Evaporation and top off

[RockingCricket]

Is in normal to need to add at least a gallon of top-off a day( or rather 2 gallons every 2 days)? My tank is partially covered (about a 3 inch gap with no covering) and the 10 gallon sump is uncovered. You guys know the rest of my specs. This isn't really a problem, but is this normal? Usually house temp is 73 - 76 degrees.

 

[wayne]

It's a lot considering you don't have MH lighting. Air con in the house.... enviromental stuff?

 

[KahluaZzZ]

Yep it's a lot. Are you heating a lot your room recently ? Since the beginning of the week, i have big evaporation issues too, but it's like half a gallon per day.

 

[aresgod]

in my 90 its about a gallon a day+, but I have MH lighting, not top and open sump.

 

[RockingCricket]

Thanks guys. I thought it was a lot.
I did wonder if the Emporer 400 could be much of a contributing factor. It causes quite a bit of splashing (and noise). I am wondering if I can safely remove it. All it contains are carbon pads (which could be put in the Fluval) and 2 biowheels (which I could surely remove one by one and thereby avoid much of a spike). Does this sound like a plan or a waste of time? I don't want to run the risk of causing myself more problems.

If not, I guess I'll just have to keep up with the frequent trips to the water store that I've been doing. Not a problem. Just an inconvenience.

 

[aresgod]

I am not sure if it will help significantly with evaporation, but I would remove it anyways.

 

[OCCFan023]

When I started running a small HOB on my tank it uped the evaporation alot. I began experiencing a 1 gallon a day and once I took it off it subsided back to normal. Mine was splashing a little and causes some salt creep on my light and side.. so your problem could be the HOB.

 

[Fantail_Lover]

1 gallon a day is alot, doesn't sound right....

-Xan

 

[KahluaZzZ]

biowheels are a nitrate factory. Yeah remove them one by one. I don't think they do contribute much to your evaporation problems, but they assurely help getting nitrates.

 

[Mushroomman]

fantail lover, it may not sound right but saltwater tanks really do evaporate fast. Funny but true.

 

[wayne]

SO do freshwater. You just see a lot less open tops and sumps in freshwater

 

[RockingCricket]

It seems that any medium which is designed to encourage the growth of benefitial bacteria (biowheels, bioballs, matrix etc) is also unfortunatly hijacked and becomes the perfect breeding grounds for nitrates (except LR). If this is the case, why do we have biowheels and such like? Their purpose is to house benefitial bacteria which help lower nitrates and ammonia, not to increase it. With the lack of LR in my system I am wary of removing more of my filtration. A little more advice/explanation please guys. Next you'll have me removing all the media from my fluval.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

mhhh...those beneficial bacterias can be different. Biowheels gives you the chance to have nitriying bacteria, therefore you'll have nitrates as end product. This bacteria need high oxygen levels, and the biowheels help that.
Now this is better to have nitrates than ammonia. What you wanna have, other than nitrifying bacterias, are DE-nitrifying bacterias . This can be achieve when you have low oxygen zones. This bacteria transforms nitrates into nitrogen, a less toxic gas that we have in our air. Those bacterias are usually in LR, and deep substrate beds.

 

[JNevaril]

oye. i understand the frustration.

my brackish tank evaporates about 10 times faster than my freshwater tanks....

 

[JustinP]

1/2 to 3/4 gallons of evap a day in my 45 during the dry winter. It is becoming a PINA too. When I have time I'm going to build a DIY topoff or buy one. They have one at drsfostersmith.com for $100 US that looks nice.

 

[RockingCricket]

Thankyou all guys. I think I am going to leave things just as they are. I have the feeling I have been quite lucky with my system so far and I don't want to jeapodise what I feel is quite a delicate balance. I do have a few little niggles with that tank but I know that is common to all of us. My nitrates arn't high, my water is crystal clear, algae isn't a problem and my tank looks quite nice (I'll get some pics online this week). I think I'll count my blessings. Thanks again for the help guys.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

Mkay but removing nitrates enhancing medias will not destroy your habitat if you have a good amount of LR. I ditched bio-balls and 2 huge bags of Bio-Max that i forgot ( < shame on me ) and nothing died, no ammonia, no nitrites...and much less nitrates

 

[wayne]

Given you have a substrate and have had a whole bunch of stuff inthere for a long time I doubt you would have a problem. However as you say 'if it isn't bust , don't fix it'. But if you do get a creeping nitrate problem you know where to look

 

[fishkeeper1210]

it could just the be atmosphere in which you have your tank set up