evaporation

[GoodFish]

Why is my water dissappearing?? My water goes down about an inch a day, WHY IS THIS??

Am I doing somthing wrong? or does the was evaporate this fast all the Time??

 

[kukki]

i think the more surface area you have, the faster your water is going to evaporate.. and if its a closed lid or open top....... and where your powerheads are pointed, the more you have them pointed up breaking the surface of the water, the faster the evap. will be

and the higher the temp you keep your tank at the faster the water will go as well ( im pretty sure )

buuuuut wait for someone else to tell me im wrong =)

 

[RMPD109]

Kukki is right about all that. You canalso take into consideration the heat produced by the lighting system. And any fans in the light strip/canopy.

 

[lando]

It is evaporation from all of the sources mentioned. It is actually a good thing. Just do daily top-off with fresh water to keep SG consistant.

 

[Phyl]

Evap is a frequently sought after way of controlling temperature. The more unrefined "bubbles" that you have in your system the more evap you'll have, the more surface movement (and these are very good things as this promotes gas exchange) the more evap you'll have. Hence the frequently talked about "auto top-off systems".

That being said, I have a section of my sump that used to be covered and when I added my fuge I opened that part up to allow for the extra hoses that needed to go in and out of there. When it got opened up my evep got out of control so I put a bit of filter floss over it. Just my 2c.

 

[GoodFish]

what is filter floss? because the evaporation is hapening in my sump not the main tank ass much... It there any cover i can use to prevent this?? the sump is causing the evaporaion...it looses a bout an inch of water a day.about a gal. in 3-5 days...

any help would be great

 

[kukki]

i guess filter floss is this stuff http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=5382&N=62728+113803 ... i just hit up google i really dunno lol.

but as long as your sump pump and your overflow are working like it sounds... you shouldnt see any water loss in your main tank ever including evaporation, only in your sump

just like lando and phyl said , its a good thing .. id just look into a auto-top off if you dont want to add freshwater everyday or every other day or whatever you need

that being said i dont have my sump completely set up yet so i dont know if ill have alot of loss yet or not with my own.. just telling you what i have read =)

 

[malkore]

since the sump is directly connected to the main tank as one water system, both are losing water. its just the way the return and overflow works, that you end up seeing it in the sump and not the main tank.

FYI I lose about 1gallon a day on my 40gallon breeder, open top reef tank.

 

[GoodFish]

is there any way to slow it down?

 

[malkore]

cover the tank so less surface area is exposed to moving, drier air.
however this basically increases the heat of the water inside. it's cheaper to daily top-off than buy a small chiller.

 

[GoodFish]

okay i will just do the daily top off then, thanks for all the help!!

 

[badfish]

Yeah Goodfish,

if you are seeing that much water loss, it might be a good time to invest in an RO/DI unit, it will pay for itself in no time. They sell them on ebay, and i will be lookin to get one in the future myself, here i a link to one, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20756&item=4383051780&rd=1

Did you ever post pics?

 

[GoodFish]

no i didnt post any pics yet in waiting to get my LR but when I post them ill tell you