water evaporation -or- need to decrease return pump flow?

S

srossnz

AC Members
Aug 28, 2007
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Hi,

I am having a hard time determining if the lowering of water in my return pump chamber is from the pump is too fast or just evaportaion. I have a total water volume of around 200-220 liters. A fair bit of my surface in the tank and sump/refugium is uncovered (about 40%). My return chamber is approx 10 inches wide ,6 inches of water,14 1/2 inches wide. I marked the water level with a sharpie before going to bed last night. In 9hrs time the water level in the return chamber has dropped 1/4 inch. I am thinking this is evaporation and that every morning I just add water to bring it back to the line I drew. I am thinking if the pump was too fast then the drop would be more noticeable than a 1/4inch in 9hrs? Thanks!
 
update. going on the assumption that it is evaporation I added 750mls of water to bring the return level back to where it was last night. So if evaporation is the case I am evaporating around 80mls an hour from a 200-220liter system does that sound right or way off?
 
What type of weather are you currently experiencing? I noticed a lot of evaporation during hot weather in my 125G. I was adding 1G-2G every two days to my sump. This changed to 1G every 5 days once winter hit. You should notice a difference in how much water you have to add as the weather changes. Thats an indication that evaporation is the cause.

Its hard to predict exactly how much evaporation is going to take place since it depends upon many factors. For example, those with completely covered tanks (glass or plastic, not net) will experience much less of a water level drop then those without a full cover.
 
I think that sounds about right for evap..I think if your plumbing was out of balance, you would be hearing elevated noise coming from the over flow or the water level rising or fallling as its trying to compensate...it was due to the potential plumbing imbalance that can happen is why i ended up putting a ball valve on my return line on the old reef as this helped to control flow and even it out...

Hope that helps.

Niko
 
Thanks guys, since topping it up it's been on the line all morning. I may look into these auto top off systems, they sound pretty convenient..
 
My evaporation has gone up once the winter hit, due to our heat being on and warmer than "room temperature" in the fall..
I was going through about 1/2 a gallon a day, but now I'm up to almost a gallon...
 
srossnz said:
Thanks guys, since topping it up it's been on the line all morning. I may look into these auto top off systems, they sound pretty convenient..
Click to expand...

An absolute must in my opinion. There are many inexpensive options too.

Good luck,
Tom
 
I have a few aqualifter pumps arriving soon. One to maintain the siphon in my cpr overflow box. The other was going to be a backup but I think I'll convert it to a diy topup :) They are only 12bucks at marinedepot..
 
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