Copyright: Copyright © 1997-1999 boonedocks.net/Mike Boone
Citation: Copyright © 1997-1999 boonedocks.net/Mike Boone


FishTank

Version 2.1a

Copyright (c) 1997-1999 boonedocks.net (fishtank@boonedocks.net)

FishTank is basically an aquarium size calculator. You enter size and type information for the tank and the program computes various information about the prospective aquarium.

FishTank is a 32-bit Windows program intended to be used on Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT. If you're using Windows NT, you need at least version 3.51.

FishTank version 2.1a is shareware. You are permitted to evaluate the software for 15 days, after which time you must submit the US$15 registration fee or remove it from your computer. Click here for details on how to register FishTank.

By using FishTank, you agree to the license presented during installation and listed in the LICENSE.TXT file accompanying this software.

Feel free to distribute the archive anywhere, as long as it is transmitted in its original file FISHTANK.ZIP with all associated files unmodified and included.

Click on the Contents button above for the Table of Contents.

Please refer to the FishTank home page for up to date information:

http://boonedocks.net/fishtank


How To Register FishTank

FishTank version 2.1a is shareware. You are permitted to evaluate the software for 15 days, after which time you must submit the US$15 registration fee or remove it from your computer.

After 15 days, FishTank will not allow you to print or save results. It will also display the About dialog box each time you exit.

When you register FishTank, you’ll receive a registration code. When you enter this code into FishTank, it becomes a registered version and will immediately turn off the “nag” features.

Your registration fee permits boonedocks.net to continue producing quality aquarium software. Some things the fee will cover include:

•	Cost of research (books, experiments)

•	Cost of running a website

•	Cost of development tools and keeping them up to date

0	As a registered user of FishTank, you’ll be notified via e-mail of any updates.

1	To register, go to the Help Menu and select “How To Register”. Registration can be done via the Web (secure server), e-mail, fax, or regular mail. All registrations are handled by the Kagi shareware registration service (http://www.kagi.com).


Getting Started

0	Although FishTank’s interface was designed to be intuitive from the start, a little explanation for first-time users may help.

1	To get started from the opening window (with the title fish screen), click on New Tank. A new window will appear with five tabs called “Pages” here.

2	Here is a sample page window from FishTank:

0	The top of the page lists the items specific to Page 1, i.e., the “Type of Aquarium” and “Aquarium Material” areas.

1	Toward the bottom of the page is an area called the “Infobox” where short descriptions are provided about the area you are looking at. Try clicking on “Brackish” and watch the description change.

2	At the bottom right of each page are the navigation buttons “<< Prev” and “Next >>“. Use these buttons to move the previous or next page to enter more data. You may also jump between pages by clicking on the page tabs at the top of the window.

3	At any point in the process you may save your results to a file by going to the File menu and selecting Save or Save As. You can also start over at any time by selecting File/New or by clicking on the New Tank button at the bottom of the screen. To open a file at any time, select File/Open or click on the Open Tank button at the bottom of the screen.

4	You can change the units used on this or any page by going to the Settings menu and choosing Units. A dialog will appear where you can select the units you want to use.

5	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 1.


Page 1: Type and Material

0	The first page of information you will enter about an aquarium is the tank type (based on water type) and the tank material. You will see the window below:

0	First, select the type of aquarium you want to examine. Select Freshwater, Brackish Water, or Salt Water.

1	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 2.


Page 2: Geometry

0	The second page lets you specify the actual size of the aquarium you’re examining.

0	If you want to quickly choose a tank size and shape, click on the “Quick Picks” box and select a tank. The remaining data values on the page will be filled out automatically. Please note that the wall thickness that is automatically entered will be that of glass regardless of what you chose on page 1. To find out about modifying the contents of the Quick Picks file, click here.

1	The aquariums listed in the Quick Picks box with an asterisk (*) following them are not actual measured values. These measurements are based on an aquarium catalog listing, and the measurements on these tanks have not been made from the inside of the tank. The wall thicknesses for these tanks are estimates.

2	We’re always looking for more actual aquarium measurements. If you like, you can forward your tank’s measurements to fishtank@boonedocks.net.

3	If you choose to enter your own information, or if you wish to modify the Quick Pick entries, use the remaining fields on this page. They are described below.

4	You can select from three types of aquarium shapes: standard Rectangular, Hexagonal, or Circular. FishTank currently only supports hexagonal aquariums with equal-length sides.

5	You can change the units used on this or any page by going to the Settings menu and choosing Units.

6	For each of the tank types, the dimensions you input should be the inner measurements, since they will be used to compute the volumes of things inside the aquarium (i.e., water and gravel).

7	In all tank shapes, the Wall Thickness measurement is the thickness of the glass or acrylic walls of the tank. This value affects heating and cooling calculations made, as well as the approximate weight of the aquarium itself.

8	Please refer to Figure A for how to measure a rectangular tank.

0	Figure A

0	Length is the longest side of the tank along the bottom, Width is the shortest side of the tank along the bottom, and Height is the measurement from top to bottom.

