Condensation in canopy

[guntercb]

Hello:

I have cats so my aquarium has to have a canopy. I set up a 20 gallon tank as a QT. The tank was evaporating around 3 gallons a week; however, I had massive amount of condensation in the canopy so I installed a 3" computer fan. I now evaporated around 7 gallons of water a week. 7 gallons of evaporation a week for a 20 gallon aquarium seems excessive to me.

For folks with canopies, how do you keep the humidity low in your canopy? I think a lower speed 3" fan might work, but I don't know what is ideal or I am hoping there are better options to deal with humidity in a canopy?

Photo of tank and canopy:

Here is a photo showing the fan:

Thanks!

 

[Pistol Peet]

7 gallons a week for 20 gallons is a lot I would say that's almost half your water and evaporation for a week most tanks that I've seen with canopies even though I do not have one are suspended above the tank in casing the lights and are not directly on top of it however there are Stands aquariums and canopies that are all one solid type piece when they come together and hopefully somebody on here has such a setup and will be able to comment for you

 

[Pistol Peet]

You could always drill a couple holes in it

 

[xxkenny90xx]

How about a glass lid? Maybe something that covers like 75% of the top

 

[guntercb]

How about a glass lid? Maybe something that covers like 75% of the top

I thought about a glass lid. I am setting up a 75 gallon reef tank with a canopy too so I will have the same issue with the 75.

Do you think glass lids "filter" the light getting into the tank? I believe I have marginal lights so I do not want the glass cover to be an issue concerning the light.

 

[guntercb]

You could always drill a couple holes in it

Any thoughts on where to drill the holes? I assume I would remove the computer fan?

 

[Pistol Peet]

Heat and condensation moisture humidity Rises so I would drill them in the top back somewhere if you could

 

[Pistol Peet]

Any thoughts on where to drill the holes? I assume I would remove the computer fan?

From the looks of the picture you could probably drill a few holes in the left and right side of the lid as well

 

[Pistol Peet]

From the looks of the picture you could probably drill a few holes in the left and right side of the lid as well

If you do decide to drill through the top back corner or something that'll give you a feed whole in it without having to open the lid

 

[r20crazy]

get an adjustable voltage power supply. turn down the voltage to slow the fan down and evap will reduce greatly. you just need some air movement, not a tornado.

something like this (there are many, i just wired mine direct to fan)

 

[Pistol Peet]

How high does the temperature run in your tank without the fan because the fan is obviously to help with temperature of the tank and not condensation or evaporation

 

[guntercb]

get an adjustable voltage power supply. turn down the voltage to slow the fan down and evap will reduce greatly. you just need some air movement, not a tornado.

something like this (there are many, i just wired mine direct to fan)

That I think is the winner!

Thanks. I am going to try the variable power supply.

 

[guntercb]

How high does the temperature run in your tank without the fan because the fan is obviously to help with temperature of the tank and not condensation or evaporation

I put in the fan to stop the condensation of water in my canopy. It was bad. Water was dripping from the top and lights. Temperature in canopy is not an issue.

 

[Pistol Peet]

I put in the fan to stop the condensation of water in my canopy. It was bad. Water was dripping from the top and lights. Temperature in canopy is not an issue.

Yeah that's crazy that's a lot more condensation than I personally heard of but I'm not the only person in the reefing community and I don't know everything far from it so hopefully somebody else will chime in that has experienced this and point you in the right definite Direction all's I can suggest is to possibly like I said drill a few holes in there to allow air to escape condensation moisture humidity exedra

 

[r20crazy]

they work great, and in summer if temps get a little hotter in tank just turn up the voltage (evap goes up) but tank stays cool. have one on every tank.

That I think is the winner!

Thanks. I am going to try the variable power supply.

 

[Hugh Mann]

I have a glass lid on my 55 gallon aquarium. Just panes of glass I had cut at a local shop with handles epoxyed on. Cut 2" narrow to accommodate HoB equipment, I plug the gaps with strips of acrylic.

Some things I'll say about a glass lid. I live in a fairly dry environment, technically considered a desert. My evaporation is about 1.5 gallons per week. Condensation builds on the glass, but drips back into the water. I run 2 165w LED lights at about 40% and have zero issues with light, gsp and aussie star grows good, as does coralline and I have way too much other algae growing. I just have to make sure I clean the glass regularly as spills/splashes will quickly crust it in salt. Even then, it more so acts like a diffuser so I don't get rainbow reflections in the water. With the filter, skimmer and angled powerhead for gas exchange I don't experience oxygen issues either. Plus it's heavy, so my eel can't muscle its way out, not that it tries like many do. I would call it a worthy consideration.

 

[John08007]

I have a 75gal tall cube, 24x24x30" tall. I have a canopy with lights, lose about 6-7 gallons every week or so

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I thought about a glass lid. I am setting up a 75 gallon reef tank with a canopy too so I will have the same issue with the 75.

Do you think glass lids "filter" the light getting into the tank? I believe I have marginal lights so I do not want the glass cover to be an issue concerning the light.

Yes, the glass will get dirty very quickly and reduce the lighting. But you don't need a full lid, just put glass behind and/or upfront of the light. Oh and fwiw fans increase evaporation....

 

[Wildcats1023]

Hello:

I have cats so my aquarium has to have a canopy. I set up a 20 gallon tank as a QT. The tank was evaporating around 3 gallons a week; however, I had massive amount of condensation in the canopy so I installed a 3" computer fan. I now evaporated around 7 gallons of water a week. 7 gallons of evaporation a week for a 20 gallon aquarium seems excessive to me.

For folks with canopies, how do you keep the humidity low in your canopy? I think a lower speed 3" fan might work, but I don't know what is ideal or I am hoping there are better options to deal with humidity in a canopy?

Photo of tank and canopy:

Here is a photo showing the fan:

Thanks!

I agree 7 gallons is a lot for a 20 gallon. I have a 220 and I only have about 15 gallons evaporate a week. The back of my canopy is completely open and I have 3 3" circle holes on top. I have LED lights.

As far as glass tops go they will filter out some of your lighting. I know from experience when I had a 90 gallon mixed reef. You can make screen tops. BRS sells a kit thats easy to make or you can also go to your local home improvement store to buy the items. Regular screen frames and clear bird screen if you can find it. I couldnt find the bird screen so I had to order from brs

 

[maroun.c]

Seems ur surrounding humidity is very low to have that much evaporation. Fan does help and u can add a hole or a fan pushing air in on the other side for smbest air circulation. U can experiment with smiling ur fan as above or simply putting it on a timer and experimenting to get good balance between humidity in the canopy and evaporation. U can always automate based on humidity if u have a humidity controller but thats overboard.