Evaporation?

[Grymatta]

So..I have a fan on next to my tank to cool it off during the 80 plus temps we have this week. I'm noticing that the water is evaporating really fast.

Am I safe to assume that, with less water to dilute it, my nitrate, ammonia, etc. levels will rise because its now more concentrated. I'm assuming that toxic stuff like nitrites and ammonia do not evaportate with the water.

So...when I'm refilling and topping off my tank to replace the water..shold i just go ahead and do a minor water change instead of just adding more water
in?

 

[Cutlass]

I believe ammonia and nitrite do evaporate, but I don't know if it evaporates at a similar rate and temperature as water. It's best to assume that as the water evaporates, the minerals and contaminants are left behind in a higher concentration. If you need to add water every day, you should be fine topping it off regularly and then doing a routine water change every week or two, depending on how well cycled the tank is.

 

[Avalon]

It shouldn't matter if your biological filter is up to par; there should be no ammonia or nitrites at all. So go ahead and top it off if you'd like.

If ammonia were to be a problem, it becomes more toxic at higher temperatures and higher pH's. In order for concentration to be a factor, a very small tank would have to be excessively overstocked (think:Wal-Mart) with a poor filtration.

 

[Lotus]

If it is evaporating fast, then just top it off with some declorinated water. Some of my tanks will lose about 10% a week during the summer, so I will often top them up midweek (I do weekly water changes).

 

[Grymatta]

hmmm i notice that if i keep my fan on all day..the tank will lose about 10 percent in 2 days!
guess ill top it off everyday..

thanks!

 

[Kuroshio]

yes, but if you are still having that ammonia problem in your small tank, since you are already carrying the water, may as well do a w/c. That is if you are still showing ammonia. I have a few small tanks (10-12g) and if I need to top off, I just do a small w/c as small tanks are known to have more trouble than large tanks. just topping off is ok of course and fans etc will increase evaporation quite a bit. How are your readings?

 

[Grymatta]

hey Kuroshiro..thanks for the info. youre right, I might as well do WC anyway since theres not much diff between a wc and topping off with my tiny 3 gal.

My readings are as follows:
ph 6.4

ammonia: .01 ppm (if im reading it right) - it showed 0.5 ppm on the chart..then I used the booklet to calculate the total level of the tank.

nitrite : 0.5

im kinda surprised that theres still ammonia and nitrite floating around.
strange...