How much evaporation is to much

[Hyde7278]

I have a biocube 29 with stock lighting and going by the line I made in my third chamber I'm having to top off with about 1/2 gallon a day. Does this seem normal or excessive?

I've checked the tank to make sure it doesn't have a leak and haven't found any signs of a leak.

Let me know how much your adding to your tank.

 

[OldReefGuy]

wow....thats quite a bit....

 

[Butch01]

Evaporation isn't a matter of "too much". It is what it is. Unless you have a leak somewhere, you really can't control how much water is evaporated (other than sealing the tank). When the air is dry, as it is in the winter, it's going to evaporate more.

 

[Hyde7278]

Evaporation isn't a matter of "too much". It is what it is. Unless you have a leak somewhere, you really can't control how much water is evaporated (other than sealing the tank). When the air is dry, as it is in the winter, it's going to evaporate more.

That does make sense I have forced hot air heat so that prob contributing to the evap

 

[Scorpius]

Dry air will suck a tank dry figuratively.

 

[Hyde7278]

After I add the water I check salinity and it right at 1.026 so it definitely is evaporating and not leaking

 

[Ou8me2]

During the warmer months on my 75 I get about 1 gallon per day. Now that it's cold and the furnace runs it closer to probably 2 gallons per day. Dry air will cause more evaporation for sure. Also I have lots of surface agitation and a fan blowing across the top of the tank to lessen the heat of the 2- 400 Watt MH I am running.

I don't see it as a bad thing and it's kinda like doing small water changes per day since I'm adding fresh water. :lol: I haven't seen any bad effects from it, but I do know I need an ato soon.

 

[garethwood]

my evaporation rate is at 10% weekly i have a reefloat ato and cant fault it : )

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[BlackTracet]

Yes we really need to get mother nature on board with this evaporation issue. If only Trump had made it a campaign issue.

 

[homer1475]

When I had my biocube I evapped about 5 gallons a week. 1/2 gallon a day is completely normal.

 

[Hyde7278]

When I had my biocube I evapped about 5 gallons a week. 1/2 gallon a day is completely normal.

thanks for the reply atleast now i have a gauge from someone who had a similar tank

 

[VGT]

Have a 30G tank as well, and burning close to half a gallon during the winter. Humidity in the house is <30%. Perhaps I should get a larger tank to raise the humidity in the whole house .

 

[thegrun]

The usual evaporation rate is around 1% per day, but variables in humidity, protein skimmers, air flow and lighting can cause swings between 0.5% and 2%.

 

[scooter31707]

IMO, this is quite common during the winter months, as you crank on your house heat. I heard of some people using humidifiers to help with the evaporation.

 

[Finney]

My 40B/20L system is evaporating 1 gallon a day. I really wish I put a bigger top off container in the cabinet!

 

[Sk8r]

With a 54, I found about a gallon a day was a nice rate: drives a kalk feed really well.

 

[kmbyrnes]

IMO, this is quite common during the winter months, as you crank on your house heat. I heard of some people using humidifiers to help with the evaporation.

This is funny.
Let me run ANOTHER appliance to evaporate water into the house to prevent evaporation from my tank!

 

[lukewithcats]

with it being winter you may have low humidity in the house from the heaters and that would cause excess evap. If you have any dehumidifiers hooked up to the heating you could turn them down and also adjust any air flow that may be blowing over the tank, the more air flow over the tank the more chance for evap especially dry warm air.

 

[C Dog]

I had a rimless BioCube 14g with a 150w MH. I was topping it off every 2 days or so.

 

[LarryZ]

I have a redsea max260 (69 gal, 36" x 18") and I have to add 2 or 3 quarts every day. I seem to have to add more during the winter. Probably because the humidity is much lower.