water evaporation?

[jwils27]

how do you guys keep the water evaporation down in your tank? i'm going through about 1 gal or so a day on my 135g. it has an open top with 2 250 MH (12 hrs per day)and 30 gal sump open top with 17 W (8 hrs @ night)grow light on it. i will soon add so actenics so i do not have to run MH's so long. only pumps are mag 12, coral life 220 skimmer and 3 power heads. also heater 400W never on though.

 

[wolfie]

That normal to have that much evap... You can try to get an auto topoff to help witht hat.

 

[washowi]

I lose about 4 gallon a day on my 90...I would kill to lose only 1 Gallon..

Get a Tunze Osmolator and connect it to a RO container and let it handle the evaporation.. Evaporation is good!! It cools the tank.

 

[jwils27]

i figured as much. i am geting a 20 gal tank for a top off tank so that will help. what is the best float switch to buy?

 

[mopar9012]

i lose about one gallon a day on my 29 with a 175 MH.

 

[jetchris]

the best ?? not sure - I ordered a jbj auto topoff from marine depot, i think it was $90 and free shipping.

 

[washowi]

Tunze......

 

[wolfie]

http://www.aquahub.com/store/product26.html">http://www.aquahub.com/store/product26.html</a>

I got this 1 in the mail Friday for my 39GL tall. Had the same unit for my 75GL for over a years and never have any problem with it.

 

[ouling]

washowi;46544 wrote: I lose about 4 gallon a day on my 90...I would kill to lose only 1 Gallon..

Get a Tunze Osmolator and connect it to a RO container and let it handle the evaporation.. Evaporation is good!! It cools the tank.

Yea thats exactly what is happening to me. I can leave the house for 12 hours and cut the ac, the fans do the job, and the chiller never have to kick in. keeps the temp at 83-84 pretty nicely, it evaps 4-5 gallons a day with both lid on 90G open, 2 fans working in 50G sump, and open top on the 25g refugium.

I rather have it evap 4 gallons and let my flot valve work itself than to pay the extra chiller electric bill.

I use the Kent float valve and it is good quality.

 

[simon_kruger]

Evaporation mainly comes from the temperature differential between your aquarium and your homes ambient temperature. Try keeping them the same and your evaporation will decrease. Use a chiller instead of fans to control the tanks temperature and that should help.

Osmolators/Auto topoff's are a must as far as i am concerned. Water stability is the key in this hobby afterall. Automating your topoff will release you from that mundane day to day maintenance. A pain in the ar$e if you have to do it manually. I speak from experience here ;-)

And I agree, 1 Gallon evaporation on a tank of your size is still within the normal to good rating.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Of this all, there is another point I would like to make. Auto top offs are great (I use one), but there do need consideration in your tanks salinity. More to the point, your skimmer does. Dont go under the conception that as long as the top off is maintained that your tank will remain at a constant salinity. Believe it or not, your skimmer removes salt water to whatever degree. That is replaced by freshwater at top off time. Over a period, this will cause the salinity to drop. Not a huge amount, but depending on the time period, it will. Moral of the story, check the salinity in your tank periodically.

 

[roundman]

Evaporation: I have a closed top with just a few small openings on a 75 gal. it is a fowlr for now until I can afford the MH for corals, etc. I don't have any evap problems yet but when I get my lights do you top off with salt water or just water? :confused2:
Thanks

 

[simon_kruger]

Its only water H2O that evaporates. You would only need to top off water. No saltwater needed.

 

[dakota9]

wow, my 30g long requires at least a gallon a day top off water. I say if you are only losing a gallon a day in a ninty gallon tank, just leave well enough alone.

 

[siege]

I lose about a gallon a day or so on my 50, but I'm running PC lights and temperature is always incredibly stable at 78 degrees. I just raise my overflow box as high as it will go, add water until the level in my sump is as desired, and then lower the overflow box a bit each day, preparing water for top off about once a week, since the difference in the very highest and very lowest points on my overflow equates to about 5 gallons of sump level.

 

[dsmitchell]

siege;46714 wrote: I lose about a gallon a day or so on my 50, but I'm running PC lights and temperature is always incredibly stable at 78 degrees. I just raise my overflow box as high as it will go, add water until the level in my sump is as desired, and then lower the overflow box a bit each day, preparing water for top off about once a week, since the difference in the very highest and very lowest points on my overflow equates to about 5 gallons of sump level.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this method only maintain the water level in the sump, not the salinity during the week?

David

 

[wolfie]

You do lose a little, but not that much to make a big different in your tank. So when you do WC you can add the salt back in.

You lose more salt from skimmer then evaporation

 

[siege]

dsmitchell;46717 wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this method only maintain the water level in the sump, not the salinity during the week?

David

You are correct, my salinity over the course of a week will cycle between 1.022 and 1.027 or so.

Call me lazy... I won't be taking care of this tank for too much longer, so I'm not going through any more effort than is necessary to keep its occupants healthy and happy, but I used to do water changes 2 or 3 times a week; yes, I'd love to have a top-off of some kind rigged up, but that's not really doable here, and I'm just not investing that much time and effort in something that isn't mine.

 

[justonemoretank]

I loose approx 2.5 to 3 gallons a day from my 120g tank with 50g sump. This was with no AC running in the house and windows open. Ceiling fans and sump/hood fans running full force... well it finally got uncomfortable enough and I had to cut on the AC because the tank could not keep under 82 as the max temp. Not really sure how the evap rate will change now with the sump and hood fans running less since the AC is on. Also the room will have a drier air due the the AC running. I just "top off" at nights with kalk solution. I "ballpark" the timing of the peristaltic pump to keep the level about right in the sump.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Hell, I loose 1.5-2.5gal a day on my 55 gal right now. On the plus side, with my fan on the fuge the tank temp never goes above 80.5 (the point at which the fan come on).

P.S. I loose more salt from the salt spray from my 8" fan then from my skimmer anyday! but I would not trade my fan for the world! Best $8 cooling money can buy!