Water Evaporation PLEASE HELP

[mickeymouselvr]

my water is evaporating, which i would guess would be normal because of the heat. My problem is I am not done cycling my tank yet. SO what do i do, if i add tap water do i treat it? or do I add like bottled water? IF i dont add water soon, I will do way more than a 25% water change and have to add a lot at one time.

 

[rohnds]

SO what do i do, if i add tap water do i treat it? or do I add like bottled water?

Tap water contain certain amount of chlorine in the chloramine in a city untility water. So it would be best to treat the water with some kind of de-chlorinator. There are many on the market. You could add bottled water. If I am not mistaken bottle water is RO. That mean adding bottled water your tank to top off will cause shift in pH values. Again this can be corrected by using one of the many products on the market.

IF i dont add water soon, I will do way more than a 25% water change and have to add a lot at one time.

There is no hard and fast rule that states that you must only do 25% water changed. If you prefer, you could do 30% water change or even 45% water change. The nitrifying bacteria must cannot exist is free-swim state for too long. Thus doing a larger water change will have very minute changes in the cycling process.

Rohn

 

[tessalion]

Just add water conditioner to your tap water and then add it, you'll be fine. It won't affect your cycle that much.

 

[FroggyFox]

Do you have fish in the tank or are you doing a fishless cycle? If you're doing a fishless cycle you dont want to change any water during the cycle...if you want to top off then just use treated tap water. If you have fish then it really wont hurt to do a bigger change than 25%, but still feel free to top the tank off whenever with treated tap water.

 

[SANND]

If you're using fish to cycle your tank you can do multiple water changes a day. My very first tank, i didn't know about fishless cycling yet, I had to do 3 and 4 water changes a day to get rid of the ammonia/nitrite without causing huge pH swings.

Does your tank have a lid? Keeping in down might help slow down the evaporation and check how long you have your lights on as well and the temp of the room. With the heat being higher than usually lately I have had to top of my tanks daily.

Good luck!

 

[Milo]

Top it off with RO water (reverse osmosis) You can pick it up at your lfs.

 

[Katie217]

getting RO water from the LFS is more expensive, i just go to the little store by my place and get it there, its alot cheaper

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Also, if you do a PWC, then there's no need to top off with RO water. Just do your normal PWC and you won't have the mineral buildup like you would with topping off with tap water. But if you feel you need to top it off, then RO water is best for that. I never top off, as I do weekly PWC's and the evap rarely gets the water level down to the glass level.

 

[GIS Guy]

A glass top works better at holding evaporation down that a plastic top.

Is this a correct assumption? I have noticed that with my plastic top the hinged hood part is open and water vapor condenses on the outside of the light strip.

 

[micah2012]

Just go get the All Glass top, it comes with the plastic in the back that you can cut to fit exactly around your equipment, cuts evaporation down to a minimum. And the beneficial bacteria doesn't stay in the water colum, as stated before in this thread, it's in your gravel and decorations and whatever media your using. Don't vacuum your gravel during a cycle, I learned the hard way, or change your filter. If your filter gets clogged or dirty just rinse it off during a water change with the water you just removed from the tank. I suck my water into a bucket and then dunked the filter in the old water, removing any buildup of debris with my hand.