Water evaporation

[loluckyve]

Had my 125 gallon up and running 3 weeks now. Have noticed that with weather warming up have almost 2 gallons a day needing to be replaced in refg tank. I am running MH for 8 hours a day and my house has the humitity of the state of FL now. Is this about right for evaporation? Am I running the lights too long? Will an air conditioner it a distant bedroom be ok?

Thanks

 

[ac7av]

I have at least that much evap in my 210, the air conditions in another room will probably have no real impact. I wish my home had high humidity. Even in the winter time we have to run humidifiers and steam water on the stove to get it up into the comfy range.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

lol I go through 5 gals a day it kills me lol

 

[dogfrog]

I losse about 3 to 4 gals per day out of my total system of +- 300 gals

 

[loluckyve]

5 gallons a day, wow. As long as I know it's within a normal range I'm fine. Thanks once again for the help and speedy replies.

A fellow addict

 

[lvsuckerfish]

i am just above the 300 mark and I am in the garage with the whole system

 

[fishoutofwater]

i evaporate 5 gallons a day in my 210 reef. I just set up my RO unit to run to my newly installed autotop off so I dont have worry about the loss anymore.

 

[elmexotics]

I loose about 2 gallons a day in my 125. Running 2-250 halides with open top.

 

[Cwazy Clown]

oh my god.. you big tanked people... I lose like 1/5 a gallon every 2.5 days... then again I have 8g total water volume... hahah

 

[returnofsid]

Depending on humidity and temperature, I evaporate 4-5 1/2 gallons per day, in our 200.

 

[iroll253]

lol out of a 20g system my 5g ato runs out every 6 days in summer.

 

[psb]

The general rule of thumb on evap is 1-2% of total water volume per day. You can limit it by putting lids on things and running things cooler. A few degrees makes a big difference in evaporation. When the tank is warmer than the general air temp you will get more evaporation.

 

[Xtremedave67]

wheeeeeew Im glad this thread came about.....I didnt realize that evap was so rapid......I was almost convinced I had a small leak in our 44G with 10G fuge....seems like I lose maybe a 3/4 -1 gal a day rough estimate.

 

[IPisces]

The more open surface area you have, the more evaperation you will have too. My 60 gal which had a cover on it lost about a 1/2 of a gallon a day and my 54 gal tank with no cover on it looses about a 1 gal a day. The 75 with no cover, looses about 1.25 gal a day. The RSM34 loses about a 3 cups, maybe a quart a day.

 

[Xtremedave67]

I have considered getting a cover, but opinions differ about putting glass/or any surface between your lighting and the water.
does that contribute much to degrading light quality? I get keeping that surface clean is essential of course.

 

[loluckyve]

Thanks for bringing that up Dave that was my question also. Don't want to diminish ligh quality

 

[roscoe]

Right now with fans running on my 300+ gallon system. I'm going through my 55g barrel every 7-8 days.

 

[Scooterman]

I have considered getting a cover, but opinions differ about putting glass/or any surface between your lighting and the water.
does that contribute much to degrading light quality? I get keeping that surface clean is essential of course.

The glass will get dirty enough to need cleaning almost daily & not many will do that. Also the more water surface to air the better of gas & heat exchange through evaporation it an efficient way to accomplish this & helps provide better conditions for your tank.

 

[khaosinc]

I will be covering my tank next winter, I ended up with quite a mold problem last winter because I couldn't air out the house. I also lose 10 gallons plus a day. If your house is that humid, you might want to invest in a dehumidifier now. Replacing walls/floors isn't fun.

 

[loluckyve]

Thanks for the great info guys, much appreciated.