1	Please refer to Figure B for how to measure a hexagonal tank.

0	Figure B

0	Diameter is the distance from one corner of the tank to the corner on the opposite side, and Height is the measurement from top to bottom.

1	Please refer to Figure C for how to measure a circular tank.

0	Figure C

0	Diameter is the distance from one edge on the top of the tank to the edge directly on the opposite side, and Height is the measurement from top to bottom.

1	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 1.

2	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 3.


Page 3: Substrate

0	This page allows you to specify the substrate of your aquarium.

0	If you don’t want to have any substrate in your tank, just select any substrate option and specify a depth of zero.

1	You can change the units used on this or any page by going to the Settings menu and choosing Units.

2	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 2.

3	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 4.


Page 4: Temperature

0	Temperatures are used to determine the amount of heating or cooling your aquarium will require. FishTank uses these values, along with water type, tank material type, and aquarium wall thickness to perform a heat transfer calculation.

1	The Temperature settings page is a good place to try out “worst-case” scenarios. For example, you might have determined that you need a 20 watt heater to keep an aquarium at 75°F when the air temperature is 68°F, but what happens if the air temperature drops to say, 50°F? Simply change the air temperature value to 50°F and recalculate to see the difference.

2	Please note that FishTank makes a few assumptions to make the heating/cooling computation possible. It assumes:

•	No heat input from lighting (heat input is usually significant in a reef tank)

•	No heat gain/loss through the bottom of the tank

•	The top of the aquarium is a pane of glass or acrylic the same thickness as the rest of the tank and it is in contact with water just like the rest of the tank

•	The substrate of the tank is ignored

0	You can change the units used on this or any page by going to the Settings menu and choosing Units.

1	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 3.

2	Click here to learn about viewing the results on Page 5.


Page 5: Results

0	The final page displays the results computed from the data you entered. The page is shown below:

0	Click on the Calculate button to have FishTank compute the results. If you want, you can print out your results to a Windows compatible printer by clicking on the Print button. You can save the results to a text file by clicking on the Save Results button.

1	If the text displayed in the results box is too small or too large, go to the Settings menu and select Output Font.

2	If you want to see more of the results at once, and you have a large screen, go to the Settings menu and select Floating Output Window.

3	You can change the units used on this or any page by going to the Settings menu and choosing Units.

4	The following items are computed and displayed in the results. For information on how these calculations were made, please see the BooneDocks web site.

Results Line	Description	Unit Used
Water Type	The water type you selected on page 1.	N/A
Tank Material	The aquarium material you selected on page 1.	N/A
Tank Shape	The tank shape you selected on page 2.	N/A
Length	The tank length you entered on page 2 if you selected a rectangular tank.	length
Diameter	The tank diameter you entered on page 2 if you selected a circular or hexagonal tank.	length
Width	The tank width you entered on page 2 if you selected a rectangular tank.	length
Height	The tank height you entered on page 2.	length
Wall Thickness	The wall thickness you entered on page 2.	length
Tank Volume	The total volume of the aquarium.	volume
Tank Material Weight	The approximate weight of the material used to construct the aquarium. This value neglects any reinforcing materials.	weight
Water Volume	The volume of water in the aquarium. This value accounts for the volume of the tank consumed by the substrate, if any.	volume
Water Weight	The weight of amount the water shown in water volume.	weight
Substrate Type	The substrate type you selected on page 3. This is only displayed if the substrate depth is not zero.	N/A
Substrate Depth	The depth of the substrate you entered on page 3. This is only displayed if the substrate depth is not zero.	length
Substrate Weight	The weight of the amount of substrate you specified for the tank. This is only displayed if the substrate depth is not zero.	weight
Total Weight	Approximate weight of water, tank material, and substrate (if any) combined.	weight
Air Temperature	The air temperature outside the tank that you entered on page 4.	temperature
Water Temperature	The water temperature that you entered on page 4.	temperature
Heating Capability Required	If the air temperature is less than the water temperature, this is the approximate amount of power your aquarium heater will consume to maintain this difference.	heating power
Cooling Capability Required	If the air temperature is greater than the water temperature, this is the approximate amount of power your aquarium chiller will consume to maintain this difference.	heating power
Approximate Fish Length	The approximate total length of fish that the aquarium can support. The total fish length is the length of a thin-bodied fish not including the tail. This value depends on the surface area of the tank, the water salt-content, and the water temperature.	length
Mass Required for 1 PPM	To add one part-per-million (PPM) of substance to your aquarium, you would have to add this much of the substance.	mass

52	The results are never saved to a FishTank *.fsh file; they are regenerated each time you use the tank file and click on Calculate.

53	Click here to learn about entering data for Page 4.


Unit Selection

0	You can change any of the units shown on each page and in the results box. To change the units, go to the Settings menu and choose Units. The following dialog box will appear:

0	FishTank defaults to units commonly used in the U.S. Clicking on the Default button will revert the units back to the U.S. defaults. The different units are described below, and the default unit is italicized. Please note that to save space on the FishTank window, the unit abbreviation in parenthesis is used.

