Evaporation

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CluelessInNY

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 21, 2008
Messages
187
Location
20 minutes northwest of NYC
I am easily replacing up to two gallons of water in my tank per week due to evaporation. I don't have nay leaks that I can see, and this has been going on for 6 months since I've bought the tank and started. Is this normal?
 
Welcome to winter and low humidity. I think you're going to find that only losing 2 gallons per week is going to be on the low end.

In my tanks, I'm averaging about 1/2-3/4 gallon a day.
 
I'm replacing about a half gallon every to every other day, which makes it about 3-7 gallons roughly a week
 
I have an auto-top off device that does 8g of water. It keeps the water topped up for around 3-4 weeks here. keep all my equipment under the tank covered to help prevent evaporation,and half of the top of the aquarium is covered in glass as well.

Mind you, when I do my bi-monthly water changes, I might be over-adding some water back in the aquarium again too.
 
Gallon a day sounds normal..;.Thank Heavens for ATO...
 
I have been having evaporation issues as well, currently is 17 degrees here and the house is cooler then most around 68 because the price for oil is still up for winter heating and i would go threw almost 2 gallons a day. So I purchased plexiglass and cut it to fit over my aquarium. It's thinner lighter and easy to clean. So now the light goes through well and evaporation has gone down to about a gallon every 2-3 days. Summer is great though!!!! No evaporation!! (or very very little)
 
Yeah, thanks Ziggy. There are areas for the exchange towards the back of the aquarium where each little part fits in...(protein skimmer, HOB filter, heater, power cords for powerheads).
 
Did you guys build your own auto top off or is there a good device to buy?

It came with my wet/dry sump. The one I have was designed to be used with it. My only disappointment with it, is it can't go under the stand due to it's large size. It's only around 1.5 feet high, but to lift the top-up jug out of it requires another 1.5ft clearance.

Keep a close eye on your PH since you have those tops on there you will lose a lot of O2 exchange.

Thanks, never thought about that. I only have half of my tank covered, but it could still be an issue.
 
You should be ok as long as you have some surface exposed to the air. Having the skimmer on your system helps as well.
 
If you don't have the glass canopies for the top of your aquarium ,buy them.

They will pay for themselves with the money you save from less evaporation. They make a big difference.
 
If you don't have the glass canopies for the top of your aquarium ,buy them.

They will pay for themselves with the money you save from less evaporation. They make a big difference.

IMO Glass canopies cause low PH because of poor gas exchange at the surface and they also trap heat in tanks from the lighting. When the lights are on the temps get pretty high and when they go out the temp drops causing big temp.swings. I just leave mine open and temp stays a constant 78 and PH stays a constant 8.2 . I`ll glady trade that stability for a gallon or two of water a day. JMO
 
So I take it that during this evaporation, you basically just added the extra missing gallon right?

I left the half canopy open with the lighting, is it better to cover more than half to reduce evaporation or should I leave it that way?
 
If you don't have the glass canopies for the top of your aquarium ,buy them.

They will pay for themselves with the money you save from less evaporation. They make a big difference.

This may be true for FW but not for SW. Glass tops are a PH no no in SW.
 
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