The New Tank Setup Plan

A new aquarium worked from the water it really holds: the tank measured inside the glass, a low number for stocking and a high number for the stand and heater, the bed bought in whole bags, a heater for the coldest night, and a fill day counted in buckets

Our Aquarium Volume Calculator measures the dimensions you type, the Substrate Calculator gives pounds rather than bags, and the Heater and Fish Stocking calculators each take whatever gallons you give them, usually the number on the label. Those tools never meet, and the label is not the water: an example 55 gallon tank holds 43.48 gallons once the glass, a sloped bed, the gap below the rim and the rock are counted out, 79% of its name. The New Tank Setup Plan works out that water and gives each job the number that errs on its safe side: the water for stocking, the full glass for the stand's load and the heater. In the worked example the bed comes to 77.48 lb, four 20 lb bags, where 3 inches everywhere measured outside buys $35.97 more; the heater sized on the label and an average room is 200 W, where the full glass on a 64 F night needs 283.65 W; and a fish list that reads 68% of the label is 86% of the water. Fill day replaces every estimate with a bucket count. Every figure is computed by the code behind our calculators, and every tank, price and fish list is an example for you to replace. It covers no salt, medicine or treatment of any kind; sick fish are a question for an aquatic veterinarian. Inside: seven steps, four printable working pages, a reference table for six common tanks and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in our calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Inside Rule: the tank measured inside the glass, with bow front and cylinder volumes
• The Water Line Rule: the water above the bed and below the line, less the rock from a bucket test
• The Two Numbers Rule: the low number for stocking, the high number for the stand's load and the heater
• The Whole Bag Rule: the bed over a sloped floor in the cheapest whole-bag mix
• The Coldest Night Rule: a heater sized on the full glass and the coldest room, one or two, with the electrical facts
• The Real Gallon Rule: adult inches counted on the water, and fish added in groups weeks apart
• The Bucket Count Rule: a fill day that measures the water and replaces every estimate
• Four printable working pages: tank measurement sheet, bed and bag sheet, heater and stand sheet, stocking and fill-day sheet
• A reference table for six common tanks (glass, water, gravel, bags and heaters) and a units table
• A quickstart checklist and a personalised sheet worked from your own calculator inputs

The plan picks up where the free Aquarium Volume Calculator leaves off. That calculator measures the glass you type; the Substrate Calculator gives pounds, not bags; and the Aquarium Heater Calculator and Fish Stocking Calculator each take whatever gallons you give them. The plan carries them through: the tank measured inside the glass, the water counted above the bed and below the water line, a low number for stocking and a high number for the stand and the heater, the bed bought in whole bags, a heater for the coldest night, fish stocked on the water in stages, and a bucket count on fill day. Every figure in it is an example for you to replace. It covers no salt, medicine or treatment of any kind: if fish are sick, ask an aquatic veterinarian.