Top-offs and Evaporation

[ahill3780]

Hey everyone, I just have a general question that I have tried to do a search on with no returns.

I used to have the top of my tank 99% closed off and I didn't have much problem with this, but recently I have raised the hood on my tank to allow for better gas exchange since my tank is taller than it is wide. Now I notice that my system is evaporating at an excellerated rate of about 1 gallon per every 2 1/2 - 3 days. It is not a major issue as far as I am concerned since I keep about 6 1-gallon jugs of purified water (aged for a week) just for topping off the tank. I also have a 5-gallon bucket with a powerhead and heater where I age new saltwater for water changes. I was just wondering if there was anything I might do to slow the rate of evaporation in my tank while still maintaining good gas exchange for my system?

Any/all comments are appreciated, and Happy Thankgiving to all those who celebrate!

[anjhof]

buy an auto-top off system from autotopoff.com - for about $100.
If you don't let the water evaporate, you may cause the tanks temp to rise.
Also, an RO unit should be your water source...it would probably pay for itself in less than a year (over buying purified water).

[jay24k]

If you have a skimmer, you will have good gas exchange. Then you could put your glass tops back on the tank. However, like the previous posted mentioned, your temps might be a bit higher. IF temperature is not a concern, I'd just put the top back on. Many have it covered so eels or other jumping critters don't hop out.

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Ahill
[welcome]

Tis a Catch 22. Having an exposed water surface leads to evaporation while sealing it under glass will usually lead to pH problems. Topping off is usually easier to do than adding potions to correct low pH. I'd keep it as is and tote that water.

[jay24k]

Also lids on top will take away from your lights too as it has to now go through that as well. If you keep it clean from salt creep, it's not that big of an issue. Like waterkeeper stated, ph can be an issue however if it isn't, it's up to you. Personally I think adding water more often isn't that big of a deal.

[ahill3780]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, your comments make me a more knowledable aquarist and I very much appreciate it. And thank you for the welcome WaterKeeper.

I have a water purifier on my sink which I use instead of buying purified water from the store so my cost on that is not very high. I still plan on looking in to RO units in the future though as a few of the LFSs here carry a few of them. I really do not mind adding the water in every few days so I will have to stick with doing that for the moment.

I do not yet have a skimmer as I am having to budget my tank funds closely towards the end of the year, but it is very high on my list of things to get - right up there with a wet/dry filter.

I am working with my brother on plans for constructing a new stand for the aquarium that will have an overhead ceiling where I can mount metal halides in the future with room to install fans for cooling. This will probably be when I implement the RO unit if I decide to go that route. It would be nice if I had a hood that I could install a couple of CPU fans onto to move air in and out to help temp stability when sealing off the tank. Since I don't though, I think it would just be best to leave things as they are. Everything in the tank is healthy and flourishing at the moment so I don't want to upset that.

Thank you again everyone, I will post pictures as soon as I am able to. I am having trouble identifying the type of Anemone that I have so I will be posting a pic when I get one to see if anyone can help me out. But that is another topic altogether.

-Aaron Hill

[examiner]

I'd vote to ditch the top and find a consistent way to deal with the evaporation. Especially when it gets hot, evaporation can be your best friend.

I see your "wish list" has a wet/dry filter and a skimmer in it. I suppose a wet/dry is good if you are going fish only, but if you search around you'll see that if you want to maintain corals of any sort.........save your money. Your $200+ wet/dry will just be a very expensive sump/mistake. Buy a cheap used aquarium or a rubbermaid, use it as a sump, and invest the money in a high quality skimmer rated significantly in excess of your tank size. You really can't fathom how much gunk is floating around in your water until you see what a good quality skimmer can pull out.

Good luck, keep reading!

[Palancar]

There's lots of good DIY topoffs out there one for just about every situation. And do your research on wet/drys.

[Sloth]

Raise the humidity in your whole house or just in the tank room with a humidifier. That will slow the rate of evaporation. But you'll be filling a humidifier intstead of the aquarium.

[ONEMANBAND]

1 gallon every 3 days is really not much evaporation. My 90 does around 2-3 gallons a day in winter and 1-2 in summer.

[vessxpress1]

Hey, completely understand where you're coming from. I don't like the evaporation but it can help with cooling. I used to use the glass cover, but it just got too frustrating. The condensation would build up so bad on it every day, greatly inhibiting the light getting through. Even perfectly clean, it's just one more thing for light to get through. And you have to clean it once, maybe twice a day. Then a finger gets wet and you get a smudge on it and you gotta take it off and wipe it down again. Way too much hassle IMO. Just add the water, and wipe your lights down once in a while.

[ahill3780]

I really don't have much interest in keeping too many fish. I am more interested in the Corals and inverts and eventually I want to move to a full blown reef setup once I am confident enough about maintaining acceptable water quality.

I have heard a lot of pros and cons on the subject of skimming in both fish-only and reef setups, so much so that it is kind of hard to remember everything. Somewhere it was mentioned to me that one of these setups can lose a lot of beneficial micro-organisms through heavy skimming and that it was not recommended. Is this true? If so, which setup should I avoid skimming? If not, thanks for clarifying it for me!