No glass top = evaporation?

[saltwater8]

Hello everyone,
If I am using a 48" 130W PC with 65W Daylight lamps and 65W Antic lamps with 2 blue LEDs for night, am I not supposed to use the glass tops?
If I don't have the glass top, doesn't a lot of water evaporate?

 

[phoenixfla]

Are your lights in a fixture or are they a retrofit kit attached to an existing canopy?
I believe that the glass tops prevent a lot of evaporation. I have a 125 reef with no tops and a 135 fowlr with glass tops. The reef evaporates 5 gallons a week and the fowlr evaporates 1 gallon a week.
I would rather not have glass tops, by the fish only has an eel, so the lids are mandatory. Glass tops limit the gas exchange.

 

[saltwater8]

Its a new light fixture with legs
But I also have the wood canopy.
So more evaporation would mean adding more fresh water.
I have a 60 gallon tank, so if it evaporated 5 gallons a week, then my weekly water change would be just to add 5 gallons of fresh water - roughly..... I obviously check the salinity and keep it at 1.025.

 

[sharkbait9]

Wrong, water evaporation doesn’t constitute a water change, no no no my friend. You need to do a water change along with a adding fresh R/O water. I like to add top off water everyday and then on Fridays suck 15% out and replace it with my at the ready R/O saltwater.

 

[saltwater8]

Yeah, when I thought about it more, the water is leaving but the "bad" things are staying behind....
:happyfish

 

[phixer]

 

[pyro]

I go through about a gallon a day on my 30g reef with 2 X 96W PC retrofits. I don't use a glass top, which has led to my only 2 fish deaths - both a clown and a 6-line have jumped ship in the year and a half I've had my tank setup. Soon to get some eggcrate or screen to fix the open back of the canopy.
Comon, if you're gonna die, why on earth would you jump out of the tank, at least make it worthwhile and clog up a filter or let the CBS catch you or something

 

[unleashed]

open tops are much more beneficial to you sw tanks for a few reasons,glass tops restrict forming gasses from the water to be released from the tank which can reduce oxygen levels drasticly in your systems, they collect algae and dust which does restrigh full spectrum of lighting to enter ,salt creep is more present in a closeed top enviroment, the pros of glass tops is fish cannot escape..thats pretty much the whole pro part of it.
eggcrate purchased at home depot can be very effective it will stop your fish from escaping and let the light full through and release any toxic gasses produced by the tank which increases oxygen levels in your tank. light weight easy to cut to fit not super expencive either

 

[misfit]

I tried a piece of eggcrate and it diffused the light too much so i have an open top plus my canopy is totaly closed so if they jump they hit the canopy sides and fall back in.I have a 210 with 3 250 HQI DE and 260 watts of pc's and my tank evaps. about 3 to 5 gallons per day depending on season.

 

[phixer]

Originally Posted by Pyro
I go through about a gallon a day on my 30g reef with 2 X 96W PC retrofits. I don't use a glass top, which has led to my only 2 fish deaths - both a clown and a 6-line have jumped ship in the year and a half I've had my tank setup. Soon to get some eggcrate or screen to fix the open back of the canopy.
Comon, if you're gonna die, why on earth would you jump out of the tank, at least make it worthwhile and clog up a filter or let the CBS catch you or something
:hilarious