Stop excessive water loss on topless tank

[oKrazyii]

So i recently upgrade my lighting for my tank after realizing my old lighting was more suited for fresh water tanks and with my new light i had to get rid of my top so the light can sit right. I currently have a 30g tank with 2 HOB filters, 1 is a tidal 35 and the other is a coralife protein skimmer + Filter, i mostly use the coralife jus for the protein skimmer. My current problem is that i try to do water changes every sunday but even since i took the top off my tank im losing almost 1.5 inches of water by the time friday hits and at the point the water level in my tank is too low for my tidal 35 to operate. Is there anything i can do to try and combat this excessive evaporation? i know its normal to see evap with a topless tank especially while running hobs but this seems like way too much.

 

[Reefer1978]

Colder Temp + Higher ambient humidity will slow down evaporation. In the winter months I was over 2 gallons per day, now I am under 1g due to high humidity from all the rain we are getting.

 

[rtparty]

Add an ATO or manually top it off everyday with RO water. Letting it evaporate too much is messing with salinity and if you are only adding saltwater back in, you are going to raise the salinity every week

 

[oKrazyii]

Colder Temp + Higher ambient humidity will slow down evaporation. In the winter months I was over 2 gallons per day, now I am under 1g due to high humidity from all the rain we are getting.

im trying so hard to lower my temp currently, my tank sits at 80 constantly because of the current heat in ny, i have my heater set for roughly 75-78 i try to freeze water bottles and bag them up to sit in the tank to try and lower it but nothing really seems to work. im going to try buying some clip on fans to go in the sides of my tank and hopefully help cool the water down

 

[Reefer1978]

im trying so hard to lower my temp currently, my tank sits at 80 constantly because of the current heat in ny, i have my heater set for roughly 75-78 i try to freeze water bottles and bag them up to sit in the tank to try and lower it but nothing really seems to work. im going to try buying some clip on fans to go in the sides of my tank and hopefully help cool the water down

Are you running AC? NY right now is in the mid 60s at night, if you don't have AC try cranking the windows open at night.

 

[TX_REEF]

clip on fans are likely to increase evaporation with the increased airflow. you just need to buy an auto top-off or manually top off the water daily, it's part of owning a successful saltwater system.

 

[Reefer1978]

Auto top-off is a must regardless of heat for a reef tank. Salinity fluctuations are not great for a reef tank.

 

[oKrazyii]

Are you running AC? NY right now is in the mid 60s at night, if you don't have AC try cranking the windows open at night.

yeah i run ac all day, and my tank is in as room thats only roughly 12 x 12 so the room gets cold fairly fast but the tank sill sits at 80

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

That’s too much of a Salinity swing. I got this auto top off and use a Hedpac container for my RO/DI Water. This is on my 30 gallon quarantine aquarium with an HOB Filter. I have the longer optical sensors on my sumps, and the didn’t work right on my 30 gallon. https://a.co/d/1gkugWu

 

[Reefer1978]

yeah i run ac all day, and my tank is in as room thats only roughly 12 x 12 so the room gets cold fairly fast but the tank sill sits at 80

How confident are you at the temp reading? And what other equipment are you using - pumps, skimmer, lights, etc? Odd the tank is running that how in a cold room.

 

[oKrazyii]

i have 2

How confident are you at the temp reading? And what other equipment are you using - pumps, skimmer, lights, etc? Odd the tank is running that how in a cold room.

baseline circulation pumps, im looking to upgrade to a hygger gyre soon, and the light im running is a 35W hygger led

 

[TX_REEF]

here are some auto-top off options for you, it doesn't have to be overly expensive

I use these on both my frag and display systems: https://amzn.to/3I0ThVj

I use this on my 5.5 gallon planted freshwater: https://amzn.to/4nmrvmg

 

[exnisstech]

ATO is your friend. I won't run a tank without one (5 currently running) Even my 8 gallon nano has an ATO. Im not dependable enough to manually top off and I don't want salinty swings. All of my tanks are open top.

 

[oKrazyii]

th

here are some auto-top off options for you, it doesn't have to be overly expensive

I use these on both my frag and display systems: https://amzn.to/3I0ThVj

I use this on my 5.5 gallon planted freshwater: https://amzn.to/4nmrvmg

those are the exact ones i was just looking at lol, so with ato do i just need a bin of ro/di water for it to pull from? not more salt water right?

 

[Reefer1978]

i have 2

baseline circulation pumps, im looking to upgrade to a hygger gyre soon, and the light im running is a 35W hygger led

2 circulation pumps, HOB and no skimmer? I honestly don't see anything that would generate a lot of heat. 80-degree reading with heaters set on 78 seems odd to me.

 

[Reefer1978]

th

those are the exact ones i was just looking at lol, so with ato do i just need a bin of ro/di water for it to pull from? not more salt water right?

I use the first one, it's pretty good.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

An ATO is one of the best $100 you can spend on your tank to give you peace of mind.

 

[oKrazyii]

2 circulation pumps, HOB and no skimmer? I honestly don't see anything that would generate a lot of heat. 80-degree reading with heaters set on 78 seems odd to me.

only thing i have for skimming is the built in protein skimmer thats on my coralife filter

 

[Reefer1978]

only thing i have for skimming is the built in protein skimmer thats on my coralife filter

Can you post a picture of the entire setup?

 

[oKrazyii]

only thing i have for skimming is the built in protein skimmer thats on my coralife filter

Can you post a picture of the entire setup?