50 gallon drum, how many "aquarium gallons"

[Millepora_Maniac]

HI all,

I have a 50 gallon drum i use for water changes, and it seems that my 90 g aquarium holds less water than the barrel. Just wondering what the difference in gallons is all about.

Any insight would be helpful for me. it changes dosing requirements for the new water change water etc. Also would be good to know what is going on there.

Cheers!-MM

[corpusse]

Either your barrel is not 50 gallons or you tank is not 90 gallons. While many aquarium manufactures use the outside dimensions for calculating gallons, it's not going to be that far off.

[Millepora_Maniac]

Either your barrel is not 50 gallons or you tank is not 90 gallons. While many aquarium manufactures use the outside dimensions for calculating gallons, it's not going to be that far off.

Ihis is a 50 gallon food grade barrel. the tank is a 90 reef ready, 4 by 18 by 24...

on my 180g, it was drained nearly to half way, there is something weird about this, and i think it has to do with conversion or something.

I'm far from a greenhorn dude, lol

[WarDog]

https://www.matthewb.id.au/converter/imperial-units-cylinder-volume-calculator.html

[Millepora_Maniac]

https://www.matthewb.id.au/converter/imperial-units-cylinder-volume-calculator.html

Thanks! according to this, the drum is approximately 50g, so does that mean that the tank itself is not really 90g?

This has always baffled me.

like i said, my 180 nearly got drained to halfway for a water change, and my 90 was within 5" of the bottom of the tank (Yes, i realize there is some rock in there) but not that much! I also had to pull 1/3 of the water out of the 65 gallon that is plumbed into this system... I feel like i am pumping out 100 "aquarium gallons" and adding only 50 "Barrel gallons"

There has to be some explanation, since this 50 gallon barrel is standard size, i am assuming our aquariums are actually not holding as many gallons as they state.

interesting....

[FishyFishy!]

How much live rock do you have in it? It could very well be taking up a lot of water volume inside the tank.

My 210 probably only holds 150 gallons of water with all of my live rock in there.

Oh..and internal or external overflow?

[Dearth]

How much live rock do you have in it? It could very well be taking up a lot of water volume inside the tank.

My 210 probably only holds 150 gallons of water with all of my live rock in there.

Oh..and internal or external overflow?


Very good explanation rock can displace a large volume of water
Half my 95 gallon tank is taken up by rock so at best I might have 50 gallons in it

[gregzz4]

MM, my reef ready mega flow 75g only held 61g after LR and sand. If your tank is the same with an internal overflow (Aqueon) it most likely only holds approx. 75ish gallons, or even less if you're LR heavy.
And when you say you've drained it down to 5" keep in mind that that last 5" empty might hold 18ish gallons, but it's much less with sand and rock.
Honestly it sounds like your drum is more than 50g. My blue barrel is 55g near full but will hold almost 60g.
Stamping on it reads 200 litres, but I've filled it a few inches from the top and it's 55g at that point.

[mike31154]

You likely don't fill your fish tank right to the rim either. The larger your tank the more volume you lose with water level an inch or 2 below the rim. No voodoo here, sand, rock, ovreflows all displace water volume.

[mike31154]

I drain my 77 down about 6 1/2 inches from normal water level and that tends to be about a 22 to 24 gallon water change. No sump, no overflow. A skimmer feed box displaces a bit of water at the surface. Lots of rock & sand. 24 inch tall tank water level an inch & change from top.

[mike31154]

Also a remote possibility the difference between Imperial & US gallons may be a factor, depending on where the hardware is made.

[mike31154]

Very good explanation rock can displace a large volume of water
Half my 95 gallon tank is taken up by rock so at best I might have 50 gallons in it

To accurately determine volume of water displaced by rock or any submerged item you would need to weigh it.