Water Evaporation?

[Rusty Baldwin]

Hello,

75 Gallon, with Refuge. I have had my tank running for months. All was well until today.

I woke up this morning and my refuge was down by three inches in the return chamber with the pump. The tank water level was where it should be.

It makes no sense unless I had water on the floor, which It didn’t. i have sensors on the floor to alarm if water is on the floor. I have an auto-cutoff heater setup with a ring camera setup so I can monitor it, as the refuge is new.

Where did all the water go? Thoughts?

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[KStatefan]

Is your ATO working correctly?

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

Is your ATO working correctly?

I do not have an ATO yet. It arrives next week. With that said the refuge has been running for several days with no water loss.

However, I did add the heater from the Display to the refuge yesterday so that the display is clean looking. It was the final piece I removed from the tank. Is that the problem? Seems logical

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

I do not have an ATO yet. It arrives next week. With that said the refuge has been running for several days with no water loss.

However, I did add the heater from the Display to the refuge yesterday so that the display is clean looking. It was the final piece I removed from the tank. Is that the problem? Seems logical

Should the heater be in another compartment?

 

[KStatefan]

I am somewhat confused on what you have you say refuge but then also say last compartment with return pump. Water losses should show up in the chamber with the return pump.

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

I am somewhat confused on what you have you say refuge but then also say last compartment with return pump. Water losses should show up in the chamber with the return pump.

Sorry. A little more info. I have a 20g long. Chamber one is the socks, two, with the overflow PVC pipe. Chamber two has bio, chamber three has the cheato algae, live rock, copepods etc, chamber four is the foam insert, chamber five is the pump, with a heater in it.

 

[1112-425XL]

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Definitely Evaporation! If I didn't have an ato my return pump would be sucking air every other day.

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

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Definitely Evaporation! If I didn't have an ato my return pump would be sucking air every other day.

Thank you. I will keep topping it off each day until the ATO gets here.

 

[fodsod]

Just a suggestion. Best practice would be to NOT have your heater in the same chamber as your return pump. The chamber with your return pump is the most likely to go dry and if that happens bad things happen when a heater isn't in water.

 

[Mr. Papita Frita]

Just a suggestion. Best practice would be to NOT have your heater in the same chamber as your return pump. The chamber with your return pump is the most likely to go dry and if that happens bad things happen when a heater isn't in water.

I agree

 

[1112-425XL]

^^Agree with ^^

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

Just a suggestion. Best practice would be to NOT have your heater in the same chamber as your return pump. The chamber with your return pump is the most likely to go dry and if that happens bad things happen when a heater isn't in water.

Makes sense. That’s why I purchased the expensive heater that cuts off when it’s out of water but that also means the tank cools down. I will relocate the heater to the Display. It’s black and it will blend in so it can’t be seen. Thanks. I am learning with this new set up.

 

[twentyleagues]

Do you have a pic of the entire sump? If set up correctly the evap should show up in the return pump chamber. ( as stated above)

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

Do you have a pic of the entire sump? If set up correctly the evap should show up in the return pump chamber. ( as stated above)

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

Do you have a pic of the entire sump? If set up correctly the evap should show up in the return pump chamber. ( as stated above)

Here’s a better pic. A new skimmer is arriving Monday. Hi-Lo switch came in yesterday so it will go in today to allow for no overfill on the Display and top-off

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,

75 Gallon, with Refuge. I have had my tank running for months. All was well until today.

I woke up this morning and my refuge was down by three inches in the return chamber with the pump. The tank water level was where it should be.

It makes no sense unless I had water on the floor, which It didn’t. i have sensors on the floor to alarm if water is on the floor. I have an auto-cutoff heater setup with a ring camera setup so I can monitor it, as the refuge is new.

Where did all the water go? Thoughts?

Thanks ahead of time.

Im getting higher evaporation close to a gallon a day. Assure your return pump is not delivering water faster than its coming into sump. You may need to decrease pump flow Slightly to create a balance for both

 

[fodsod]

Makes sense. That’s why I purchased the expensive heater that cuts off when it’s out of water but that also means the tank cools down. I will relocate the heater to the Display. It’s black and it will blend in so it can’t be seen. Thanks. I am learning with this new set up.

It's perfectly acceptable to run your heater in your sump, just not in the return pump chamber. This hobby is all about anticipating the worst thing that could happen and trying to mitigate that risk. So even if your heater is supposed to be one that shuts off when dry, after it cycles about a million times in a year it probably won't work right and you've got any number of issues when that happens.

Something else to consider is only having a heater in your sump means that if you lose power or for some reason, your return pump fails, or your (coming soon ATO) fails or you forget to add water then your DT will not be heated at all once the sump water isn't circulating up to the DT.

That might not matter if your home's average temp is cool or warm enough to keep everything alive in case of any issues with a heater or flow but again, we all try to mitigate the "possible" failure points as best as we can.

Good luck!

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

It's perfectly acceptable to run your heater in your sump, just not in the return pump chamber. This hobby is all about anticipating the worst thing that could happen and trying to mitigate that risk. So even if your heater is supposed to be one that shuts off when dry, after it cycles about a million times in a year it probably won't work right and you've got any number of issues when that happens.

Something else to consider is only having a heater in your sump means that if you lose power or for some reason, your return pump fails, or your (coming soon ATO) fails or you forget to add water then your DT will not be heated at all once the sump water isn't circulating up to the DT.

That might not matter if your home's average temp is cool or warm enough to keep everything alive in case of any issues with a heater or flow but again, we all try to mitigate the "possible" failure points as best as we can.

Good luck!

Totally agree. My wife has stopped shaking her head when I buy something new now. I got that look until a few days ago and she gave up. I have spent days documenting all the failure points and I only have a few left, that I know of.

The Display can’t overfill, it can’t empty as of next week with the new RODI that is coming. New skimmer on the way.

The last thing is the additional overflow lines in the event the main goes down.

 

[Rusty Baldwin]

Totally agree. My wife has stopped shaking her head when I buy something new now. I got that look until a few days ago and she gave up. I have spent days documenting all the failure points and I only have a few left, that I know of.

The Display can’t overfill, it can’t empty as of next week with the new RODI that is coming. New skimmer on the way.

The last thing is the additional overflow lines in the event the main goes down.

And the battery backup arrives next Wednesday.

 

[twentyleagues]

Here’s a better pic. A new skimmer is arriving Monday. Hi-Lo switch came in yesterday so it will go in today to allow for no overfill on the Display and top-off

So did the return chamber drop as well? Looks to me the level in the fuge and return areas would remain the same until the water level dropped below that slit in the last baffle.