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Originally Posted by Mister Sparkle
my suggestion would probably be to just calculate it on a basic level of surface area...i.e. forgetting the peculiarities of material (which we all know can be significant) and limiting it to a more basic area of the external dimensions of the sponge (e.g. square inch calculations for basic rectangular and spherical dimensions). I'm not sure how that function will look in the end...again, maybe it's incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
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That makes sense... Let me worry about the feasibility. :)
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Yes. I think this would be a helpful feature, especially to the novice user, who can actually see in a very dramatic way the effect that more frequent water changes will have in terms of how much water will need to be removed for the aquarium to operate safely.
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Will look into that as a possibility in the future.
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Affirmative. I'm not sure if there really is a formula available for this, however. Over time, I think, many of us have just developed an eye for a sort of "this amount of fish requires x-amount of changing y-times per week", which is also a function of visual inspection in terms of observable detritus and water testing results.
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Much of my formula are reverse engineered - i.e. they are not known but through lots of trial and error, eventually settle on a formula that works. This requires lots of examples obviously. Not that far off from what you describe what people do, to tell you the truth... lol.
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Sorry...that must have been unclear. I remember a LONG time ago hearing advice that you had to keep 10 swordtails in a species-tank to have any success with breeding. It probably was for reasons as simple as that the first breeding success happened to occur in these conditions. That piece of advice came from the old-timers way back when I was getting started, so I can only imagine how old it is. 10 swordtails in a species tank requires a BARE minimum of a 20-gallon. I think that this misconception is primarily the reason 20-gallon is still quoted as the minimum...i.e. the "reason" for the advice has been forgotten, while the numerical value stuck around, and new reasons were sort of "made up" to account for it.
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Got it. :)
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That's quite a commitment on your part!
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It is but it is also rewarding. :) People (well, most of them) like to use them and I see positive results so that drives me forward.
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That's fair. I wonder, though, if that can be implemented into the "your tank is seriously overstocked" message....maybe you can state something to the effect of "unless you are an experienced aquarist who can meet the maintenance/biological needs of this aquarium, we recommend..." A statement like that can actually be implemented at a much lower level than 150% (which is where I believe the statement currently begins to appear), and could seem a little less "offensive" to those of us who are currently seeing these messages and saying "nuh-uh!!!!!!!"  Also, you could then keep the "seriously overstocked" message and place it at a much higher %-capacity...say, somewhere in the level of 200-300%. A 15-gallon standard aquarium with 4 swordtails, 9 guppies, and 4 bronze corys is certainly deserving of the "experienced-aquarist" message, but imo not so much worthy of the one that says "seriously overstocked".
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Interesting comment. The earlier version actually had much softer comments. And some people were complaining that it wasn't strong enough and was thinking that beginners won't get the message. Hence the strong language. Perhaps I over-did it... lol.
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