# calculating amount of needed substrate



## Matt Holbrook-Bull

ok, lots of people keep asking this so I thought Id put it in its own thread!!

here is how to work out how many litres of substrate you need for a given tank size.  And also how to calculate your tank volume in total if you need to.


the formula is:

(length x width x depth) / 1000 = litres.

so for a 60x45x50 with a substrate 5cm deep (uniform)

60 x 45 x 5 = 13500cm2 / 1000 = 13.5 litres.

Hope this helps.


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## LondonDragon

Nice one Matt, that will avoid a lot of questions  Maybe a little bit more info on substrates too.
Types and which are best, and also a couple of suggestions on the cheap and price not an issue.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Maybe a little bit more info on substrates too.
> Types and which are best, and also a couple of suggestions on the cheap and price not an issue.



knock yourself out


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## Aqua Essentials

this is useful too

http://www.plantedtank.net/substratecalculator.html


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## LondonDragon

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> knock yourself out


My experience is gravel so not much to go by LOL


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## zed

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> ok, lots of people keep asking this so I thought Id put it in its own thread!!
> 
> here is how to work out how many litres of substrate you need for a given tank size.  And also how to calculate your tank volume in total if you need to.
> 
> 
> the formula is:
> 
> (length x width x depth) / 1000 = litres.
> 
> so for a 60x45x50 with a substrate 5cm deep (uniform)
> 
> 60 x 45 x 5 = 13500cm2 / 1000 = 13.5 litres.
> 
> Hope this helps.




How do you calculate the amount needed for a corner tank?

Thanks.


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## ceg4048

zed,
     Matt's formula is just the tank's (base area) times (the desired substrate depth) divided by 1000. 
In your corner tank it's the same principle - just the area of the base times substrate depth divided by 1000. 

The area of the base, assuming it's a triangle = a x h/2
where, "a" is the length of the base (i.e the viewing pane)
"h" is the distance from the viewing pane to the rear corner.

So your required volume = a x h/2 x (desired substrate depth) / 1000


Cheers,


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## zed

Ceg,

Thanks for the clarification!

By those calculations I need approx 30 litres for my Hagen Venezia 350 litre corner tank.

Eco-complete comes in 9kg bags. Any idea what volume this would be?


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## ceg4048

Hi Zed,
          I'm not sure what the density of the ecocomplete is. It's best to use the substrate calculator given above http://www.plantedtank.net/substratecalculator.html 

The calculator does exactly the same thing as we just did but in order to tweak it for a triangle enter a length and width that gives you the same square footage as your triangle - so if your triangle's base area is 500 square inches then on the substrate calculator you would enter, say, 50 inches for the length and 10 inches for the width (50 x 10 = 500).

That should teach you to get weird shaped tanks...  

Cheers,


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## zed

Ok, I've calculated (or rather you did   ) 93lb or 42kg of Eco complete. That's 5 bags that are 9kg each, nigh on Â£90. 

Thanks for your help!


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## nickmcmechan

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> (length x width x depth) / 1000 = litres.
> 
> so for a 60x45x50 with a substrate 5cm deep (uniform)
> 
> 60 x 45 x 5 = 13500cm2 / 1000 = 13.5 litres.



just for clarity, all units are metric


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## Behold

MY sand cost that!!! all because the wife did not want brown sand that looks dull. TBH i do live the sand i have and its worth it now


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## nickmcmechan

do you have the forulae to calculate pounds and kilos as substrate is sold in all 3 forms


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## Goodygumdrops

You multiply kilos by 2.2 to get pounds,or divide pounds by 2.2 to get kilos.


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## milla

...


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## Ed Seeley

Goodygumdrops said:
			
		

> You multiply kilos by 2.2 to get pounds,or divide pounds by 2.2 to get kilos.



But the formula in the first post gives the amount of substrate in litres!  I think Nick is wanting to convert litres into pounds and kilos.

The answer to that is that it is going to vary slightly between the substrates as Aquasoil is lighter per litre than ordinary sand or gravel.  The best way will be to ask the seller for the rough volume of the product you are thinking of getting.


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## Goodygumdrops

Ah ok,my bad


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## Behold

Lookup Convert.exe on google. it will do it all for you..... 

In fact here it is

http://joshmadison.com/article/convert-for-windows/

does practically everything.....


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## gzylo

Hi

simply just type in google 22lb to kg and it will split the result for you  it works with currency etc.....

hope that makes things simpler 


regards
gzylo


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## LancsRick

Would it be worth mentioning in here what depth you should aim for with various substrates? I've got 3inches with my cat litter, but would this be the same with soil? What about the specialist substrates? etc


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## ceg4048

No it's not really worth it because that would just create more confusion. Aim for whatever substrate depth you want. It's your aquascape so do what you want. If 3 inches looks good to you use 3 inches. If 5 inches looks good then use 5 inches.

Cheers,


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## LancsRick

My understanding was that you need a certain amount in there to allow the substrate to buffer the water column if not dosing EI? Or have I just made that up?


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## ceg4048

Sorry mate, yeah, I reckon you might have dreamed that up some time ago....or, it might have been original programming when you were still trapped in The Matrix. The only thing you should worry about is:
A) Does it look cool.
B) Is there enough depth to hold the plant when you stick it in so that everything doesn't float away.
C) Can I afford it.

Cheers,


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## LancsRick

You do like your Matrix references 

Cheers Clive. Definitely over-depthed my current tank then! I'm not sure any depth of cat litter will ever hold a plant though .

Thanks.


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## Viv

How does a bow front affect the calculation? I've got a Vision 450 that I'm going to use eco-complete in. Should I measure using the widest point or the shortest? Thanks 

Viv


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## roadmaster

I have alway's gone with 2 lbs. per gallon and this has worked well for me .with usually some left over.


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## Viv

Okay, I'll work it out that way. Thanks 

Viv


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## sparkyweasel

If you have a strange shaped tank, but you know how many litres it holds, you can divide those litres by the height, and multiply the result by the depth of substrate you want to give how many litres of substrate you need.


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## ian_m

Basically all the calculation never works. When I did my vision 180 I ended up having a 12.5Kg bag of sand left over and had to order two more bags of Fluval substrate.


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## Viv

Well, in the end I ordered as many bags of eco-complete as I can afford (6) and will go from there. Fingers crossed!

Viv


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## Andy Thurston

Use these calculators to find volume of odd shaped tanks

 Substitute tank height for gravel depth will give you gravel volume

Use 1/4 of cylinder volume for bow front corner tanks

Bow front use the average size to calculate or just use biggest size it will be close enough

Aquarium calculators | Volume Calculator


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## Sianita

Awesome thread! This is something I had been trying to figure out by myself


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## steve Short

very helpful


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## Chris PP

Really useful, I nearly ordered twice as much as I needed !


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## troma67

Just what I was looking for.


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