Evaporation

[cent36]

Hi guys! First time poster and first time reefer. I had fresh water years ago and decided to take the plunge. I have set my system up and had it running since the first of the month and just had some questions about evaporation. (I will post the required info here in a sec). How much is too much, normal? What should I expect? When should I get worried? Any help would be great! Thank!

What is the issue (please provide as much details as possible):Seems like large amount of evaporationTotal water volume (include sump, fuge, etc): By my calculations 55-60 gallons (Tank is 65g, sump is 30g and i'm only using half the tank, but with everything in the system...)

Age of the system: officially a week and a half

Parameters:
Salinity: 1.026
PH Range: not tested
Temp Range: hovers at 80
Alkalinity: not tested
Calcium: not tested
Magnesium: not tested
Nitrate: not tested
Phosphate: not tested
How often do you test?: once a week? once it's set up

Lighting:
Type: LED Full spectrum with timer and weather capabilities
Photoperiod (how long are your lights on): total 16 hrs (12 hours with a ramp up and down to peak power - white, 4 hours of blue moonlight)
Age of bulbs: new

Flow: roughly 23x turnover (but doesn't look like it's flowing that much)

How do you maintain Calcium, Alkalinity & Magnesium (please be specific): will figure that out when tank finishes cycling

How do you top off (evaporation): conditioned tap water in a bucket and pour in sump

Any recent swings in parameters: not tested yet

Livestock: None yet
Fish:
Types of Coral:
Clean up crew:

How often do you feed: see above

What do you feed: see above

Do you carbon dose (Vodka, bio-pellets, etc): ??

Do you dose anything else to the system not listed above: Rock, crushed coral, aragonite sand

Anything else in regards to your system not listed above: No

 

[cent36]

Oh, I forgot to mention that my sump is downstairs in a closet.

 

[Balz3352]

Get ro di water... It will save you much trouble in the future.!!!

 

[Munch]

Your evaporation is gonna be based on a lot of factors. There is no "too much", however you need to be replacing evaporated water on a hourly basis ideally in-order to keep your salininty in check. Invest in an ATO (auto top off) unit.

Oh, and welcome! Post up some pics!!

 

[cent36]

Yeah, I'll post some pix in a few. Unfortunately I don't have any water supply near the closet my sump is in or I would definitely take your advice.

I just noticed that I had to put in about 2g of water on Monday and it is almost back down to the same low point. I have definitely been keeping an eye on it though. A friend said I would probably be looking at roughly 5 gallons per week, but at a gallon a day, it seemed a bit excessive. I am also sure that I don't have any leaks anywhere.

 

[Munch]

You don't actually need a water source "in" your closet.

Have space for a 5 gallon container in your closet? Fill with RODI, and drop ATO on it.

 

[FluidDesigners]

Cent36...
Welcome! As Munch mentioned, evaporation happens on an hourly basis. The overall health of your system can really hinge on keeping a steady salinity reading. RO water is the best way to go. You want to keep your system from fluctuating too much. Evaporation is a never ending battle and it will always be there We do design several RO reservoirs that you can implement into your system with top off pumps. Please let me know if we can be of assistance!

 

[Highway66]

With a ATO, a water level switch in your sump will pump water from a seperate container of water (preferably rodi water) to keep your sump full. It is a possibility that adding large amounts of top off water manually could result in salinity changing.

As munch said there are alot of factors that contribute to evap rate. How hot/cool your house is? water surface area? I know alot of people put fans on their tanks for cooling which would increase evaporation. I have never really measured my evap but i think a couple gallons a day would be normal. Its something your not going to really control. Mine is 101 gallons total.

 

[rplank]

My 55 gallon aquarium with a 10 gallon sump loses up to a gallon a day depending on atmospheric conditions. I got an ATO unit and it is one of the best investments I have made. I check the sump level daily but so far it is functioning perfectly.
What you are losing does not sound outside of what I would expect for your sized system, based on my experience.

You should worry if your carpet is wet.

 

[Aaron]

If you're looking for a great ATO systems I'd recommend the Tunze or the JBJ ATO; I have both on different systems and each has pros/cons. I recently bought an AutoAqua ATO and was a bit mad when it overflowed my QT tank, though I've since fixed the issue and it works fine. If you go with the JBJ Bulk Reef Supply sells a peristaltic pump that I'd highly recommend because it doesn't have any head loss.