•	Length: used in all distance measurements in the aquarium such as the tank height, substrate depth, and glass thickness. Can be centimeters (cm), feet (ft), inches (in), meters (m), or millimeters (mm).

•	Volume: used for the amount of water in the aquarium computation. Can be cubic centimeters (cm^3), cubic feet (ft^3), cubic inches (in^3), cubic meters (m^3), gallons UK (gal (UK)), gallons US (gal (US)), or liters (L).

•	Mass: used in the amount of treatment in the parts per million calculation. Can be grams (g), kilograms (kg), milligrams (mg), pounds mass (lbm), or slugs (slug).

•	Weight: used in the water weight, substrate weight, and tank weight computations. Can be kilograms force (kgf), newtons (N), or pounds force (lbf).

•	Heat Power: used in heating and cooling. Can be kilowatts (kW) or watts (W).

•	Temperature: used in heating and cooling. Can be Celsius (°C) or Fahrenheit (°F).

0	The pounds mass (lbm), pounds force (lbf), kilograms mass (kgm), and kilograms force (kgf) are provided as FishTank units. People commonly use pounds as a mass unit despite the fact that true pounds are weight. The opposite is true with kilograms; it is a true mass unit but many use it to describe weight. Pounds mass can be converted to slugs by dividing by the value of acceleration of gravity (32.2 ft/sec^2). Kilograms force can be converted to newtons by multiplying by the value of the acceleration of gravity (9.81 m/sec^2).


Output Font

0	You can change the font displayed in the results window (which is also printed). To change this font, go to the Settings menu and choose Output Font. The following dialog box will appear:

0	It is best to choose a fixed width font to get an even line of FishTank’s output.

1	The default font is 10 point Courier New.


Modifying the Quick Pick List

The Quick Pick list may be modified. The data values are stored in a file named “quickpick.csv” and stored in the directory where you installed FishTank. This file is a comma-separated value file editable in a text editor or with a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel.

0	Each line contains a new aquarium. The list is not sorted, so that the aquarium first in the file will appear first in the Quick Pick list. Please note that all data values in this file are given in meters. Each line reads as follows:

1	shape,name,length/diameter,width,height,wall_thickness

Where:

0	shape: a number from 0 to 2, where 0 is a rectangular tank, 1 is a hexagonal tank, and 2 is a circular tank.

1	name: An alphanumeric string giving the name that will appear in the tank list

2	length/diameter: A decimal value giving the tank length for a rectangular tank, and the tank diameter for the hexagonal or circular tanks. This value must be given in meters.

3	width: A decimal value giving the tank width for a rectangular tank. It should be 0 for other tank shapes. This value must be given in meters.

4	height: A decimal value giving the height of the tank. This value must be given in meters.

5	wall_thickness: A decimal value giving the thickness of a panel of the aquarium. This value must be given in meters.

6	Here is an example line for a 10 gallon tank:

7	0,10 Regular,0.49911,0.254,0.29972,0.00254


Floating Output Window

0	If your screen is large enough, you can opt to put the results of a FishTank calculation in a separate window. This will allow you to see more of the results at one time. This option may be turned on or off at any time by selecting the Settings menu and choosing Floating Output Window. FishTank remembers the location of the window between uses so once you size it to your liking, it will stay there.

1	The floating window initially appears when you first go to Page 5. It remains active until you turn it off, close the aquarium file, or exit FishTank.


Contacting BooneDocks
Contacting boonedocks.net

For the latest information, go to the FishTank home page at:

0	http://boonedocks.net/fishtank

1	Or send e-mail to: fishtank@boonedocks.net.


References

0	To the extent possible, FishTank is based on science and engineering information obtained from published sources.

•	Gere, J. M. and Timoshenko, S. P., Mechanics of Materials, 3rd. Ed., PWS-KENT Publishing Company. ISBN 0-534-92174-4

•	Kreith, F., and Bohn, M. S., Principles of Heat Transfer, 5th Ed., West Publishing Company. ISBN 0-314-01360-1

•	Mills, D., You & Your Aquarium, Alfred A. Knopf Publishers. ISBN 0-394-72985-4

•	The *.Aquaria Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Internet at:

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria/Faq/

(I recommend the FAQs for anyone who has an aquarium, especially those who are just starting in the hobby)


About the Author

I’m Mike Boone. I originally wrote FishTank to learn about programming with Visual C++ and MFC. Now it’s evolved a few times to make a useful product.

My interests include computers, listening to Jimmy Buffett and country music, playing guitars, and anything having to do with water (sailing, snorkeling, aquariums, etc.).

I keep a 33 gallon tropical freshwater aquarium that houses 2 severums and 3 giant danios, and a 10 gallon terrarium tank for an old firebelly newt.

You can contact me at the Internet address: fishtank@boonedocks.net. Please feel free to send any feedback or ideas you may have. You can check out my homepage:

http://boonedocks.net/mike.

My jobs and my schooling have experienced me with engineering problem solving, programming, Internet stuff (I admin our web site and design web pages), and more. I graduated in 1994 with a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Ohio State.

I’d like to offer special thanks to my wife Jennifer for her support.