Evaporation! How much do you get? How did you cut down?

IHaveCrabs

IHaveCrabs

Premium member
So I just set up my 180 gallon aquarium and it is now cycling. Since I have a lot more surface area my evaporation has increased immensely to 50 pints a day at least (not sure when the dehumidifier cuts off during the day).

Here is a quick questionnaire that may help out some people new to larger tanks and hopefully we can get some unique ways to reduce the amount of evaporation that we are releasing into our homes!


-What size tank do you have?

-How much evaporation do you normally average?

-Open or closed tank top?

-Suggestions/experience on how you cut down on evap?
 
-What size tank do you have? 93g cube and a 180 gallon tank (each with 40 gallons of sump volume)

-How much evaporation do you normally average? 50+ pints a day

-Open or closed tank top? 93 closed, 180 open (need to find tops)

-Suggestions/experience on how you cut down on evap?

Not quite sure.. Closed tops on my 93 seemed to help and I'm looking to do the same for the 180.. Temp is 78-79, not sure if lowering it a degree would make much of a difference.
 
-What size tank do you have? 110g (4'x2',) 45 cube (2'x2') and 17gal (2'x1') all sharing a single sump and single ATO system

-How much evaporation do you normally average? average 12-14 gallons of ATO every 7 days.

-Open or closed tank top? All are open or screen top

-Suggestions/experience on how you cut down on evap? I encourage evaporation, it keeps the tank cool in the summer. A standalone room dehumidifier/AC unit pulls the water from the air in the summer. I let the humidity creep into the rest of the house in the winter, but use room dehumidifiers in the areas of the house that must stay very dry.
 
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260 gallons

About 4 gallons per day in the winter (2-3 in the summer)

Top is open, but mostly enclosed by a canopy.

I point my WP60 slightly up so it agitates the surface. This probably leads to increased evaporation. I just have to watch my kalk concentration as the seasons change. I have a 25 gallon ATO tank.
 
I have a 155g, with a 40g sump, and a 16g. Id say evap between both is 3-4 g a day. Both open top. I have issues with too much humidity in the winter months. To the point last yr, I saw water droplets/condensation on my ceiling. I now run a whole house dehumidifier, and it solved my problem.
 
-What size tank do you have?
60
125
300
400

-How much evaporation do you normally average?
60---1g per day
125 2g per day
300---2 gallons every 3 days
400---5-7 gallons a day


-Open or closed tank top?
60 Open
125 Open
300 Closed
400 Open


-Suggestions/experience on how you cut down on evap?

Less open water equals less evaporation. My 300 is completely closed with exception of a small area in the sump. Now evaporation is great in that tank but heat transfer is awful. Nowhere for heat to go so the tank sits at 80.5-83.00
My 400 is 8x4 completely open. That tank you can watch evaporation. Im actually in the process of buying large acrylic sheet to use as a cover to help reduce the amount evaporated.
 
Interesting questions. I have three tanks now.... A 72 bow.... A 125 corner bow... Both are open tops... I am averaging about a gallon a day on each of them.... Maybe 5 gals a week in the summer...per tank. I just set up a 180 with an open top and something new a basement sump. I am running about a 20 gal top off every 5-6 days at this point. I have all but turned off the furnace humidifier as I am putting quite a bit of humidity in the air. I just wrapped up my cycle on the 180 and will start tracking more closely water parameters on the 180...including top off usage.

When it gets super cold, yes...I have condensation on the windows. Right now as I sit... There is none. It will be interesting in the summer to see how things go. I am planning to add a vent fan in the basement that will be controlled by a humidistat.....I will probably also add a dehumidifier...if it gets too bad. The other thing...I am going to take the 72 down in the coming weeks...I hope...

As for ideas of cutting down on evaporation..... I guess I could go to a closed system...but that creates issues too... Evaporation is not inherently a bad thing. If you have a good top off system, are using RODI...I don't see a big issue. In fact... For some people who do a lot of SPS....and use Kalk.... It migh not be such a bad thing. I do run my furnace fan non stop....all the time. It is rated for continuous use... This helps with keeping the humidity building up too much in the basement fish room....so far. Again....we will see this summer... During the heating system...it basically eliminates the need for the humidifier.
 
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