Evaporation - what is a reasonable amount

[Coralgurl]

I'm noticing that I'm losing almost a gallon of water a day to evaporation out of my tank (55gl).

I've got a DIY HOB refugium, which is throwing a lot of bubbles back into the tank, causing some splashing, nothing on the floor or anything like that, a bit up on the lights. I've got the pump turned as low as possible. I was thinking about grabbing a filter and directing the water into the filter, then back into the tank to see if this will help. Any suggestions or ideas or is this acceptable water loss?

[FishyFishy!]

I'd say that is normal. It really depends on the open surface area of open water. I have a 30 gallon 24 X 24 with a completely open top and I loose that much easily in a day.

If you had glass tops, they help with evaporation, but then oxygen exchange gets lowered as well.

[Blom]

Yup mucho mucho water. Im a 5G pail every 4 - 5 days, 28G with open top.

[Coralgurl]

Thanks for the replies! Seems like its more now than it was in the summer, the HOB fuge has made a difference. Won't worry about it for now. Guess I should test the salinity swing though, but I would think it shouldn't be too much. I topped up this morning, so will wait until tomorrow.

[FishyFishy!]

Your best investment will be an auto top off.

It's the best thing I ever did.

[Delphinus]

It is soooo dry here in Calgary, evaporation is going to be pretty quick. I lose nearly a gallon a day out of my FRESHWATER tank I keep upstairs. It drives me nuts that I have to do the bucket brigade on this tank whereas in my basement where I keep my salt tanks the topoff is all nicely automated. Family won't let me get rid of the freshies though, they consider that "their" tank (even though I seem to be the one carrying the buckets.. I'm not sure what's up with that, but I guess I digress.)

Anyhow I would agree that your evaporation losses sound pretty normal to me.

[mike31154]

My 77 with open top evaps about a gallon/day, so your numbers are comparable. How's the humidity in your house? If dry, which is typical in many colder regions of our fine land in the winter, that will contribute to a bit more evap from your tank. Also if you have any fans blowing for lighting, that will contribute to additional evaporation. I doubt that adding a filter will change the evap rate that much.

[RyanJ]

On a hot day in the summer on my 125 I have font through 3G in one day bud! I have a 125 with a open top and a 60g sump open top! I just added a 30g frag tank with a 400w de mh with a open top aswell and I'm going through a 6L a day..

[Blom]

Your best investment will be an auto top off.

It's the best thing I ever did.

+ One Hundred Million

[Coralgurl]

The house is not humid at all and with the onset of winter, my skin says its dry in the house. No fans on the lights, guess I'll be making a ton of water....ah well.

I'll set up an ATO when I get a bigger tank set up. For now, not a lot of effort in maintaining the water levels, but I'm sure that will change once I go bigger hopefully sometime in the next year :lol:.

Funny how family tanks, pets, etc are manditory, but no likes to help with the maintenance...same in my house....thankfully my ro unit is in the kitchen 5 feet from the tank so not a lot of hauling to do.

[Blom]

See now I would think the other way on that. The smaller the tank the less evap needs to happen to change the salinity. My salinity could jump from .026 to .03 in the matter of a couple hours in this JBJ cube.

[lastlight]

even my 97 has started losing a ton so my temporary topoff (5g bucket) is not even lasting me 2 days. I did have fans kick on WITH the chiller but have since unplugged the fans and told the chiller to just pickup the slack. This has reduced my evaporation some. I also lowered a powerhead ever so slightly as it was really churning the surface.

I'm manually topping off my tank downstairs with 5g everyday. I can't wait to have that on an auto topoff!

[MKLKT]

Surface area and temperature are the big factors for evaporation. My 65 gal with a 20 gal sump goes through about a gallon a day.

[Coralgurl]

I'll check the salinity when I get home as I'm sure the water level will have dropped off. I did test it yesterday before topping off and was at 1.027 and hadn't been topped off since Friday as I was away for the weekend. I keep it around 1.025. I'm doing a water change tonight, hadn't been monitoring it as the tank has been stabilizing over the last bit and am seeing improvements. Will start to monitor and see what the actual difference is....

[paddyob]

5 gallons every 3 days.

[Coralgurl]

I turned my MP 40 down a bit last night but only because I added a couple of new clowns and a maxi mini, just letting them settle a bit. I had it turned up about 75% for the last month for both surface movement and to clean up the sand.

I really only noticed the increase in the evaporation with the addition of the fuge, cooler temps, and the furnace being on. Over the summer, I topped up every couple of days, wasn't nearly so much. The tank temp is 79-80.

Sounds like this is normal. Phew!

[spawn]

I lose 5 gal every 4 days on mine, RSM 250 with open top. It's gotten a bit faster since the cold. You should just get an ato...they're the best.

[cwatkins]

I think I lose about 5 gallons every 4 days as well on a 90 open top with hood and 2x 250W MH. My ATO uses a 5 gallon old salt bucket.