water loss between water changes

[AroWanaKill]

i tried searching here but didn't find anything.

i loose about an inch a week, does that sound right? idon't clean it weekly since i'm running two penguin 350 on a 40 gallon. so i don't like seeing the water going down slowly leaving the glass with water marks.

 

[Camshaft Ramrod]

water evaporates...

 

[thatonegirl]

Top off with reverse osmosis water only, or something equally void of minerals. As water is evaporating, only pure H2O is leaving the tank; only pure H2O should be used for top-offs.

 

[Juxtaroberto]

water evaporates...

LOL

Yeah. Just... add more water. Or get a better lid.

 

[Juxtaroberto]

Top off with reverse osmosis water only, or something equally void of minerals. As water is evaporating, only pure H2O is leaving the tank; only pure H2O should be used for top-offs.

Since freshwater fish absorb a lot of the water through their skin, wouldn't they also absorb the minerals? Maybe even drink them?

 

[AroWanaKill]

lol...i know it evapurates but i thought there would be some other way,
i also aint got a lid..i guess having one would help along with pure H2O.lol

 

[thatonegirl]

Since freshwater fish absorb a lot of the water through their skin, wouldn't they also absorb the minerals? Maybe even drink them?

Maybe some, but not all. I work at an LFS that does free water testing (and not the dip strip crap).

Out of the tap, the local source's parameters are about 3 degrees KH and 7 degrees GH.

If proper maintenance is practiced, those numbers don't change much, unless there is an abundance of metabolic wastes in the water, which would impact the KH only. If someone with a KH of 3 and a GH of 7 practiced appropriate maintenance on their tank, those numbers would probably stay the same consistently.

Someone who fails to do regular water changes and is just topping off with their tap water would see a gradual accumulation of general hardness and an eventual lack of KH (buffering capacity), resulting in a pretty steep slide in pH.

If analogies help, think of it like "topping off" a cat's litter box. If you're never actually removing any of the waste, they sit and accumulate.

 

[AroWanaKill]

so take one filter out and stick to weekly water changes?

 

[thatonegirl]

Weekly water changes are the best thing you can do for overall fish health. As for removing a filter, I do not beliive that you can over-filter a tank, and removing one will not help reduce evaporation anyway.

If you're running an uncovered tank, adding a cover will reduce evaporation significantly.

 

[AroWanaKill]

we'll do,thanks