new tank questions -evaporation & lighting

[Pandora]

Ann, I think you're getting great advice and won't belabor repeating any of it, just wanted to give you general encouragement. I know it seems like it would have been easier to get the smaller tank now, but trust me, you will be thankful for it further down the road. In the beginning, it is tough for everyone, regardless of tank size. Everyone goes through the algae stage at some point around the 2 month mark, so no huge surprises there. As for the electricity bill, that is a necessary evil that we often sign up for with the hobby. Might want to read this thread about it...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=755334

 

[mike89t]

T5 Lighting:

Are your lights located in a Canopy? If they are you should add some fans to your canopy. T5 lighting does produce heat and if you don't provide a way to cool them down, they will not last as long. Blowing the hot air out of the canopy will also help to reduce the amount of heat you add to your tank from the lighting.

Sump Water Level:
The water level in your display tank should remain constant. As your return pump adds water to the display tank it will spill into the overflow and be sent to the Sump. If your water level in the tank continues to rise with the pump on then you have too big of a return pump and your overflow can't keep up.

The water level in you sump should also remain constant in the short term. As the day goes on the water level in the "Return" section of your sump will drop as water evaporates. Just add RO/DI water to the sump until the water level in the sump reaches it's normal operting level.

I added a simple Auto-Topoff system to my Sump so that the water level stays the same all throughout the day. Basically I added a float valve to the return section that is connected to a plastic holding tank. When the water level in the return section of the sump drops, the float valve opens up and adds RO/DI water to the tank. Once water level rises enough the float valve closes and no more water is added.

In this photo you can see the white plastic tank that is about 1/4 full of RO/DI water(Full tank 10 gallons lasts about 5 days for me). This tank gravity feeds the float valve(Black square thing in bottom of photo):

In this photo you can see my Kent Marine float valve and how I mounted it to one of my baffles in the Sump:

 

[Fred_J]

mike89t - Is absolutely correct and worded in a very concise manor. I am unable to use an automatic top-off due to space constrictions, but that is the ideal way to go.
Fred

 

[Ann1214]

I am working on it - I think I have temperature under controll. (heater at 78, fan in sump when lights are on - seems to balance). I am adding water by hand - the auto add system looks great, but I have enough problems without trying to work the plumbing. Maybe for summer.

Thanks again