Rate of evaporation

[justinhill]

I'm contemplating throwing away the annoying lids that came with my aquarium. I know this will increase the evaporation to the point where I'll have to use distilled water to top up. So I'm wondering if anyone could give me a vague idea of how much topping up I might be doing - in terms of litres per day or something - based on 70cm x 36cm surface area (0.252 square metres, 385 square inches) running at 24C. I'd just like an idea of how much distilled water I'd be buying... It looks like I'm losing getting on for a 3/4 litre a week as it is, so it's going to be a lot more than that.

By the way, part of the reason for doing this is that I can't get a better lighting unit in without discarding the lids (plus I could increase total water volume by 8 - 10 percent without the existing lights in the way). Looking further ahead, I could even start thinking about floating plants or plants that break the surface.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I would keep them. My lid less tanks loose so much water because they have no lids.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I'm contemplating throwing away the annoying lids that came with my aquarium. I know this will increase the evaporation to the point where I'll have to use distilled water to top up. So I'm wondering if anyone could give me a vague idea of how much topping up I might be doing - in terms of litres per day or something - based on 70cm x 36cm surface area (0.252 square metres, 385 square inches) running at 24C. I'd just like an idea of how much distilled water I'd be buying... It looks like I'm losing getting on for a 3/4 litre a week as it is, so it's going to be a lot more than that.

By the way, part of the reason for doing this is that I can't get a better lighting unit in without discarding the lids (plus I could increase total water volume by 8 - 10 percent without the existing lights in the way). Looking further ahead, I could even start thinking about floating plants or plants that break the surface.

Glass lids, or plastic hoods?

 

[dutto73]

I also asked about this ( thread; water evaporation) there are other factors to take into consideration. I got some interesting feedback

 

[justinhill]

I would keep them. My lid less tanks loose so much water because they have no lids.

OK, but...

 

[justinhill]

Glass lids, or plastic hoods?

Sliding glass lids - but they're painted, not see through.

 

[justinhill]

The aquarium in question is an Oase StyleLine 125.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

OK, but...

My tanks (10g, 20g long, and 29g) loose about an inch of water every week, if I don’t do any water changes/substrate vacuums.

The bigger the tank, the more evaporation.

 

[justinhill]

I also asked about this ( thread; water evaporation) there are other factors to take into consideration. I got some interesting feedback

Thanks - yes I saw that thread and I'm aware of why distilled/demineralised water has to be use for top up. I'm trying to estimate how much water I'd have to have on hand if I was running lid-less, before I decide to try it.

 

[Essjay]

Could you replace the solid sliding lids with plain glass? The runners are already there. Then you could put a light over them.

The downside to lidless is that things can into the tank - dust, fumes, cats etc.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Sliding glass lids - but they're painted, not see through.

Replace with clear glass, as stated above.

 

[justinhill]

Could you replace the solid sliding lids with plain glass? The runners are already there. Then you could put a light over them.

The downside to lidless is that things can into the tank - dust, fumes, cats etc.

Yeah, I did think about that - ordering two pieces of custom size safe-edged glass..

Sadly, I no longer have cats since the last one died of old age. They (both siamese) would have loved this tank!

 

[justinhill]

Replace with clear glass, as stated above.

Indeed. But that's quite a lot of money to do - ordering two custom cut pieces of safe-edge toughened glass

 

[justinhill]

My tanks (10g, 20g long, and 29g) loose about an inch of water every week, if I don’t do any water changes/substrate vacuums.

The bigger the tank, the more evaporation.

Hmmm. Assuming the same temp and surface area to volume, that sounds like about 6 litres a week in my tank. An answer, thanks!