How much water does your tank evaporate each week

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 24, 2022

Most tanks that are not covered tightly seem to evaporate about 1-3% of the tank volume or so every day.

muzikalmatt · Jan 24, 2022

Has anyone looked into or researched using a home humidifier to combat tank evaporation, especially in the winter time? It seems like that would be a cheaper and easier way than just topping off more often since you can use tap water in a large humidifier.

I used to have one because I have radiator heating in my house and my acoustic guitars would start to warp in really low humidity. I've been considering getting a new one since the old one broke. I'd be interested to see how much it could mitigate tank evaporation.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 24, 2022

muzikalmatt said:
Has anyone looked into or researched using a home humidifier to combat tank evaporation, especially in the winter time? It seems like that would be a cheaper and easier way than just topping off more often since you can use tap water in a large humidifier.

I used to have one because I have radiator heating in my house and my acoustic guitars would start to warp in really low humidity. I've been considering getting a new one since the old one broke. I'd be interested to see how much it could mitigate tank evaporation.

In my system, I never thought it was something to minimize since I dosed kalkwasser by ATO, but it is certainly sensible that it might save RO/DI water.

However, the ultrasonic ones put the drops into the air and then they evaporate, so the impurities will land everywhere, including the tank, and might get drawn into a skimmer.

A type that blows air over a soaked filter would be better from that perspective.

muzikalmatt · Jan 24, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
In my system, I never thought it was something to minimize since I dosed kalkwasser by ATO, but it is certainly sensible that it might save RO/DI water.

Good point! But with that setup wouldn't you want to try and keep a stable humidity in the house so your evaporation rate is constant? That way you're adding a consistent amount of kalk across all seasons. The humidity in my house can fluctuate quite a bit between the summer and winter season, so my evaporation rate is significantly higher now than in the summer.

CK00020 · Jan 24, 2022

120 with 40b sump, like 3gal a day when it’s cold out. I fill my 10 gal ato container every 4 days

Rmckoy · Jan 24, 2022

Average …. Roughly 10 gal per week

FIN&BONEZ · Jan 24, 2022

So glad you dropped this Ive been freaking out on a 40B I built for my son about 8 months ago. After first setting it up I didnt realize a ton of evap but now going through a half a gallon a day. It just seemed like a lot to me with no creep or leaks.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 24, 2022

muzikalmatt said:
Good point! But with that setup wouldn't you want to try and keep a stable humidity in the house so your evaporation rate is constant? That way you're adding a consistent amount of kalk across all seasons. The humidity in my house can fluctuate quite a bit between the summer and winter season, so my evaporation rate is significantly higher now than in the summer.

Ideally, yes. In reality, I do not know what impact it had on tank health as I rarely, measured anything except pH, salinity, and temp.

biecacka · Jan 25, 2022

Randy I dose kalk in my ATO as well so I don't mind some evaporation. Plus, I keep my humidor down in the basement as well so it is a double win for me! HAHA
@muzikalmatt i am intrigued by your concept of humidifying the whole house to slow down evaporation of the tank. that would be cool, especially for someone who has allergies or constantly wakes up with a dry nose.

corey

ReefGeezer · Jan 25, 2022

My 90 (about a 110 gallon system) evaporates about 7-10 gallons a week depending on the season. Ambient humidity determines the rate. It evaporates more in the winter because the air is drier even with the humidity control on the HVAC set to maximum.

ReefGeezer · Jan 25, 2022

FWIW, I just upgraded my sump and in the process changed my ATO from an old DIY version to a Tunze ATO. It works great. No issues with set-up once I Googled a couple videos. It seems to work great. I may change the pump to a solenoid one day, but for now, the pump works.

AlexG · Jan 25, 2022

biecacka said:
Randy I dose kalk in my ATO as well so I don't mind some evaporation. Plus, I keep my humidor down in the basement as well so it is a double win for me! HAHA
@muzikalmatt i am intrigued by your concept of humidifying the whole house to slow down evaporation of the tank. that would be cool, especially for someone who has allergies or constantly wakes up with a dry nose.

corey

Something to point out with evaporation is that too much can be really bad for for anyone with larger systems. I normally hold my humidity levels at 30-45% in my home which limits aquarium evaporation. In the fish room humidity levels are around 45-50%. Since its drier my evaporation is up from ~30-40gallons/week to 40-50gallons/week but I also have a dedicated humidity control system in place to protect my home from excess humidity. The water that evaporates needs to go somewhere and if you have lots of evaporation humidity monitoring throughout the house is a necessity along with a humidity mitigation system. Without monitoring humidity levels when you have excess evaporation the humidity can potentially get high enough 80%+ to make it ideal conditions for mold to grow. Because of this I would say an aquarium can be used as a means to humidify a home with the right monitoring tools in place.

biecacka · Jan 26, 2022

ReefGeezer said:
FWIW, I just upgraded my sump and in the process changed my ATO from an old DIY version to a Tunze ATO. It works great. No issues with set-up once I Googled a couple videos. It seems to work great. I may change the pump to a solenoid one day, but for now, the pump works.

I love my Tunze ATO. Been using it for years.

corey

jaihutcherson · Jan 28, 2022

jassermd said:
Roughly 30g/week with my 280gDT + 40b.
I have my RODI in the garage and pump it to a 15g ATO container. Fill it about 2x-3x/week.

I have a 230g + 70g sump reef with about 25 gallon evaporation a week and a 320+80 FOWLR that has about 30 gallons evaporation per week. I also have a 240g 1/1 fresh 1/2 salt rodi system and have been trying to figure out how to pump from garage to wall (shared living room one side bedroom other) that I can come down and fill my storage systems. How are you pumping? Is it out with float or???