Scott's 4 gallon pico reef build

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OK.. interesting observation. Evaporation barely occurs at all with the lid on. It condensates and then (probably) falls back down. Another thing, with the lid on, the temperature will stay warm even when the room is cool. My water was staying at 82 even when the room was at 72 (heater is set for 76). I guess the only way the water can cool is through evaporation? which didn't happen with the lid on. With the lid off overnight the water has cooled and I noticed a water level drop.
 
I get no evaporation with my lid on. My temp stays at about 78 though. Possibly because the lid had holes drilled in it? I don't know. I like not having to worry about top offs though. It makes things easier!
 
Too bad about the light dude :/ gives you a reason to look forward to thursday.... Cmon, who likes thursdays? Lol

Evaporation is killin me.... Gallon top offs all the time! Keep that glass top on! Lol :)
 
Nu-Nu the eel said:
Too bad about the light dude :/ gives you a reason to look forward to thursday.... Cmon, who likes thursdays? Lol

Evaporation is killin me.... Gallon top offs all the time! Keep that glass top on! Lol :)
Click to expand...

Get a lid Nu-Nu! You have a chiller so you should be able to control the temp, right?
 
Haha i actually do have a lid.... There is literally no where for evaporation to escape.... Not sure how it happens! Lol the chiller is awesome.... Keeps my tank alive!
 
Nu-Nu the eel said:
Haha i actually do have a lid.... There is literally no where for evaporation to escape.... Not sure how it happens! Lol the chiller is awesome.... Keeps my tank alive!
Click to expand...

Do you have a sump?
 
scottayy said:
OK.. interesting observation. Evaporation barely occurs at all with the lid on. It condensates and then (probably) falls back down. Another thing, with the lid on, the temperature will stay warm even when the room is cool. My water was staying at 82 even when the room was at 72 (heater is set for 76). I guess the only way the water can cool is through evaporation? which didn't happen with the lid on. With the lid off overnight the water has cooled and I noticed a water level drop.
Click to expand...

You should try to run without a lid. Evaporation is annoying and salt creep is even worse, but a good amount of surface area should be exposed to facilitate oxygen exchange. This makes sure you have good O2 levels for your fish to live, but more importantly makes sure that your pH levels aren't swinging all over the place. If you have a sump with a powerhead pointed towards the surface of the water, you can probably lid up your DT. If you just have the DT I would highly recommend running no lid.
If you have wrasse or other jumpers, you can use bridal veil and pvc to construct mesh screens to keep them in.
 
Interesting enough, the lid didn't have salt creep. It was all evaporated water which was sans salt. The lid has slots and holes in it so gas exchange can still occur.

I'm just experimenting with what I like right now. #1 priority will be keeping the kitties off and out of it.
 
scottayy said:
Interesting enough, the lid didn't have salt creep. It was all evaporated water which was sans salt. The lid has slots and holes in it so gas exchange can still occur.

I'm just experimenting with what I like right now. #1 priority will be keeping the kitties off and out of it.
Click to expand...

This morning I had my lid off for a second to test my salinity and my kitty jumped up and licked the water. She's a psycho. And that explains why she threw up this afternoon...

I think with the slots and holes, gas exchange should be fine. My lid doesnt get salt creep either, which is nice. It did when I had my airstone on, but now that it's turned off it doesn't get that salt creep anymore.
 
ammonia: 4
nitrite: 5
nitrate: 80

lots of everything.. moving along nicely

img_2121337_0_cea8ca14be3e83786b154f28122b3994.jpg
 
Well I received my light fixture (thanks bearchumjs!).

img_2122204_0_89ace317a93042c5501d92f9344ec79f.jpg


And testing an incandescent bulb. My par38 bulb comes on thursday.

img_2122204_1_7b9180f25bc36c827e6aff52a7210f28.jpg
 
scottayy said:
Well I received my light fixture (thanks bearchumjs!).

And testing an incandescent bulb. My par38 bulb comes on thursday.
Click to expand...

You're very welcome! It going to look great with your par38.
 
Is there a lot of light spillage from the par38 or does it direct most of it downward?
 
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