Water evaporation?

[SirCharles77]

How much water do you typically loose to evaporation? How often are you toping off your tank?

I just got my 105 setup and running and the return section of my sump is around 6g. at this point I am loosing water at what seems like a pretty extreme rate. Like that return section ran dry on my last night and I had just filled it up 2 nights before. So I lost probably 80% of that section in around 2 days. Does that sound normal?

Also, when the water enters the sump from the overflow there are ALOT of bubbles that are coming in with it. It looks like a whirlpool in that section of the sump! Is that expected? Or should I be getting a smoother flow of water?

[papagimp]

Doesn't sound too bad. You should be topping off daily. I have a much smaller return section in my sump and have to top off twice daily to keep the pump from runnin' dry. probably about 1.5g per day average.

As for the water coming into the sump, it'll have loads of bubbles and splashing and all that. normal. As long as the return line is getting smoother flow and no bubbles going up to the display, you're fine. Even then, bubbles in the display isn't going to hurt none, just unsightly to most hobbyists.

[kau_cinta_ku]

I have a 5 gal. top off tank for my 75 gal. and I have to fill it up every 5 days or so. so I am loosing about 1 gal. a day.

[Diver4life]

thats normal, i have to fill it up every 2 or 3 days.

[scrmbld33]

i loose 1-2 gallons a day depending on the year

[hybridgenius]

I lose about 2-4 gal a week.

[allenpantino]

i have a 65 gallon tank with a sump set up and i loose about 1 gal per day. i also live in socal so it gets pretty hot in the summer so at that time of year i would say 2 gals.

[rigleautomotive]

on my 100 gallon system i loose 2 gallon per day.on my 220 gallon system i loose 4 gallon per day.no chiller,just fans for cooling.it does vary slightly depending on temp and humidity.

[papagimp]

4 gallons a day on your 220g? crap! Got a 220g sitting empty, I was kinda wondering what kind of evap to expect, guess I need to get my ro/di back up and running, lol.

[silvers]

I loose about two and a half gallons a day on my 120 but I skim out about a gallon or more. An auto top off makes life alot easyer. I had a 22g I lost about a gallon a day but I was running a 250w MH so I had a huge fan in the canopy and a couple of cups of skimmate.

[rigleautomotive]

i wish i could trust an ATO.i am a mechanic,so i trust no machine.to me its not will it fail it is when will it fail.

[dinoman]

I lose about a gallon a day, I'm running a 250W MH though with a big fan blowing across the top of the tank to keep everything cool. We have a pretty dry climate here too so I'm sure that sucks up even more water.

[cardiffgiant]

There are a lot of factors that could influence your evaporation rate:
-Surface area
-Production of any micro bubbles
-Flow
-Room temp and humidity

I top off about 5 gal a week.

[allenpantino]

DITTO Auto top off is huge in socal. leave for the weekend not top off system.you're done!

[Duff Man]

My evaporation nearly doubled to 1 gallon a day on my 75 when I turned the furnace on this Winter.

[uscharalph]

I lose a lot more in the summer than the winter.

[aquawolf]

My 75 evaporation rate is between 1 - 2 gallons per day as well. The Koralias keep the surface water in a sort of rolling boil and I have a 10 inch house fan blowing on the surface from the back of the tank while the halides are on. No auto topoff as of yet, so I check the sump level before going to work and then again before going to bed and keep it at the fill line I drew on it.

[palawan]

During the summer my 100g tank loses a gallon a day, I do auto topoff now so no more manual filling.

[kraash]

I have an evaporation rate of around 10-15 gallons a day, I double ditto that an ato will save your back and keep your salinity more stable.

[daven]

I'm not sure how much I lose to skimming but I go through about 12 gallons of top off water a week.

[Lotus99]

I lose a gallon or two a day.

Auto topoffs can be set up so that even if the pump sticks "on" it won't kill your tank or overflow. Our auto topoff holds 10g, but we usually only fill it half full.

[SirCharles77]

So how does an ATO work? How do you set it up?

[drillsar]

I have a ATO but sometimes my Overflow messes up and Im thinking maybe I need a better overflow, Its the Utube and sometimes it looses the siphon and Tank overflows, Is there away I can stop this from happening?

[joeyt66]

Originally posted by drillsar
I have a ATO but sometimes my Overflow messes up and Im thinking maybe I need a better overflow, Its the Utube and sometimes it looses the siphon and Tank overflows, Is there away I can stop this from happening?

add a second overflow so if ones goes down the other is still going, at least thats what ive been told. I too only have one and am thinking of a second one

[SirCharles77]

no you are having the same problem I was having. The problem is that you dont want to have the overflow work as a siphon. You want it to be a gravity feed which basically means that the water falls into the overfow box and then runs down the tube using gravity. If you have this then it wont flood because as the return pump pushes water into the display it will fill up until the water is high enough to flow into the overflow box. Then if the return turns off, the water will flow back down into the sump via the overflow and the return. Then you just need to make sure that when it turns off, the water that runs down into the sump isnt too much for the sump to hold.

Can anyone explain how to make an ATO?