and a shape for that tank. Tank and Tank Shape are required fields.
Available Tanks are: Main Tank, Plenum, Propagation Tank, Protein Skimmer, Pump, Quarantine Tank, Refugium, Secondary Tank, Sump, Filter, Other.
Tank
Dimensions
Enter the dimensions for each tank. Depending on the shape of the tank there may be one, two, three or four sides to enter. See Tank Shape View below.
Shaded cells are protected cells. These change dynamically depending on the tank shape, to prevent accidentally entering unnecessary values.
Water Height
Tank Height
Enter the Tank Height and Water Height for each tank. The Tank Height is the physical height of the tank. The Water Height is the height of the water from the bottom of the tank.
The easiest way to get the Water Height is to measure the distance between the water level and the top of the tank, and then subtract that value from the Tank Height. For example, in the window at the top of this page, the height of the Main Tank is 24 inches. The water level is measured at 1 inch below the top of the tank, so the water height is 23 inches.
Glass Type
and Thickness
For greater accuracy, enter the thickness of the glass. Manufacturers normally state an aquarium's water capacity as the outside volume of the tank. The actual water volume will be less than the stated capacity due to the thickness of the glass.
Note: Glass Type does not affect the capacity calculation. It is shown for future use only.
Substrate Type
Substrate Depth
For each tank, choose a Substrate Type. Choices for Substrate Type are sand, gravel or none. Enter the Substrate Depth, if appropriate.
BlueChromis calculates water displacement from substrate based on the depth of the substrate and the porosity of the substrate. Substrate Type determines the porosity.
Rock Type
Rock Weight
For each tank, choose a Rock Type. Choices for Rock Type are porous, solid or none. Enter the Rock Weight, if appropriate.
BlueChromis calculates water displacement for rocks based on the weight of the rock and the porosity of the rock. Rock Type determines the porosity. For marine aquariums that use live rock, the usual choice for Rock Type would be porous. For fresh water aquariums, the Rock Type would often be solid.
Surface Areas
Volumes
These are calculated columns. Total Water Volume and Water Surface Area and External Volume for each tank are automatically updated as data is entered or changed.
Tank Shape View
Placing the cursor on any row with a tank will display the shape of that tank. The perspective is looking down at the top of the aquarium. The the labeled sides of the shape (colored in red) are visual indicators of the dimensions needed to perform the area calculation. S1 is side one, S2 is side two, etc.
BlueChromis can compute the water capacity for any of the shapes listed below.
Stated Capacity
Enter the Stated Capacity. This is the manufacturer's declared capacity for the main tank or aquarium, as opposed to say a sump or plenum. It serves as a point of reference when viewing the capacity calculations. On the Capacity tab shown at the top of this page, we see the following:
Main Tank Stated Capacity 90.00 (entered)
Main Tank External Volume 89.77 (calculated)
Main Tank Water Volume 67.02 (calculated)
Total Water Volume 71.81 (calculated)
The stated capacity disclosed by the manufacturer usually means the outside volume of the tank. Even if the tank holds nothing but water and is filled to the brim, the actual water volume will be less than the stated capacity due to the thickness of the glass.
Totals
Totals are calculated fields. Total Water Volume and Total Surface Area for the Aquarium are automatically updated as data is entered or changed.
Button Bar
Press Done to close the window and save any changes.