Regarding maintaining your levels, you're going to get a lot of answers. Though if you want to go with a scientifically proven approach, I would go with either 2-part dosing or a calcium reactor. Personally, I prefer 2 part. I have paristaltic dosing pumps connected to a Reefkeeper lite. If you buy the pumps just be careful, there are 2 types one for top off (higher flow rate) and one for dosing.

 

[zombie]

Your evap is definately normal. I refill my 20 gallon ato container every 2 weeks give or take a few days. This is on a 125 with total water volume around 110 gallons. On my old 75, I would have to fill my 7 gallon ato jug every 6 to 8 days.

 

[zombie]

For testing and maintaining levels, test weekly. I use the red sea kit personally, but the salifert kit is another good choice. Dont dose any ca mg of kh the first 3 weeks and see what your average drop is per week. Divide that by 7 and this is the amount you need to raise it each day. Check the manuacturer directions to see what amount is needed to raise the element by a certain amount to figure out how much to dose. Ex weekly drop of 70 ppm calcium would need 10 ppm daily dose. Mfg recommends 1 ml per gallon to raise ca by 10 ppm. With 65 gallons of total water volume you would need to add 65 ml per day. Adjust this example based on your demands and continue checking weekly for a while and adjust the amounts as needed (as corals and coraline grow, their demand will increase). The bulk reef supply or randys 2 part (diy recipe) are gonna be your most economical options.

 

[zombie]

For top of, do yourself a favor and invest into an auto top off unit, a jug that you can conceal under or near the stand that will provide at least a week of water, and an rodi unit. Using conditioned tap water works fine for freshwater, but you will be fighting a losing battle in saltwater. Saltwater fish do not tolerate nitrates or many of the other chemicals and metals commonly found in tap water and using tap water will prevent you from ever keeping amazing coral like acropora. The ato unit will consistently add water as it evaporated and minimize salinity swings (especially if you ever forget to fill it up one day). This will allow your fish to live longer and will allow you to keep more delicate corals.

 

[Haulin Oates]

5 gallons a week I'm evaporating 5-7 gallons a day! Evaporation has a lot of factors, but if there's no leaks, you don't have a problem. Evaporation well also vary by season. You really well do well to invest in an ATO.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

i just bumped a for sale thread. I am selling an almost new ato for a good price. a must in my opinion.

 

[SynDen]

+1 to the ATO and getting an RODI. Both are well worth the investment. Especially the RODI, using tap water is one of the biggest mistakes many of us have made when starting a tank. RODI should be implemented ASAP, if you dont it could lead to some extreme algae outbreaks and any livestock in your tank will suffer and likely die off because of it.
Ato can be later, but certainly worth the investment. I went almost a year without an ATO on my 75g and was daily replacing about 1g of water. Now that I have a tunze ATO I only have to check the 5g bucket every 5-6 days or so.
As for testing, when you start the tank I would testing for Nitrates, Nitrites, Amon, and such everyday until the tank stabilizes. Once the tank is fully running (about a month or more) I would test the big 5 at least once a week, (PH, Salinity, Alk, Calc and Mag) for about the next year or so. After that your tank should be stable and you only need to really test the big 3 (alk, calc and mag) maybe once a month or when things start to look ****ed off.

If you would like, you are welcome to stop by some time and talk tanks. I am fairly new to saltwater too. I also have had Freshwater almost all my life but took the plunge about a year and half ago. There have been many ups and downs in that time, many of which I could have avoided if I had known better. I would be willing to share those experiences and help you through if you want it. Just PM me and we can set up a time.

 

[zombie]

This reminded me. I have an ro unit (no di stage) that I forgot about and never posted. You could have that one for way cheap if you want it. Just posted it.

 

[SynDen]

This reminded me. I have an ro unit (no di stage) that I forgot about and never posted. You could have that one for way cheap if you want it. Just posted it.

A very good starter option. Although You will want to invest in a better option in the future but this is a great option for getting the tank setup and through the first 6 months-1year

 

[cent36]

As stated before, here are a few pix of my setup...

This is my sump built from scratch and an old 30g tank
[attachment=66991:name] View attachment 19692

 

[zombie]

Very well done. Wheres the skimmer?