Topping off....

[thomasina]

When folks say that it is okay to top off your tank, exactly what are they saying? How much is a top off? And how often can you do it before you have to do a WC? Every Saturday I do a 10% change since my numbers are perfect and consistent and on Wed. I do a tank check: trimming plants, cleaning out filter intake sponge and so forth. The water does evaporate about 2 inches every week, even tho it is not near a heater vent, fan and the lid is always on tight.

 

[phin]

When folks say that it is okay to top off your tank, exactly what are they saying? How much is a top off? And how often can you do it before you have to do a WC? Every Saturday I do a 10% change since my numbers are perfect and consistent and on Wed. I do a tank check: trimming plants, cleaning out filter intake sponge and so forth. The water does evaporate about 2 inches every week, even tho it is not near a heater vent, fan and the lid is always on tight.

Topping off is replacing the water that evaporated. For you, it sounds like 2 inches per week is a top off. Top off your tank as often as you feel the need to replace water that has evaporated.

If you have a plastic top, there are often vents/openings around the door/hood. Also, if you are running HOB filters you will get a fair deal of evaporation. By using a canister filter and a tight fitting all glass top you can minimize evaporation.

 

[Corithien]

Perfect advice just what I would recomend external filters are the best

 

[DavidAl]

When your water evaporates it leaves behind the calcium and magnesium, stuff that gives you your general hardness. Therefor, you want to top-off with reverse osmosis or distilled water, which is pure water. If you use regular water for top-off's, your GH will eventually go through the roof.

David

 

[shellieca]

I rarely do a top off, it depends on how much I filled my tank after the last water change. I do weekly 50%+ water changes & I would suggest you do larger than 10% as there are minerals & such in the water to be replenished, its not just about keeping ammonia, nitrites, nitrates & Ph in check. I find it much easier to do plant/filter maintenance with the lower level of water plus I then have used tank water for any filter media cleaning I need to do.

 

[phin]

When your water evaporates it leaves behind the calcium and magnesium, stuff that gives you your general hardness. Therefor, you want to top-off with reverse osmosis or distilled water, which is pure water. If you use regular water for top-off's, your GH will eventually go through the roof.

David

Yes good point. I left that out.

 

[Corithien]

Oh yes or not have live plants if you dident do any of that thay are spot on

 

[phin]

I rarely do a top off, it depends on how much I filled my tank after the last water change. I do weekly 50%+ water changes & I would suggest you do larger than 10% as there are minerals & such in the water to be replenished, its not just about keeping ammonia, nitrites, nitrates & Ph in check. I find it much easier to do plant/filter maintenance with the lower level of water plus I then have used tank water for any filter media cleaning I need to do.

Depending on the specifics of the set up (volume, bio-load, plant load, filtration type/capacity) 10% water change per week may be sufficient.

 

[phin]

Onley if you never do water changes or vac the tank! doh
Ignore them this is just wrong

Water changes and gravel vacuuming have nothing to do with whether or not minerals are left behind when water evaporates.

 

[Corithien]

Water hardnes is effected every time the water is changed and when you vac your tank and your plants will also reduce it as thay use it to grow so top ups between cleenups will be fine with just normal de chlorinated water
If you still need to reduce it you would use ro water mixed with de chlorinated in your normal waterchange

 

[phin]

Water hardnes is effected every time the water is changed and when you vac your tank and your plants will also reduce it as thay use it to grow so top ups between cleenups will be fine with just normal de chlorinated water
If you still need to reduce it you would use ro water mixed with de chlorinated in your normal waterchange

whatever. I didn't say water hardness wasn't affected by water changes. Potentially, anything that has to do with water is affected by water changes. My statement was:

Water changes and gravel vacuuming have nothing to do with whether or not minerals are left behind when water evaporates.

To the OP: H2O evaporates. Not minerals like Ca, Mg, Na, Mn, Fe, etc. When you are topping off with RO water you are only putting H2O back into your tank. When you are topping off with your tap water you are putting H2O plus whatever minerals are in your tap water into your tank. Plants do consume minerals, but a lot more goes into providing plants proper minerals than just relying on your tap.

The point is, if you have any minerals in your tap water, if you constantly top off with tap water, over time your GH will increase. The harder your tap water is, the faster the GH will rise.

 

[melosu58]

Flaming and off topic post were removed. Please keep this thread on topic for the OP. State your position and move on.

 

[Autumnsky]

When folks say that it is okay to top off your tank, exactly what are they saying? How much is a top off? And how often can you do it before you have to do a WC? Every Saturday I do a 10% change since my numbers are perfect and consistent and on Wed. I do a tank check: trimming plants, cleaning out filter intake sponge and so forth. The water does evaporate about 2 inches every week, even tho it is not near a heater vent, fan and the lid is always on tight.

If you have good readings on your tank that is great. If you are happy with the hardness of your water for the type of fish you have, even better!

It sounds like you have very good tank maintenance. If you have alot of plants, sometimes they will use up the amount of minerals you have from the tank water and need more, so just keep an eye on that.

If you notice the minerals/hardness are high you can add RO water to dilute them, BUT if you are happy with it then don't worry.

HOB OR canister filters can achieve good results! Many times it has to do with feeding practices and stock of tank. ie over stocked tank and over feeding leads to poor water quality and would need to be changed more.

Evaporation is normal and just adding a bit of water on Wednesday if you don't like that the level is lower than the top of the tank is fine. But not necessary unless you are having some type of problem, which it seems you aren't.